![\"Sergebac7thcentury\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/454\/2015\/08\/Sergebac7thcentury.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nThose of you following Grace Pending<\/a> may have already read my review<\/a> of Gay and Catholic<\/a>, fellow-Patheos blogger Eve Tushnet<\/a>\u2018s book about her life and her faith.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what I said in my introduction at that time:<\/p>\n The Catholic Church has long recognized that a\u00a0not negligible<\/em>\u00a0number of men and women experience\u00a0deep-seated homosexual tendencies.\u00a0<\/em>Catechism of the Catholic Church (\u201cCCC\u201d) 2358. It further recognizes that for many these tendencies constitute a very real\u00a0trial.\u00a0<\/em>Importantly, the Church doesn\u2019t try to analyze\u00a0\u2013 either psychologically or theologically \u2013 why these tendencies exist. Nor does it condemn those who\u00a0experience<\/em>\u00a0them. What the Church does do is set forth certain moral obligations and guidelines \u2013 but not solely for those who are gay. The Church makes clear that homosexuals \u201cmust be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity [and that] every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n It is not my intention here to make blanket statements about whether all<\/em> those who have experienced Same Sex Attraction (SSA) are called to change<\/em>. I have no basis to do so. And, I note, that not even the Church has made such a claim.<\/p>\n But if we are honest and<\/em> compassionate, we must recognize that there are at least some who have arrived at that place as a result of one or more negative life experiences. And many of those are honestly seeking a way to heal, a way forward, that would allow them to lead lives free of this struggle.<\/p>\n Courage<\/a>, a Roman\u00a0Catholic Apostolate endorsed by the Holy See, is a support group for those SSA Catholics struggling to live within their faith. Following in the footsteps of other 12-step organizations, Courage states<\/a>:<\/p>\n We admitted that we were powerless over homosexuality and our lives had become unmanageable.<\/p>\n We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.<\/p>\n We made a decision to turn our will and our lives to the care of God as we understood Him.<\/p>\n We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.<\/p>\n We admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.<\/p>\n We were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of our character.<\/p>\n We humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings.<\/p>\n We made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make direct amends to them all.<\/p>\n We made the direct amends to such people wherever possible except when to do so would injure them or others.<\/p>\n We continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.<\/p>\n We sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for the knowledge of God\u2019s Will for us and the power to carry it out.<\/p>\n Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to others and to practice these principles in all our affairs.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Nothing in Courage\u2019s five stated goals<\/a>, which were created by members themselves, demands or even compels a member\u2019s re-orientation or change.\u00a0It seems to me that acceptance of one\u2019s self and learning to live within one\u2019s faith is Courage\u2019s primary undertaking.<\/p>\n Now, one young man, Andres Casta\u00f1eda Trevi\u00f1o,\u00a0Courage\u2019s Latino Chihuahua\u2019s Lay Coordinator, has recently come forward with his story<\/a>, revealing\u00a0his own struggle with both SSA and pornography.<\/p>\n It is an important and compelling read.<\/p>\n Written by an older friend who has experienced similar struggles throughout his lifetime, Andr\u00e9s\u2019 story is \u2013\u00a0in my opinion \u2013 one that may well show the way for some who seek healing, and a release from their own present struggles.<\/p>\n I also believe that Andr\u00e9s\u2019 story confirms that SSA \u2013 in at least some individuals<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 can be honestly addressed and effectively overcome. Deep faith may well play a huge role in such cases, however, as it clearly did here with\u00a0Andr\u00e9s.<\/p>\n Read Andr\u00e9s full story here<\/a>, and be sure to read the comments as well. They tell a significant part of the story.<\/p>\n I\u2019ll close here with the story\u2019s own concluding paragraph:<\/p>\n People do not change overnight, and just like all of us whose sexual identities have for whatever reason been broken, this young man is still growing into his manhood. But, as he aptly puts it, \u201cI came to Courage shattered, broken and torn apart inside, but standing, and ready to work.\u201d And work he does.<\/p>\n Today he no longer sees himself as \u201cgay\u201d or homosexual but simply as God\u2019s child.<\/em> Nothing more or less. No other labels are needed to define this young man of God. He is, at his young age, the Courage Latino Chihuahua\u2019s Lay Coordinator, and I for one believe nothing will stop him in his quest for holiness and wholeness (emphasis added).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I, too, believe that it would be a very good thing if we were to drop the sexual-orientation labels that we, all too often,\u00a0unnecessarily <\/em>and hastily<\/em>\u00a0(in my view) place on ourselves.<\/p>\n Perhaps if we did, we could finally come to see ourselves \u2013 gay and straight \u2013 as children of a God.<\/p>\n Children who continue to seek their own directed path to holiness.<\/p>\n Peace<\/p>\n Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons<\/a>, Public Domain (Saints Sergius and Bacchus).\u00a0<\/span>I thank New Advent<\/a> for linking to the original story discussed here.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Those of you following Grace Pending may have already read my review of Gay and Catholic, fellow-Patheos blogger Eve Tushnet\u2018s book about her life and her faith. Here\u2019s what I said in my introduction at that time: The Catholic Church has long recognized that a\u00a0not negligible\u00a0number of men and women experience\u00a0deep-seated homosexual tendencies.\u00a0Catechism of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1976,"featured_media":3464,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n\n
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