11. It has been argued
that the homosexual orientation in certain cases is not the result of
deliberate choice; and so the homosexual person would then have no choice but
to behave in a homosexual fashion. Lacking freedom, such a person, even if
engaged in homosexual activity, would not be culpable.
Here, the
Church's wise moral tradition is necessary since it warns against
generalizations in judging individual cases. In fact, circumstances may exist,
or may have existed in the past, which would reduce or remove the culpability
of the individual in a given instance; or other circumstances may increase it.
What is at all costs to be avoided is the unfounded and demeaning assumption
that the sexual behaviour of homosexual persons is always and totally
compulsive and therefore inculpable. What is essential is that the fundamental
liberty which characterizes the human person and gives him his dignity be
recognized as belonging to the homosexual person as well. As in every
conversion from evil, the abandonment of homosexual activity will require a
profound collaboration of the individual with God's liberating grace.
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