Living Chastely as a Catholic Gay Man

The things you find surfing the Net. I started out with infallibility, and ended up here.

Learning to Live Chastely with Same-Sex Attractions

People who sift through the Catholic teaching on homosexuality find that the Church now acknowledges that there are gay people and that a combination of biology and environment probably causes homosexuality (a position not shared by the man this article's about, but hey.) Recognizing that some people are gay, the Church now teaches that gay people, like unmarried straight people, should live chastely and seek out friendships. Give the Church props for taking a more balanced position than the right-wing activists who try to insist that gay people turn straight - as if heterosexual sex were in some way salvific. Snort.

Of course, this teaching leaves gay Catholics excluded from the sacrament of marriage and feeling alienated from the Church. I always wondered how many gay Catholics tried to live out that teaching instead of seeking ways to be partnered and remain in the Church. This article tells the story of one such man. It does say he was in a long-term relationship when he began to think about living chastely; it doesn't say what happened to the partner. How does that fit into Catholic valuation of marriage andlong-term bonds? It reminds me of what a canon lawyer once told me about annulments: the absolutely easiest way to get one is if the man in the marriage is a former priest who wishes to return.