Condemn homosexuality, Vatican official tells Lambeth conference

Guardian ^ | July 31, 2008 | Riazat Butt

[NYer]

Homosexuality is a disordered behaviour that must be condemned, a Vatican official said yesterday.

Walter Cardinal Kasper made the remarks during an address at the Lambeth conference, the once-a-decade gathering of the world's Anglican bishops in Canterbury.

Kasper, who is president of the pontifical council for promoting christian unity, reminded delegates of the catechism of the Roman Catholic church on homosexuality: "This teaching is founded in the Old and New Testament and the fidelity to scripture and to Apostolic tradition is absolute."

Quoting from a key document on Anglican and Catholic relations he said: "Homosexuality is a disordered behaviour. The activity must be condemned; the traditional approach to homosexuality is comprehensive ... A clear declaration about this theme must come from the Anglican Communion."

Such a statement would "greatly strengthen the possibility" of the two churches giving common witness regarding human sexuality, something that was "sorely needed in the world of today".

Kasper was saddened that dialogue between the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church had been seriously compromised over the issues of women's ordination and homosexuality. These developments had also caused the Communion to enter into a period of dispute, he observed.

"Many of you are troubled, deeply so, by the threat of fragmentation. In such a scenario, who will our dialogue partner be? How can we appropriately and honestly engage in conversations with those who share Catholic perspectives on the points currently in dispute, and who disagree with some developments within the Anglican Communion or particular provinces?"

The decision to allow the ordination of women in 28 Anglican provinces implied a turning away from the common position of all churches of the first millennium, he said.

The Catholic perspective on the Anglican Communion was that it was moving a "considerable distance closer" to Protestant churches of the 16th century.

[NYer]

Bishop Gene Robinson from the U.S. the only openly gay bishop in the Anglican church looks at a stall as he tours the "market place" a collection of stalls run by Christian organizations on the fringes of the Lambeth Conference in Cantebury, southern England July 21, 2008. Robinson has been barred from attending the Lambeth conference, a meeting of bishops of the anglican faith held once every 10 years, but is taking part in activities on the sidelines of the meeting.
REUTERS/Andrew Winning (BRITAIN)

[NYer]

Ping!

[wideawake]

Well, that was straightforward and unequivocal.

Good for Kasper. I can only imagine the rage this will provoke.

[Radl]

The NY Slimes are going to be printing massive hit pieces every other day on the Catholic Church for this.

[SumProVita]

“The NY Slimes are going to be printing massive hit pieces every other day on the Catholic Church for this.”

Nothing new....

[shadowgovernment]

why so many homosexual active priest in the church??
if they have a disorder they should be removed No?
I will believe the Church when it cleans it own house.

[verity]

Is San Francisco going to issue an arrest warrant for a hate crime?

[Bosco]

"Disordered behavior".

Hm.

The Bible calls it a sin.

[IrishCatholic]

And your evidence for this is...?

[wideawake]

why so many homosexual active priest in the church??

So many? Really? Do you have some kind of statistics to back this claim up?

if they have a disorder they should be removed No?

Who says they aren't?

I will believe the Church when it cleans it own house.

Clearly you're not a big Scripture reader, but you really should at least take a glance at Matthew 13 before you embarrass yourself further.

[I still care]

This is a great place to post one of my favorite articles, written by Dennis Prager.

Prager speaks from an educated, Jewish, philosophical perspective. If more people had his understanding this would be a better world.

“Judaism’s Sexual Revolution: Why Judaism (and then Christianity) Rejected Homosexuality”

“When Judaism demanded that all sexual activity be channeled into marriage, it changed the world. The Torah’s prohibition of non-marital sex quite simply made the creation of Western civilization possible. Societies that did not place boundaries around sexuality were stymied in their development. The subsequent dominance of the Western world can largely be attributed to the sexual revolution initiated by Judaism and later carried forward by Christianity.”

“This revolution consisted of forcing the sexual genie into the marital bottle. It ensured that sex no longer dominated society, heightened male-female love and sexuality (and thereby almost alone created the possibility of love and eroticism within marriage), and began the arduous task of elevating the status of women.”

The rest is at:

http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/articles2/PragerHomosexuality.shtml

[shadowgovernment]

The legal fees and awards of the last few years would seem to back me up. Recent bishops approving homosexual adoption
would also be a clue..
I am not a Catholic basher, just pointing out something that is very disturbing to any objective person.

[Brian S. Fitzgerald]

The Cardinal will soon be on RW’s hit list.

[Bookem_Danno]

“I am not a Catholic basher...”

No, of course not.

[shadowgovernment]

look I can see the good the church does and the blessing it has been to millions of souls..but today the leadership is inflitrated with homosexuals ..to a lesser extent than the other christian churches but they are a rot on the body of the church and they have pushed the the church from Christ.

[PanzerKardinal]

To paraphrase Archbishop Fulton Sheen,

Critics argue that the Church can only be valid if it completely without sin.

But how could any church ever measure up to their self-imposed standards.

And if a church did exist to their standards, why would it have them as members?

[shadowgovernment]

point well taken..but one should not turn a blind eye either.

[Campion]

"Disordered behavior" is basically moral theologian-speak for "sin"; the only difference being that it's specifically commenting on the act itself and not on the culpability of the actor.

If someone commits a "disordered behavior" knowingly and freely, it's a sin 100% of the time.

In other words, everyone at Lambeth who can translate Vaticanese knows they just got told off.

[Campion]

Recent bishops approving homosexual adoption would also be a clue..

Please document which bishops you're talking about.

I know that Catholic Charities in Massachusetts had to shut down their adoption program because the government forced them to place children with homosexuals.

[HamiltonJay]

If you stand for nothing, you will fall for anything....

After centuries of blasphemy, whats one more?