Keep your grubby ideological mitts off the Catechism!!

This post is not what you think it is… 

UPDATED FOR CLARITY

A friend sent me a concern about someone doing some internet hanky-panky with the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Here is the gist of her note:

There is a revised version of the Vatican’s Catechism of the Catholic Church paragraph 2358 on homosexuality floating around. If you search Catechism of the Catholic Church Homosexuality on Google, you find the top two links are to Vatican pages which look nearly identical. The only difference is paragraph 2358.

The second link is the revision. A web-savvy friend found it does belong to the Vatican and was created in 2015. It is indexed which means “they” want it to come up in searches. It comes up as number two: a problematic acceptance of pop theory on homosexuality and the removal of the words intrinsically disordered. The correct version of CCC 2358 is first on google searches. Verbal engineering is afoot!!! 

Please note: my friend assumed that the version without “intrinsically disordered” was the correct version.

So, I looked it up and confirmed the first basic fact: Yes, there are two versions of para #2358, identical, except for the second sentence that come up on a google search. On the day that I did my search, the first link to come up says:

2358 The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God’s will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord’s Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.

The second link on the Google search on that particular day gives this:

2358 The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. They do not choose their homosexual condition; for most of them it is a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God’s will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord’s Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.

But that second sentence in the version my friend thought was “revised” sounded familiar to me. I dashed up to get my physical copy of the Catechism. For the record, it is from the 1994 first edition.  (I took these photos of my book with my cell phone.)

Turning to paragraph 2358, here is what we find:

The sentence my friend assumed was “suspect” appears in the original 1994 Catechism. What she considered the “problematic acceptance of pop theory on homosexuality and the removal of the words intrinsically disordered” is in the original. 

For what it is worth, the phrase “intrinsically disordered” appears in the preceding paragraph #2357 in both on-line versions, as well as in the paper version (of course.) For the record, here it is:

#2357 Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and different cultures. Its psycholoigical genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.” (emphasis added.) They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.

Please note: #2357 states that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.” The incorrect version of #2358 states that the homosexual inclination is intrinsically disordered. Two very different things.

I have no idea what is going on behind the scenes on the internet. But I surmise:  If someone is messing around with the Catechism, it is probably not the “lavender mafia,” in this particular case.

I just have this to say: I don’t care who you are or what your motives are. I don’t care if you are on “my side” of the “culture wars,” or “the other side.” I don’t care if you self-identify as gay, straight, left, right, or center.

KEEP YOUR GRUBBY MITTS OFF THE CATECHISM!!! In these times of upheaval, the Catechism is our lifeline to the Deposit of Faith.

And to everyone: if you don’t already have a physical copy of the Catechism, please get one. You never know when you will need it.