I'm responding to a post; sex-and-catholics">this one, in fact.

It's offensive, erroneous and blatantly anti-Catholic. To start with, the poster asserts that within Catholicism "Masturbation or any kind of recreational sex is a mortal sin." No, it's not a mortal sin, not now, and not for the previous thousand years. Mortal sins are those that, according to the Church and St. Augustine "Dictum vel factum vel concupitum contra legem æternam," that is, a mortal sin is something said, done or des

ired "contrary to the eternal law." You have to choose to commit mortal sins; they involve the will. Mortal sins tend to be things like denying God, or the Church, or committing murder, or deliberate, knowing wrong-doing. Mortal sins must involve deliberate malice and a desire to do wrong. Mortal sins, by their nature, separate humans from God and must be confessed. Masturbation, when performed alone, is a sin of the flesh, of lechery. It is a venial sin.

Venial sins are those that do not separate humans from God, or deny caritas, the love of man for God, and God for man. Venial are reparable. They may be pardoned, upon confession, or admission and recognition of the wrong, if the transgressor makes reparations and is contrite. Venial sins, in action, thought or word, deny, or are not in accord with the laws of God. Venial sin is pardonable. Venial sins are committed without the intention of doing harm, and the person must do individual acts of charity, but does not, according the Catechism, even have to confess the sin.

The post asserts that "Any kind of homosexual sex is also a sin." Technically, yes, since it is sexual activity that is not intended to create progeny—however, homosexual sex is not considered to be a graver error than heterosexual sex that is not intended to produce offspring. Both of these are venial sins. Officially, the Vatican asserts that "Although the particular inclination of the homosexual person is not a sin, it is a more or less strong tendency toward an intrinsic moral evil; and thus the inclination itself must be seen as an objective disordered" ("Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual People" no.3, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. 1986). The Catholic church does not view queers as an &uumlaut;ber group of sinners. Moreover, given the number of practicing and queer Catholics, and the existence of groups like DignityUSA, I suspect that queer Catholics can lobby the Vatican, if they feel so inclined.

"Birth control? You guessed it. Birth control is yet another sin," Well, actually, not necessarily. It depends on the reasons, and the methods. It is not at all a sin to abstain, for instance. It is not a sin to choose when to have sex. It's is artificial methods, including coitus interruptus, methods designed purely to prevent conception, that are forbidden, as clearly explained in Pope Paul VI 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae etc. I should note that this has not, at all, appeared to stop Catholics, particularly women, from using such means.

To conclude a post with offensive and inane commentary, including the statement that "While I am not a religious person necessarily"—and then criticize the faith she doesn't even practice, is the height of both ignorance and arrogance. Surely a non-Catholic can find something better to do with her time than complain about a religion that isn't even hers? The Catholic Church by its very nature must adhere to the law of God as expressed by the Bible and the Church fathers just as much as other religions of the Book. They can't say "we've decided not to obey these laws," and yet remain Catholic. Even within Protestant churches, there is a great deal of different attitudes towards these same issues. People in this country have freedom of religion; surely that includes the right to practice their religion as they see fit, without condemnation from others? If we wish to have our choices honored, we must allow others to make their own decisions and have their beliefs respected as well.