Church Teaching on Pastoral Care and Outreach

The Church teaches that LGBT people must be welcome into the faith community.  Church leaders have called on pastoral ministers to develop programs for LGBT people that are appropriate to their needs and gifts.

The following are quotes from magisterial documents.

To Live in Christ Jesus, National Conference of Catholic Bishops, 1976; Human Sexuality: A Catholic Perspective for Education and Lifelong Learning, National Conference of Catholic Bishops, 1991.

“…the Christian community should offer [homosexual people] a special degree of pastoral understanding and care.”


A Ministry to Lesbian and Gay Catholic Persons, Archdiocese of Baltimore, 1981.

“The ministry of the Roman Catholic Church to gays and lesbians…is not content merely to repeat the challenge Christ sets before each generation; it seeks to work with each individual, taking into account that person’s particular strengths and weaknesses, and helping that person make the fullest response at this moment in his or her life.”


Ministry and Homosexuality in the Archdiocese of San Francisco, 1983.

“What then are homosexual Catholics looking for from the Church’s ministry?  As all Catholics, they look to the Church for a community in which the Gospel can be lived and their spiritual lives can be enriched.  The look to the Church for support for their Christian faith and their Catholic heritage.  They seek an understanding Church, a community where they can be accepted as men and women who are Catholic and who also happen to be homosexual.  They look to the Church as a community of faith, a place where they may responsibly and sensitively understand the interplay between their religious faith and their human sexuality, and to live the sacramental life of the Church in all of its rich meanings.”


Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, 1986.

“…we would ask the Bishops to support with the means at their disposal, the development of appropriate forms of pastoral care for homosexual persons.”


Always Our Children, US Conference of Catholic Bishops, Committee on Marriage and Family, 1997.

“Welcome homosexual persons into the faith community, and seek out those on the margins. Avoid stereotyping and condemning. Strive first to listen. Do not presume that all homosexual persons are sexually active.  Learn more about homosexuality and church teaching so your preaching, teaching, and counseling will be informed and effective.”


Ministry to Persons with a Homosexual Inclination:  Guidelines for Pastoral Care, US Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2006.

“Sad to say, there are many persons with a homosexual inclination who feel alienated from the Church.  Outreach programs and evangelization efforts ought to be mindful of such persons.  In areas where there are larger concentrations of homosexual persons, individuals may profitably be dedicated solely to outreach ministry to hem.   In other areas, ministry . . . should be included as part of overall evangelization efforts.”


Ministry to Persons with a Homosexual Inclination:  Guidelines for Pastoral Care, US Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2006.

“Church policies should explicitly reject unjust discrimination and harassment of any persons, including those with a homosexual inclination.  Procedures should be in place to handle complaints.”


Ministry to Persons with a Homosexual Inclination:  Guidelines for Pastoral Care, US Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2006.

“Ongoing catechesis and conscience formation for persons who experience same-sex attraction should be an important part of this Catholic ministry, counteracting some prevalent societal mores and providing the basis for making informed moral judgments.”


Ministry to Persons with a Homosexual Inclination:  Guidelines for Pastoral Care, US Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2006.

“. . . [t]here is a need of a special effort to help persons with a homosexual inclination understand Church teaching.  At the same time, it is important the Church ministers listen to the experiences, needs, and hopes of the persons with a homosexual inclination to whom and with whom they minister.  Dialogue provides an exchange of information, and also communicates a respect for the innate dignity of other persons and a respect for their consciences.”