Johnathan Snatchko

Dr. Mackler
Theological Ethics
April 28, 2014
Paper 2
The Conflict Between Roman Catholic Ethics and Homosexuality
In present day, homosexuality is becoming more and more acceptable by the
majority of modern western society. But a place where acceptance of Homosexuality is
lagging is in the Roman Catholic Church and other religious denominations. This mainly has
to do with the code of ethics these institutions on governed by. Roman Catholic ethics come
from medieval penitential and then the catechism, which unlike governing document such
as the United States Constitution cannot be amended, even if the current state of society
does not reflect what is said within them. But they are often widely open to interpretation
in order to adapt them to modern society. I myself am Homosexual and grew up in the
Roman Catholic faith, even though I am no longer practicing I still am a employee of
Diocese of Pittsburgh as an organist and music director for a parish in the east of the city. I
never really met any obstacles in my life between the church and my sexual orientation
both as a practicing church member and church organist/music director. The Roman
Catholic Catechism refers to homosexuality three times (sec. 2357 to 2359). Overall these
statements basically say that it is acceptable to be homosexual as long as you do not act on
it and take a vow of chastity. The Catholic Church finds all same sexual behavior extremely
depraved and against the natural law given in the Old Testament. More importantly they
define Homosexuality as the sexual act between two people of the same sex, not the feeling
of sexual attraction towards someone of the same sex. So this asks the question how does a
homosexual be considered acceptable by the Roman Catholic Church both as a member or
employee?
In the Catholic Church, if a single Homosexual confesses to a priest of a sexual act
they would be absolved of their sin and allowed to receive communion. But if a homosexual
is in a committed sexually active relationship confessed they would be denied absolution of
their sin and also denied any sacrament unless the sexual relationship is terminated,
meaning either physically live a part or live together and agree to not engage in sexual
activity. Many argue that Homosexuality was not a choice for them but they were born that
way. The Catholic Church argues that just because a behavior is not chosen does not mean
that it is inborn. It could come from habituation and conditioning not by conscious choice.
According to the Catholic Church, even if homosexuality is a trait through genetics,
homosexual acts are still considered unnatural because they are not part of natural human
design. This gives off a certain you just cant win effect, even though its in your genetics
and there is nothing you can do about it, you still cannot divulge in any act even though it is
natural. This mainly stems from the Catholic teaching that sexual intercourse is only for
procreation reasons only, anything outside of this is considered sinful.
Although the Catholic Church teaches love thy neighbor, the actual discrimination
towards homosexuality came forth when the United States congress was trying to pass a
bill to prevent workplace discrimination of homosexuals amongst other things {S.815
Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2013}. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
issued a letter to Congress concerning this bill, basically they explained that they in no way
agree that it is right to subject someone to unjust discrimination but they could not support
this bill in its current from. They continue to explain that there is a difference between a
person with homosexual inclinations and a person who acts on these inclinations and they
could not support a bill that allows sexual intercourse outside of marriage, for it violates
church doctrine. Additionally the Conference believes that they should of religious
exemption from this bill because it stomps on their religious liberty, because they could not
dismiss someone who worked for them even though it violated the churchs doctrine under
this bill. Included in this bill is a section that prevents people from being discriminated
against based on their religion, so if someone who follows the Catholic religion cannot be
fired for being just Catholic? So if the Catholic Church finds that it has the right to fire
someone for being gay, then a secular employer has the right to fire someone for being
Catholic.

According to Andrew Sullivan:
Notice that there is no attempt here to argue that straight people who violate church
doctrine anyone who masturbates or uses contraception, is divorced or re-married should
they not be protected from discrimination. It is always just the gays who are the target,
because their identity inherently proves their iniquity, while most straight people can hide
theirs.
In Seattle, Washington Mark Zmuda, a gay vice principle at a catholic school was
fired after school administration learned that he had married his partner, which is defined
as a legal union according to the state of Washington. The president of the Eastside School
where Zmuda worked, Sister Mary Tracey stated that the only way he could come back is if
he would divorce his husband. Which is quite ironic since the Catholic Church is very much
against the idea of divorce. But when he refused to divorce his husband the Archbishop of
Seattle J. Peter Zartain recommended that he remained dismiss from his position. Mark
Zmuda has filed a discrimination and wrongful termination lawsuit against the school and
the Seattle Archdiocese. Later the Archdiocese has put out a statement saying that it agrees
with the dismissal of the Vice principal, but it has no authority in the way the Eastside
School is managed. But more importantly Mark Zmuda is a lifelong Catholic he states, "I am
a gay man. I did not choose to be gay. I do not see any inconsistency in the teachings of
Jesus and being gay. With this statement, Zmuda says that his sexual orientation does not
conflict with the teaching of Jesus Christ, but however it does conflict with church doctrine.
After reading and understanding this story it made me realize that my job as a church
organist for a catholic parish can be terminated on the grounds that I married my partner.
A conservative belief within the Catholic Church is that any homosexual relationship
is based on lust and therefore it incapable of being a truly love based relationship to begin
with. This comes from Article 2351 of the Catechism; the section discusses what it means to
break chastity. But this article of the catechism leaves much to be desired with a clear
overall message. It could mean that sexual behavior is only condoned for procreation and
unity or be only linked to one of two purposes. If it is the latter than it contradicts the idea
that sexual behavior is for procreation uses only. Also if so this would technically make
homosexual relationships acceptable by the church because it would allow sexual behavior
to be for unitize purposes and not just procreation, which is biologically impossible for a
same sex relationship. But the overall point of sec. 2351 of the Roman Catholic Catechism is
to condemn sexual behavior for the point of seeking pleasure and not reason stated to be
acceptable by the Roman Catholic Church.
As a homosexual who is a formal Catholic and someone who works for a Catholic
parish as an organist, I view that the church does have the right to dismiss people and
employees that violate church doctrine. In the case of being homosexual, it is not outright
known that you are violating the doctrine of the church. A church official must make
assumptions that the person in question is acting on his or her homosexual inclinations.
Even in a same sex marriage, sexual intercourse between the two people is not always
certain; also the church will not recognize this type of marriage as valid. So the marriage is
really just a union by legal standards. I also find that the argument of priest who is
homosexual should be able to be fired invalid on the fact that the reason that they would be
fired is because they have broken their vow of chastity not for being homosexual. This is
because the catechism allows people to have same sex inclinations as long as they do not
acted upon. So in conclusion the church has no right to dismiss or deny communion on the
grounds that they are homosexual unless they admittedly act upon them.










Works Cited
Brayton, Edward. "Catholic Church Supports Discrimination Against Gays."
ScienceBlog. Science Blogs, 8 June 2010. Web. 28 Apr. 2014.
<http://scienceblogs.com/dispatches/2010/06/08/catholic-church-supports-
discr/>.

Kuruvilla, Carol. "Fired gay vice principal fighting back against Seattle-area
Catholic school." NY Daily News. N.p., 8 Mar. 2014. Web. 28 Apr. 2014.
<http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ousted-gay-vice-principal-
fighting-back-catholic-school-fired-article-1.1715326>.

Robinson, B.A.. "Homosexual teachings and beliefs based on the Bible, church
tradition, and natural law.Part 1." The Roman Catholic Church and
homosexuality: Introduction. N.p., 1 Sept. 2011. Web. 28 Apr. 2014.
<http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_rom8.htm>.

Wong, Curtis. "Mark Zmuda, Gay Catholic Vice Principal, Files Discrimination
Lawsuit Against School And Church." The Huffington Post.
TheHuffingtonPost.com, 7 Mar. 2014. Web. 28 Apr. 2014.
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/07/mark-zmuda-discrimination-
lawsuit-_n_4920342.html>.