11-16-2013, 10:38 AM
I grew up Catholic and I have to say that by and large most Catholics are pretty lax about sexual matters. They're ten times more reasonable and understanding than your average nondenominational Christian, and about fifty times more than psychotic Evangelicals.
The only real beef that the Catholic church has with homosexuality comes down to the fact that sex between two men or two women cannot result in procreation. That's really it. Straight Catholics are supposed to follow the same rule, which means no sexual acts that don't potentially result in a child. How many of them actually follow that? Probably 10%, if that. Gay people are totally welcome in the church, but they are supposed to refrain from having sexual relationships due to their inability to result in children (which is ridiculous, I know).
There are obviously some super sexually moralistic Catholics and some homophobes, but in general, I've always had the impression that your everyday modern Catholic has a fairly "live and let live" attitude. The Vatican is a whole different entity from the everyday congregation, and there were a lot of people who went crazy over the Vatican II, but those were mostly old school Catholics who have since died. It's a generational thing I think, just like with everything else.
The only real beef that the Catholic church has with homosexuality comes down to the fact that sex between two men or two women cannot result in procreation. That's really it. Straight Catholics are supposed to follow the same rule, which means no sexual acts that don't potentially result in a child. How many of them actually follow that? Probably 10%, if that. Gay people are totally welcome in the church, but they are supposed to refrain from having sexual relationships due to their inability to result in children (which is ridiculous, I know).
There are obviously some super sexually moralistic Catholics and some homophobes, but in general, I've always had the impression that your everyday modern Catholic has a fairly "live and let live" attitude. The Vatican is a whole different entity from the everyday congregation, and there were a lot of people who went crazy over the Vatican II, but those were mostly old school Catholics who have since died. It's a generational thing I think, just like with everything else.