The gift of human sexuality is a great mystery. From the first instant of our existence, we are encoded with the faintest tracings of a potential yearning for a relationship to others, first to the Triune God as the ultimate source of all life, and then to our loving parents through whom we have received the gift of life itself and then gradually to friends and colleagues as we mature.

In its widest sense, sexuality is the human capacity to relate to others with respect and affection. It is a gift given by God to every single human being. Sexuality remains at the very core of everything we are, and defines our existence in ways that are profound.

With that gift of God also comes the God-given obli-gation to cherish the gift wisely and responsibly, without exploitation or lack of respect at any level. Sexual morality embodies values of the greatest importance, including commit-ment and openness to life.

Unfortunately, as one learns from even the briefest ex-posure to the sitcoms of contemporary television, sex-uality is treated as nothing more than casual enter-tainment. Fidelity to the morality of the Judaeo-Christian tradition, on the other hand, is certainly counter cultural. That funda-mental fidelity is part of the Christian heritage which we have received.

The recent Vatican Instruc-tion on ministry and homo-sexuality has been greeted in very different ways. Some people were grateful for the reaffirmation of traditional sexual morality in the midst of what may seem to be so much contemporary confusion and ambiguity.

The need, recognized by all Catholic moralists, to rein-troduce some subjective di-mensions into the ethics which measure our human relation-ships, has left many fearful that all objective moral standards have been eliminated from Christian life. In terms of ministry, the fact of the matter is that our people have a right to expect integrity from their clergy and fidelity to the fundamental promises of life. Chastity remains a value for everyone. The Instruction attempts to say that clearly.

At the same time, others have observed, the Instruction seems to go beyond external behavior to the mystery which remains at the core of a person’s identity. Although one should read the carefully nuanced text of the Instruction itself, a result of the document’s release has also been a great hurt experienced, at least in our American culture, by many clergy, family and friends, heterosexual and homosexual alike.

One of the late Pope John Paul II’s works was a thorough study of human existence under the lens of personalist philosophy. The work was titled “The Acting Person.” The Holy Father insisted we shape ourselves by the de-cisions we make and the actions we take.

The first effect of any hu-man action, noted the Holy Father, is on the individual person him/herself. The God-given core of our identity is beyond our control, but our behavior and our actions are not. The latter represent the primary focus for our ethical life.

By judging someone’s inner unchosen sexual orientation negatively, rather than focusing on the deliberate external behavior freely willed by that person, many people with some degree of homosexual inclination have felt rejected by that Instruction and there-fore by the very church they have loved and attempted to serve with their entire lives. The level of personal pain has been great. Good pastoral care requires a thoughtful response.

In my own priestly exper-ience over almost a half century, I have known count-less clergy and religious, he-terosexual and homosexual alike, whose lives in ministry have been paragons of fidelity and service. I have welcomed them as colleagues and trea-sured their partnership in the work of the Gospel.

Living with integrity, fi-delity and chastity is not easy for anyone, married or single, gay or straight. Sometimes people make mistakes and serious ones at that. Even such mistakes can become the occasion for deep conversion. The vast majority of clergy and religious, however, has taken their commitments seriously and has persevered in their promises to live consecrated single lives for the sake of the Gospel.

These are people whom we salute with respect and affection.