Leave it to the AP

Homosexuality on Catholic bishops agenda BALTIMORE, Nov. 13 (UPI) -- New guidelines freeing gay Catholics from trying to alter their sexual orientation is being considered by U.S. Roman Catholic bishops this week.

During their annual fall meeting in Baltimore the bishops will review guidelines for ministering to homosexuals, The Chicago Tribune reported.

Drafted by a conference committee, the documents may encounter opposition from some conservative bishops.

"We are trying to find a language that does not betray the teaching of the church, but will perhaps express it in ways that are not so offensive," Chicago's Cardinal Francis George, vice president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, told the Tribune.

Recent directives from the Vatican bar most gay men from pursuing ordination and prohibit priests with "homosexual tendencies" from teaching or running seminaries.

"They're lost focus on the needs of the human race," said Sam Sinnett, president of the gay Catholic group DignityUSA. "They're much more concerned with whether two homosexuals are going to get married or not."

Sounds some of the bishops are wordsmithing - but why? To try to get take off some of the heat they get from groups like DignityUSA? And when an item like that comes up for discussion on how they can make Church teaching more pastoral, they get flack anyway.

Hopefully the bishops keep focused on fundmentals:
A homosexual orientation is not a sin, homosexual acts are.
People with a homosexual orientation are called to celebacy, just like people who aren't married.
Everyone is called to chastity according to their state in life.
What else needs to be said that would convince people that the can't follow Jesus and lead an intrinsically sinful lifestyle?

Consider a Catholic couple who were previously married, divorced, and married outside the Church. Does the Church need to tweak their guidelines to try to be more pastoral and win them back to the Church? Or is the teaching crystal clear and you simply have the issue of folks needing to make immense lifestyle changes or sacrifices to get back in line with Church teaching?

I would say that the teaching on these items is clear, and attempts at being more pastoral have tremendous potential to muddy the waters rather than help people live in the manner Jesus is calling us to live.