I recently had a Catholic priest say to a group of people I was among, "The church should discuss the issue of 'LGBT' people!" I didn't feel comfortable challenging him in front of the others, but thought to myself "There is nothing to discuss! Scripture is already one hundred percent clear, as is the Church's perfectly clear teaching on the subject: it's a settled matter, for all time."

Satan is constantly tempting each of us according to our own weakness: he tempts some of us to lying and cheating, others to robbery or assault, others to murder. For some, he tempts them to sexual sin-- to highly disordered sexual thinking. It is not a sin to be tempted: indeed, Satan approached Jesus Himself, and tempted Christ to sin! We know directly from God that Jesus never sinned, ergo it is not a sin to be tempted. Besides, it stands to reason: we have no agency over Satan's doings.

What is a sin is to indulge the disordered fantasies, or-- heaven forbid-- to act on them.

There is no such thing as an "LGBT person", just like there is no such thing as a "bank robber": we are all just people in God's eyes-- equally imperfect, yet equally loved by the Lord. "For it is the one who is least among you all who is the greatest." Just as the person tempted to rob banks needs to abstain from robbery; just as the person tempted to lie needs to abstain from lying; so too does the person tempted to disordered sexual temptation need to abstain from succumbing to those temptations, both in thought and in act.

I'm hardly an expert in theology, but even for a "noob" such as myself this is not a difficult concept to comprehend-- it's so basic that even a three year-old could grasp it. It's so crystalline that it's common sense-- a "well, duh!" kind of notion. Trying to argue against it is impossible! So it's to my absolute bewilderment that actual Catholic priests, even in Conservative rural America, can become so confused by what is so clear, decided, and obvious!

I don't think these priests are bad people-- I am assuming positive intent, for sure. This particular priest, I greatly respect. But, speaking of Satan, I think he is weakening these people by giving them "the feelies" that they need to appease evil, rather than combat it. This is causing those afflicted to lose sight of the Word.