Posted April 27, 2015

See the daily excerpt from the preparatory catechesis for the 2015 World Meeting of Families, “Love is Our Mission: The Family Fully Alive.”

165. Catholic teaching on homosexuality must be understood in that light. The same teaching that calls same-sex-attracted persons to lives of chastity in the form of continence calls all Catholics to abandon their own fears, to shun unjust discrimination, and to welcome their homosexual brothers and sisters to the communion of love and truth within the Church. All Christians are called to face their disordered sexual inclinations and to grow in chastity — not a single human individual is untouched by this summons — and hence in their capacity to give and receive love in a manner consonant with their state in life. Yet the response to this summons to conversion is inevitably a work in progress on the part of we recovering sinners who make up the Church’s members. The key is to create within the family, the parish, and the wider Christian com munity an environment of mutual support where moral growth and change can occur.

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In its introduction, the document says its aim is to present “Catholic teaching in a way that is fresh, insightful, and accessible to contemporary Catholics and all people of good will.” The catechesis “offers a narrative beginning with our creation, soberly noting our fall and the challenges we face, but emphasizing God’s plan for our salvation. Love is our mission, and it is by loving God and one another that we will be fully alive.”

Each day in CatholicPhilly.com’s World Meeting of Families section you can reflect on the official Catholic teaching on the family presented in the catechesis, pray a special prayer together as a family or individually, and stay on top of breaking news about the events coming Sept. 22-27, 2015.

Order the catechesis for your home via Our Sunday Visitor, and visit WorldMeeting2015.org for more information on the events.

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