MARRIAGE AND THE WORLD OF FAMILIES. WEEK 1. DAY 7. August 28.  The Church upholds the vision of marriage as essentially between a man and a woman but it does recognise that other sexual orientations exist, in both men and women, commonly spoken of today as the range of LGBTIQ but mainly as lesbian women and gay men.  “We, as gay Catholics, can live together but are expected to be celibate and not engage in sexual intercourse.” George explained to the youth. “Legally we can marry, but the Church cannot call it a marriage. That is how things are for us.” He added, “It is not easy for us, and not for our families either. I believe that this is a subject on which much more will be said and that there is still no absolute and final clarity.”

The Church makes her own the attitude of the Lord Jesus, who offers his boundless love to each person without exception. During the Synod we discussed the situation of families whose members include persons who experience same-sex attraction. We would like before all else to reaffirm that every person, regardless of their sexual orientation ought to be respected in his or her dignity and treated with consideration while every sign of unjust discrimination is to be carefully avoided.  Such families should be given respectful pastoral guidance so that those who manifest this can receive the assistance they need to understand and fully carry out God’s will in their lives.  The Synod Fathers observed that as for proposals to place unions between homosexual personals on the same level as marriage, there are absolutely no grounds for considering homosexual unions to be in any way similar or even remotely analogous to God’s plan for marriage and family.  AL 250-1.