Here are a few radical ideas for my fellow Catholics to contemplate:

1. The Catholic Church condemns homosexual (“Gay”) Marriage.
2. The Catholic Church condemns homosexual behavior.
3. The Catholic Church does not condemn homosexuals.

Just reading those three facts together may confuse some people; they might look upon them and assume this is a “one of these things doesn’t belong” test, but it’s not. The simplest of explanations is thus: condemn ≠ hate. Read that again. “To condemn” does not equal “to hate”. The proper definition of condemn in this context is, “To pronounce to be utterly wrong; to utter a sentence of disapprobation against; to censure; to blame.” As an example, “I personally condemn racism” or “The Catholic Church condemns racism.”

Make sense? Okay. So why bring this up now?

Two words: Gay Pride.

Recently, there have been social media movements advocating the advancement of Gay Pride and LGBTQA+ items. As part of the social media movements, many persons have been posting positive articles and changing logos and profile pictures to include rainbow stickers or flags or whatnots to indicate support of this agenda. What people do with their lives is on them, I understand, but what bothers me is when fellow Catholics stand loud and proud on this issue OPPOSITE the teachings of the Church. The Catholic Church’s stance regarding homosexual acts is clear: “Under no circumstances can they be approved”.

In some people’s minds, that clearly means that Catholics and the Catholic Church hates homosexuals, but they couldn’t be more wrong. Literally three sentences later, the Catechism states: “They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided”. EVERY SIGN! Internal, external, third person potential prospective injunctive whatever…EVERY SIGN! We do not hate homosexuals, we condemn their behavior.

That being said, we as Catholics cannot support movements that promote or advocate positions opposite the Church’s teachings on life, including those of the LGBTQA+ community. You cannot condemn the activity and behavior out of one side of the mouth while glorifying and praising it out the side of the other. To advocate for LGBTQA+ agendas is to speak a lie, i.e. to not proclaim the truth…and in this case, the Truth with the capital T.

Let us keep in mind that Christ dined with the sinners, but he did not advocate their behavior. In John 8:11, He said to the woman caught in the act of adultery, “Go and now sin no more.” Interestingly, in the earlier part of the sentence (again, John 8:11), he said, “Neither will I condemn thee.” In this case, he was literally stating he would not condemn her to die as the crowd of tricksters was asking Him to do. He told the woman the truth, that what she was doing was wrong, but told her he would not kill her for it. We in the Church should do the same: tell people that this behavior is wrong, but that we don’t advocate for their harm. In fact, we will refuse to unjustly discriminate against them in word, thought, or deed as the Catechism teaches us. Does that mean we accept their sinful behavior? No. Are there times where we will justly discriminate against homosexuality, such as keeping blatantly effeminate/homosexual men from being ordained priests and thusly leading their flock into sin by following their behavior? Absolutely.

In the end, recall some of His most famous words: “A new commandment I give unto you: That you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” When you love someone, you tell them the truth.

If you love someone as Christ commanded, you tell them the Truth.