(LifeSiteNews) — A Catholic parish that supports homosexuality and transgenderism is decrying the Diocese of Syracuse’s introduction of a ministry that helps people with same-sex attraction to live chastely.
The diocese confirmed to Central Current that it is establishing a chapter of Courage International, a Catholic apostolate that helps men and women with same-sex attraction to live a “chaste life as required by Catholic teachings,” and to live a robustly Catholic life.
Danielle Cummings, chancellor and communications director for the diocese, said the ministry is being reestablished after a previous Courage chapter had “fallen dormant” at least 10 years ago, at the request of local Catholics seeking help as they struggle with same-sex attraction. Father Chris Seibt, pastor of Sacred Heart Parish and a vice chancellor for the diocese, offered to help restore the ministry, according to Cummings.
Now members of an “LGBTQ+ Task Force” at All Saints Catholic Church, led by a pastor who openly identifies as gay, are asking Syracuse Bishop Douglas Lucia to reject the ministry.
The task force members say Courage’s goal is in the same category as conversion therapy, the practice of seeking to stop homosexual attraction, and that it “asks LGBTQ+ Catholics to deny their own identities, potentially at the expense of their self-worth,” according to Central Current.
“Courage’s approach is to tell gay Catholics that something is wrong with you that you have to control,” said Bill Tenity, a former teacher who has been “married” to a man for 25 years and attends Mass at All Saints. “Our big issue with it is, you can’t ‘Pray the gay away.’ You can pretend to hide it, but it’s always there, and denying that can be harmful.”
Courage does not claim it tries to erase same-sex attraction. Rather, it seeks to help Catholics to get to Heaven by living in a state of grace, which requires refraining from homosexual activity and any sexual activity outside of marriage. One of courage’s stated goals is to “foste(r) a spirit of fellowship … to ensure that no one will have to face the problems of homosexuality alone.”
A few task force members, including Dr. Elizabeth Saarie, the mother of a gender-confused child, have written to Bishop Lucia asking him to stop Courage from working within the diocese.
“Courage International overtly and unapologetically treats homosexual and transgender people as diseased and abnormal, using the offensive term ‘intrinsically disordered,’” Saarie wrote to Lucia.
“Please understand that your actions and inactions speak volumes to your parishioners about treatment of sexual and gender diversity. Our vulnerable members need acceptance and support, not psychological (or physical) violence.”
Unlike other programs and resources that promote taking “pride” in disordered sexual attractions and gender confusion, Courage’s approach is rooted in Church teaching and the “Five Goals of Courage”:
- To live chaste lives in accordance with the Roman Catholic Church’s teaching on homosexuality. (Chastity)
- To dedicate our entire lives to Christ through service to others, spiritual reading, prayer, meditation, individual spiritual direction, frequent attendance at Mass, and the frequent reception of the sacraments of Reconciliation and Holy Eucharist. (Prayer and Dedication)
- To foster a spirit of fellowship, in which we may share with one another our thoughts and experiences, and so ensure that no one will have to face the problems of homosexuality alone. (Fellowship)
- To be mindful of the truth that chaste friendships are not only possible but necessary in a chaste Christian life; and to encourage one another in forming and sustaining these friendships. (Support)
- To live lives that may serve as good examples to others. (Good Example/Role Model)
The Catholic Church has consistently taught that homosexual activity is mortally sinful and that homosexual inclinations are “objectively disordered.” According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that ‘homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.’”