ncregister.com
2026-05-22
The recently published report from Synod Study Group 9 represents a troubling departure from the Catholic Church's consistent moral teaching. While the authors claim they lack "the expertise or, above all, the necessary ecclesiastical authorization" to address individual moral issues definitively, the report's methodology and framework systematically undermine the Church's ability to proclaim and apply her moral doctrine. This is not merely a technical deficiency -- it is a fundamental contradiction of Catholic teaching that demands a forceful response.
The most immediate concern involves the report's treatment of same-sex relationships. The document presents testimonies from individuals with homosexual attractions without providing the Church's moral framework for understanding these experiences. The report says that one witness "bears witness to the discovery that sin, at its root, does not consist in the (same sex) couple relationship, but in a lack of faith in a God who desires our fulfillment." The authors of the report reproduce this claim without correction or clarification.
This witness's thinking is fundamentally flawed. Homosexual acts are intrinsically evil -- this is settled Catholic doctrine. A believing Christian who engages in such acts certainly falls short in faith, insofar as he fails to trust in God's grace, which enables him to avoid sin. But this does not mean the sin lies primarily in lack of faith rather than in the act itself, as the witness suggests. The authors' failure to clarify this point creates dangerous ambiguity.
A second testimony is even more problematic.