Medical Experts Call “Ministry to Persons with Homosexual Inclinations” Gravely Flawed

Excerpted from Catholic Bishops’ ‘Gay’ Guidelines ‘Gravely Flawed’, by Mary Jo Anderson, published Nov 9, 2006, by WorldNet Daily:

“Gravely flawed” – that’s the dire warning of medical experts who have seen copies of the proposed guidelines for “Ministry to Persons with Homosexual Inclinations,” to be released by the Catholic Bishops of the United States at their annual conference in Baltimore next week.

Catholic psychiatrists and physicians have quietly sent selected bishops detailed memos outlining their objections to the document in advance of the Nov. 13-16 meeting. Among the chief objections to the document, the critique notes, is that a truly charitable ministry includes “the truths that medical/psychological science has discovered about homosexuality … In particular, the health risks inherent in the lifestyle and the real grounds for hope of recovery and healing are never mentioned in the [proposed] document.”

The memo summarizes key points from medical and psychological literature on homosexuality that these experts had hoped the bishops would acknowledge, including:

• no genetic basis [for same-sex attraction] was found in last year’s [human]genome study
• fluidity of sexual attractions, with people spontaneously moving out of the lifestyle
• rampant promiscuity
• inability to maintain commitment

Richard Fitzgibbons, M.D., a contributor to the Catholic Medical Association’s statement on “Homosexuality and Hope,” was explicit:

“Persons with SSA (Same-Sex Attraction) suffer real physical and emotional physical illness in this lifestyle. There is no mention [in the document] of the deleterious effects of homosexual behavior on the person; the abuse, the diseases and the psychological pain that accompanies that lifestyle.”

Continue reading at WorldNet Daily…