What might be legal might not be moral. Take for example Roe v Wade in the U.S. It legalizes abortion but, it is moral?

http://cuf.org/LayWitness/online_view.asp?lwID=525

The above references might be of help:

"What's in a Name

Mark Brumley
From the Mar 1997 Issue of Lay Witness Magazine

Vatican documents on homosexuality wisely avoid “gay” and “lesbian.” Such words are freighted with dubious social agendas and connotations favorable to homosexual activity.

What would you think about a pastoral program called “Ministry with Sexually Liberated Catholics?” Or how about “Ministry with Catholic Women Who’ve Exercised Their Right to Choose,” or “Ministry with Catholic Women Who Have Terminated a Pregnancy”?

Consider the pastoral advantages of those expressions. People who have extra-marital affairs might be “alienated” by “pastorally insensitive” terms like “adultery” and “fornication.” They’d probably prefer thinking of themselves as “sexually liberated,” liberty being a good thing and “adultery” and “fornication” having negative, immoral connotations. So let’s refer to them by their preferred self-designation: “Sexually Liberated Catholics.” That way, they’ll feel more “welcome” in the Church.

Similarly, women who’ve had abortions are apt to be “alienated” by the Church’s teaching on abortion, so why not make them feel more comfortable rather than isolated? Why not adopt their lingo and speak of them as having “exercised their right to choose” or “terminated a pregnancy”?

Do you think that approach to pastoral ministry is apt to confuse or mislead people? Consider what many people dub as “Ministry to Gay and Lesbian Catholics.” Supporters of that designation argue that the terms “gay” and “lesbian” should be used because they are self-designations which make homosexual Catholics feel more “welcome” in the Church. Opponents contend that such terms are easily misunderstood. To suggest that they simply refer, correspondingly, to male or female homosexual persons, as some people do, is to be, at the very least, pastorally out-of-step with the real world, where “gay” and “lesbian” usually mean much more.

It seems to me that the opponents of such language have the better case. Vatican documents on homosexuality wisely avoid “gay” and “lesbian.” Such words are freighted with dubious social agendas and connotations favorable to homosexual activity.

We have all heard various words used to refer to homosexual persons. Perhaps the most common are “homosexual,” “faggot,” and “queer” for homosexual persons in general; “gay” for homosexual males; and “lesbian” for homosexual females. But of those words, only “homosexual” is objective and impartial, because it is purely descriptive. “Faggot” and “queer,” of course, are biased against homosexual persons; these words are usually used pejoratively and uncharitably, although occasionally they are used positively among some homosexual people themselves. In any case, these words are obviously inappropriate in Church ministry.

What many people miss, though, is that “gay” and “lesbian” are equally biased terms—biased in favor of homosexual activity. They, too, should be avoided in Church ministry, since the Church teaches that homosexual activity is always objectively and gravely sinful. Terms like “gay” and “lesbian” obscure that fact

“Gay” is commonly used among homosexual men as a positive selfdesignation for one who regards homosexual orientation itself as a good thing. In other words, it’s generally used by homosexual men not merely to identify themselves as homosexually oriented, but to affirm that that orientation is a good thing in itself. Furthermore, “gay” usually connotes a man who engages in homosexual acts and regards these acts positively. And “lesbian” usually has similar, positive connotations for homosexual women.

Using the words “gay” and “lesbian” in pastoral outreach to homosexual people, then, poses a problem. Such words readily lead people to think that pastoral ministry regards homosexuality as morally good or neutral in itself. Of course, not everyone in ministry who uses the terms “gay” and “lesbian” means to suggest that. Many who speak this way may have the best of intentions. They use words with which homosexual people are comfortable to attract them to the Church, not to endorse a homosexual lifestyle.

But whatever the intention behind it, using “gay” and “lesbian” to refer to homosexual persons or speaking of “gay and lesbian ministry” only contributes to the widespread moral confusion about homosexuality. It encourages homosexual activity by suggesting a “softening” of Catholic teaching on the immorality of homosexual acts. “The Church has finally ‘come around’ to talking about gays and lesbians in our own terms,” some homosexual persons reason. “Perhaps the Church will likewise ‘come around’ on what we gays and lesbians think about our sexual relationships.”

Another problem: using “gay” and “lesbian” suggests that the Church’s ministry extends only to those who identify with those terms. What about those who don’t? What about the homosexual man or woman (and there are many) who doesn’t want to be labeled “gay” or “lesbian” because to them these words connote someone who is sexually active? What about those “alienated” by such language?

The solution to the language problem? Words used in ministry with homosexual persons should clearly express the Catholic Church’s teaching on homosexuality. That teaching is easily summarized:

Homosexual acts are always in themselves objectively and gravely sinful, even when personal factors may reduce one’s culpability or responsibility for them. Homosexual orientation, on the other hand, is not itself a sin. A homosexual orientation is, however, a disorder, because it inclines a person to commit an objectively grave moral evil. That is why the Church has gone to the trouble of articulating principles of sound pastoral care for homosexual persons, which include fidelity to the truth about human sexuality as taught by the Magisterium.

The Catholic Church also teaches that homosexual persons, like heterosexual persons, must live chaste lives. For unmarried people, whether homosexually or heterosexually oriented, chastity excludes, among other things, genital activity, and it requires avoiding near occasions of sin.

Finally, Catholic teaching affirms the fundamental human dignity of all human beings, including homosexual persons. At the same time, the Church insists that homosexuality does not constitute a “quality comparable to race, ethnic background, etc., in respect to nondiscrimination” (Some Considerations Concerning the Response to Legislative Proposals on the Non-Discrimination of Homosexual Persons, no. 10, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, 1992).

Pastoral ministry should be clear about all aspects of Catholic doctrine on homosexuality, including the objective sinfulness of homosexual acts, and not merely the fact that a homosexual orientation itself is not a sin. As the Vatican document On the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons states: “No authentic pastoral program will include organizations in which homosexual persons associate with each other without clearly stating that homosexual activity is immoral” (no. 15, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, 1986).

The same document declares that “[a]ll support should be withdrawn from any organizations which seek to undermine the teaching of the Church, which are ambiguous about it, or which neglect it entirely. Such support or even the semblance of such support, can be gravely misinterpreted” (no. 17).

Note that the Vatican speaks of withdrawing support from groups that not only undermine Church teaching on homosexuality, but those even “ambiguous about it.” Because “gay” and “lesbian” are at best ambiguous terms and at worst generally understood as supportive of homosexual activity, those who use them appear willy-nilly and/or fuzzy about, if not opposed to, Catholic teaching on homosexuality. That’s exactly what the Vatican says they must not be.

Pastoral ministry with homosexual persons must be based on the truth and must present the truth without watering it down. Jesus said, “The truth shall make you free” (Jn. 8:32). “Gay” and “lesbian” are words that suggest a view of homosexuality contrary to the truth—a view that only helps to keep in bondage and moral confusion precious people for whom Christ died. Surely that is a situation no genuinely pastoral ministry can accept, much less foster.

Mark Brumley is the managing editor of The Catholic Faith magazine, published by Ignatius Press. Formerly the director of the Diocese of San Diego’s Offices for Social Ministries and Communications, he writes and speaks on theological and pastoral topics, including Catholic apologetics and the Church’s social teaching. He and his wife Debbie are raising four children in Napa, CA."