DISCRIMINATION against homosexuals is contrary to the Gospel spirit but condemns same-sex union as a lifestyle.

This is the view enunciated by Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas, in his capacity as president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Phillippines (CBCP).

“Persons with homosexual orientation are sons and daughters of God; no less than any of us is,” the archbishop intoned restating the CBCP statement dated March 3 in a Pastoral Moral Guidance on the Anti-Discrimination Bill.

The statement was issued in support of the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity bill filed in the House of Representatives.

The statement clarified that “if discrimination means that certain individuals, because of sexual orientation or gender identity, are systematically denied fundamental human rights, then any measure that counters discrimination of this kind is a gesture of charity, one that reaches out to all and recognizes them in their inherent dignity as sons and daughters of God, called to new life in Jesus Christ.”

It recalled Pope Francis’ vision of the Chruch “as the sacrament of Divine Mercy and compassion,’ when it pointed out that “the homosexuals exclusion from the life of the Church, their treatment as outcasts, their relegation to the category of inferior members of the Church worthy only of derision and scorn.

The CBCP also pointed out that in Catholic institutions, “there should be zero-tolerance for the bullying and badgering of persons in such personal situations”.

However, the CBCP also contested a common fallacy that the way a person chooses to live his or her life and with which gender to identify with is purely a matter of personal sovereignty and choice.

“Much is left to choice, but much is also a matter of human given-ness, a matter of human facticity,” it said.

“The disapproval of homosexual acts remains part of the Church’s moral teaching, a consequence in fact of its understanding of human dignity,” it emphasized.

“If gay rights movements, for instance, encourage free and unbridled sexual relations between persons of the same sex, the Church cannot lend its support, for in its view, they ultimately do a disservice to our brothers and sisters, ” the statement said.

What gay rights can legitimately champion is justice for all, fairness that must extend to all persons regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity, it said.

Insofar as the proposed piece of legislation, the CBCP lends its support but insofar as future legislative initiatives giving legal recognition to same-sex unions, the CBCP said the Church declares “there is no equivalence or even any remote analogy whatsoever between marriage between a man and woman as planned by God and the so-called same-sex unions.”

Meanwhile, the CBCP, however, also said there are certain matters that the Church considers to be within its exclusive sphere of competence, i.e., to determine its own criteria and to exclude even on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity if it finds these to be hindrances to the fidelity that is expected of ordained or consecrated persons.”

The bishops foresee that CBCP will be reproved for not going “all out” in its approval of homosexual and transsexual orientation and identity.  “But we pray that all will understand that the deposit of faith is not owed to us, nor is it something we are free to modify or tailor to suit fad and fancy,” Villegas said. (Tita Roces)

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