The Roman Catholic Church has had to confront several controversial and sensitive issues in recent years.

As part of confronting those issues, St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church, 2210 Lincoln Way, started a discussion group on homosexuality and Catholicism.

The group was started by Father Everett Hemann, St. Thomas Aquinas priest, after a letter was sent out by the bishops of the United States several years ago that urged Catholics to minister to homosexuals. Hemann began to plan the group in the summer of 2001 and held its first meetings in February 2002.

Meetings were “exclusively for people of homosexual orientation, to find out what the gay experience was like and what people thought the Church’s stance on homosexuality was,” Hemann said.

“Being a Christian homosexual is a double whammy. Some Christians don’t like or accept you because you’re gay and some gays don’t accept you because you are a Christian, and they perceive Christians as persecutors,” said one group member who asked to be identified only as “Matt” – to make things easier on his parents.

“It’s a process for them,” Matt said. “They accepted and supported me, but when I told them I was gay, it was an emotional time.”

Hemann said the group shows a view of homosexuality rarely portrayed in mass media. For many, homosexuality and Christianity are conflicting ideas, but many groups have found ways for the two to coincide.

Hemann said one of the goals is to clear up long-standing misconceptions about the Church’s stance on homosexuality.

“God created us as sexual people, and it’s in dealing with behavior when morality comes into play,” Hemann said. “What most people do not understand is that the Catholic Church does not condemn people because they are gay.”

Hemann said the Church condemns behavior, not people.

“We treat it the same as we would heterosexuality – sex can only take place in the confines of marriage,” he said. “The rules are the same for everyone.”

According to the Vatican’s official Web site, the Church calls for Catholics “to reach out to homosexuals and to minister to them, and to treat them with the dignity and respect they are entitled to as human beings.”

However, the Church does not recognize homosexual marriage and considers homosexual intercourse to be a sin – urging homosexuals to lead a life of chastity, according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

After the two initial meetings, the group began to focus on gaining ideas to improve relations with the homosexual community. The two meetings that followed centered on what St. Thomas Aquinas could do to become a more welcoming parish to gays, while the last few meetings of the year focused on what plans would be for the fall, Hemann said.

“One of things we discovered with this group is that some people have misunderstood the church’s position and have left the church specifically over this issue,” Hemann said. “We need to change this.”

Hemann said the group’s fall plans will be mostly centered on educating people and welcoming them back to the church.

“College is a time when people struggle with a lot of issues like these, and we want people to know we are a safe haven for students wrestling with sexual identity or behavior – homosexual or otherwise,” Hemann said.

There are no ISU undergraduates in the group, but several alumni and graduate students.

“It doesn’t surprise me. When you’re young, being openly gay can be very scary,” Matt said. “We want to be open, let people know who we are and what we do, but at the same time we want to be a safe haven for people struggling with this. So it’s a fine line.”

So far, reaction has been positive, Hemann said.

Hemann said due to inclement weather the first meeting drew a small audience, but the second meeting was larger, drawing 45 to 50 people.

In April, St. Thomas Aquinas sponsored a public presentation and discussion with Richard Sparks, a Paulist priest and a noted free-lance author on the church and homosexuality. About 300 people attended the discussion.

“During the first few meetings, people were very receptive to gays participating in the church,” Matt said. “After the Richard Sparks presentation, there were a few people who were not as receptive to the idea. However, they were very respectful, and I give them credit for coming and opening a dialogue.

“For me, the Catholic Church has been very supportive,” he said. “It’s really important for people to have a supportive community.”