Congregatio pro Doctrina Fidei 507

supports or limits, well-being and liberty of spirit. This remains largely an

empirical question, not a moral one" (P. 236).

This statement does not conform to Catholic teaching: "Both the Magis-

terium of the Church, in the course of a constant tradition, and the moral

sense of the faithful have been in no doubt and have firmly maintained that

masturbation is an intrinsically and gravely disordered action. The deliberate

use of the sexual faculty, for whatever reason, outside of marriage is essen-

tially contrary to its purpose. For here sexual pleasure is sought outside of

the sexual relationship which is demanded by the moral order and in which

the total meaning of mutual self-giving and human procreation in the context

of true love is achieved. To form an equitable judgment about the subject's

moral responsibility and to guide pastoral action, one must take into account

the affective immaturity, force of acquired habit, conditions of anxiety, or

other psychological or social factors that lessen or even extenuate moral

culpability".1

Homosexual acts

Sr. Farley writes: "My own view... is that same-sex relationships and

activities can be justified according to the same sexual ethic as heterosexual

relationships and activities. Therefore, same-sex oriented persons as well as

their activities can and should be respected whether or not they have a choice

to be otherwise" (P. 295).

This opinion is not acceptable. The Catholic Church, in fact, distinguishes

between persons with homosexual tendencies and homosexual acts. Concern-

ing persons with homosexual tendencies, the Catechism of the Catholic Church

teaches that "they must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitiv-

ity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided".2

Concerning homosexual acts, however, the Catechism affirms: "Basing itself

on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave deprav-

ity, tradition has always declared that homosexual acts are intrinsically dis-

ordered. They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to

1 Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 2352; cfr Congregation for the Doctrine of the

Faith, Declaration Persona humana on Certain Questions Concerning Sexual Ethics (December

29, 1975), n. 9: AAS 68 (1976), 85-87. 2 Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 2358.