A Catholic bishop in Germany who once took a hardline stance against active homosexuals has called for a thorough reappraisal of Church teaching on sexuality, saying it has especially caused "suffering" and "psychologically unhealthy repression" among gay people.

"The question is whether specific tenets (einzelne Inhalte) of the Catholic theology of the body have possibly led to a disastrous tabooing of the phenomenon of human sexuality," said Bishop Franz-Josef Overbeck of Essen.

"This particularly applies to homosexuality because – according to this assumption — such a negative Church view (as that expressed in Church teaching) has promoted and encouraged a psychologically and institutionally unhealthy repression, or even denial, of this expression of sexuality," the 54-year-old bishop said.

Bishop Overbeck, who is also head of Germany's Military Archdiocese and a vice-president of COMECE (Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Union), carefully spelled out his views in the February 2019 issue of the prestigious German theological monthly Herder Korrespondenz.

"One thing is certain: Every human being can most respectfully and lovingly enter into interpersonal relationships. Excluding certain groups is therefore the expression of a prejudice which is hard to bear for those excluded and in the final instance leads to discriminating against or even criminalizing them," he wrote in an essay titled, "Overcoming prejudices: The Catholic Church must change its view of homosexuality."

Credibility of Church teaching in light of human experience

Bishop Overbeck, who is a cancer survivor, said the Church cannot avoid discussing people's experiences with sexuality and with the human sciences that are concerned with it.

He warned that doing so would marginalize Catholic moral teaching. Rather, he said dialogue on the exegetical and moral-theological insights that have been gained in recent decades must be open-ended so as to allow for progress.

"That is the only way tradition will remain a living process as it has been since the beginnings of Christianity," he said.

The bishop also called for a re-examination of the Bible's time-conditioned and era-specific cultural perceptions concerning sexual morality and homosexuality. Read more via La Croix