text: This is not a NEW problem in the Catholic Church.  The church tackled this issue during Vatican Council II.  The Document Gaudium et spes, citing Genesis 1:26-27, wrote ALL human creation is in the image and likeness of God.  The document developed its teaching on human dignity & rights, spelling out the universal rights and duties that flow from the dignity of having been created in the Divine Image.
  From the writings of Father J. Bryan Hehir, we read that "Catholic engagement with the world and its transformation by the penetration of gospel values should be marked by a spirit of dialogue and service and by what some have called a 'confident modest,' mindful that the church both teaches and learns from the world."
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  William J. Gould, "Fr. J. Bryan Hehir: Priest, Policy Analyst, and Theologian of Dialogue," in RELIGIOUS LEADERS AND FAITH-BASED POLITICS: TEN PROFILES, ed. Jo Renee Formicola & Hubert Morken [Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2001] p. 201.