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Catholics should stop using the term "LGBTQ Catholic" because, according to Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput, such groups simply do not exist. He made this clear during a gathering for a synod on “Young People, the Faith, and Vocational Discernment,” stating that he has a problem with any reference to "LGBTQ Catholics." According to Patheos.com, he explained his thinking in a letter to his colleagues:
"… There is no such thing as an “LGBTQ Catholic” or a “transgender Catholic” or a “heterosexual Catholic,” as if our sexual appetites defined who we are; as if these designations described discrete communities of differing but equal integrity within the real ecclesial community, the body of Jesus Christ. This has never been true in the life of the Church, and is not true now. It follows that “LGBTQ” and similar language should not be used in Church documents, because using it suggests that these are real, autonomous groups, and the Church simply doesn’t categorize people that way."
Using the term "heterosexual Catholic," Chaput tried to make it look like his statement is not pointed towards LGBTQ people inside the Church, but it is almost impossible to believe that he would release the statement if it were only about heterosexual Catholics, especially considering he already argued that openly gay couples introduced “moral confusion in the community" and that gay people in relationships shouldn’t receive communion. At the same time, there is no need to refer to "heterosexual Catholics" because heterosexual relationships are the default option, and the only ‘legitimate’ option, according to the Church. Same-sex relationships are condemned in the catechism language and they are described as a ‘sin.’
The letter to his colleagues was written by Chaput because the term LGBT was used in Chapter IV of the synod’s instrumentum laboris. According to National Catholic Register, Paragraph 197 says that “some LGBT youths, through various contributions that were received by the General Secretariat of the Synod, wish to ‘benefit from greater closeness’ and experience greater care by the Church.”
In the wake of a huge number of extremely serious sex abuse allegations against members of the Church it is strange that Archbishop is wasting his time on devout Catholics whose only ‘mistake’ is being LGBTQ. The Church has made its position on LGBTQ issues very clear: they oppose everything, but many LGBTQ Catholics oppose the Church on these issues — and yes, they exist.
