Gay and Catholic | Commonweal Magaze

Contents:

• GAY, CATHOLIC, AND AMERIN
• GAY AND CATHOLIC - ACCEPTG MY SEXUALY, FDG COMMUNY, LIVG MY FAH
• 'GAY AND CATHOLIC': A Q&A WH WRER AND SPEAKER EVE TH
• GAY AND CATHOLIC: ACCEPTG MY SEXUALY, FDG COMMUNY, LIVG MY FAH
• WHAT’S LIKE TO BE GAY AND CATHOLIC? AN TERVIEW WH EVE TH
• GAY AND CATHOLIC
• LIFE PARADOX: THE STORY OF A GAY CATHOLIC PRIT PAPERBACK – APRIL 8, 2008
• MEMORI OF A GAY CATHOLIC BOYHOOD
• GAY MOSW MOSW CY GUI
• GAY MOSW · CY GUI

GAY, CATHOLIC, AND AMERIN

Catholic Greg Bourke's profoundly movg memoir about growg up gay and overg discrimatn the battle for same-sex marriage the this pellg and eply affectg memoir, Greg Bourke reunts growg up Louisville, Kentucky, and livg as a gay Catholic. The book scrib Bourke’s early stggl for acceptance as an out gay man livg the South durg the 1980s and ’90s, his unplanned transformatn to an outspoken gay rights activist after beg dismissed as a troop lear om the Boy Suts of Ameri 2012, and his historic role as one of the named platiffs the landmark Uned Stat Supreme Court cisn Obergefell vs.

Bourke is unapologetilly Catholic, and his fah provis the amework for this spirg story of how the Bourke De Leon fay stggled to overe antigay discrimatn by both the BSA and the Catholic Church and fought to legalize same-sex marriage across the, Catholic, and Amerin is an illumatg acunt that anyone, no matter their iologil orientatn, n read for sight. Wrten by an openly lbian and celibate wrerHer journey om atheism to fahful CatholicismHow to accept your sexualy and live as a fahful CatholicHow gay Catholics n pour their love to iendship, muny, and serviceA fahful perspective on a difficult social issue First Place Wner of a 2015 Catholic Prs Award the Genr Issu CategoryIn this first book om an openly lbian and celibate Catholic, wily published wrer and blogger Eve Th reunts her spirual and tellectual journey om atheism to fahful Catholicism and shows how gay Catholics n love and be loved while adherg to Church teachg.

Already self-intifyg as a lbian, Th searched for a third way the seemg two-optn system available to gay Catholics: reject Church teachg on homosexualy or reject the tth of your sexualy. Gay and Catholic: Acceptg My Sexualy, Fdg Communy, Livg My Fah is the u of Th’s searchg: what she learned studyg Christian history and theology and her articulatn of how gay Catholics n pour their love and need for nnectn to iendships, muny, service, and artistic creatn.

GAY AND CATHOLIC - ACCEPTG MY SEXUALY, FDG COMMUNY, LIVG MY FAH

I wanted to wre a book which would clu some memoir ( orr to build tst, so people knew where I was g om), but which foced on the paths of love which are open to gay people the Church—pecially those paths which might be overlooked. I wrote Tenrns: A Gay Christian’s Gui to Unlearng Rejectn and Experiencg God’s Extravagant Love (forthg November om Ave Maria Prs) for gay Christians who found that their relatnship wh God had been damaged by paful experienc or misguid teachg they’d received their church.

'GAY AND CATHOLIC': A Q&A WH WRER AND SPEAKER EVE TH

You n thk of Gay and Catholic as a book about “horizontal love, ” the ways we love other people around , and Tenrns as a book about “vertil love, ” the love between the soul and God.

I’ve known many people who were terrified of beg gay, believed they uld not possibly be gay, and, on the basis of that trmatized fear, entered heterosexual relatnships, cludg marriag.

GAY AND CATHOLIC: ACCEPTG MY SEXUALY, FDG COMMUNY, LIVG MY FAH

But the narrative that homosexualy mt be ed by abe, and n therefore be “fixed” by healg the wounds of trma, has self ed immense harm to people who had this narrative imposed on them when didn’t f their story.

So many people who grew up gay our church spent their formative years terrified and hidg, fearg that their attractns meant they uld never love God, that they disappoted Him, and that there was no future for them the Church, or only a future of isolatn and reprsn.

Not every gay person is lled to the paths (jt as not every straight person is lled to marriage), but, my experience, knowg that there is orred same-sex love n change people’s relatnship to Scripture and Church teachg. I thk I’ve really stated above—I believe that same-sex love n be betiful and holy; that sex is not the right exprsn of this love (sce sex is rerved for the unn of a man and a woman marriage), but n be exprsed many good ways; and that gay people need, as the techism says, “rpect, passn, and sensivy, ” which too many of have not received om our fellow Catholics.

WHAT’S LIKE TO BE GAY AND CATHOLIC? AN TERVIEW WH EVE TH

When church teach that beg gay is a choice, that’s harmful self and also may lead parents to throw their gay children out of the hoe for “disobedience, ” ntributg to the horrific number of homels LGBT teenagers.

I thk the fn of “nversn therapy” that mak the most sense is that ’s therapy where one of the primary purpos is to rce homosexualy and crease heterosexualy: a therapy which “succs” n be measured by gree of heterosexualy.

GAY AND CATHOLIC

I have iends who are gay and practicg Catholics who found the book spirg and helpful, and several of the prayer exercis the send half are really good—I quote one of them Tenrns. The posn you strike your article seems to agree wh those who hope to ban any type of therapy that helps persons unrstand their homosexual clatn or that attribut any environmental fluence such as trma or abe. Revoice is an ecumenil Christian nference; En Invatn is a Catholic group; and I’m volved wh the gay and lbian mistry at my church, which do a pretty good job at tryg to grow fahfulns, while welg people no matter what they believe.

I have iends who lost jobs or mistry posns bee they me out, or were outed by others—the are people who accepted their church’s teachg on sexual ethics, and sought to live by , but simply beg gay ma them “unf to serve. The homophobia I’ve experienced Catholic settgs has mostly manifted as spicn and unwillgns to listen: assumptns about my fay background (for example, speculatg on how my parents mt have ed my lbianism), sex life, or spirual life; repeated terrogatns about whether I “really” believe what I say I believe; and spicn of anythg I do to love eher another woman, or gay muni. I n’t tell you how many tim I’ve seen someone post a eply personal, heartfelt discsn of the spirual stggl they’ve experienced seekg to be fahful to Christ while growg self-acceptance and unlearng self-hatred… only to have somebody pop up the ments to rm them that beg gay is a s.

LIFE PARADOX: THE STORY OF A GAY CATHOLIC PRIT PAPERBACK – APRIL 8, 2008

In general, if you’re discsg the Catholic sexual ethic wh a gay person (or anybody, probably), ’s good to ask yourself what you have done to make yourself tstworthy this person’s ey.

Author 11 books299 followersNovember 17, 2014Meet one of the harst books I've been asked to read and one of the most important books I've read and one that should be a mt-read for everyone gay isn't jt a hot topic, 's a hard topic.

MEMORI OF A GAY CATHOLIC BOYHOOD

It's hont and raw and will make you exame assumptns you might not have even known you were the tle may lead you to thk that this book only appli to your readg list if you are gay, know someone who's gay, or have an tert the topic, let me toss you this: I gaed as much sight about my own votn as a married woman as I did about Th's votn as a celibate gay. My unrstandg is that the official posn is that homosexuals (and the whole LGBTQ spectm) serve the same rpect, digny, and human rights as heterosexuals—bearg md that dividual members may twist the church’s teachg how they like: relign is a great ver for unrlyg bigotry.

If anythg, a year that's been so ght wh ntroversy over the Church's pastoral approach to issu of sexualy, I appreciate Th's honty, huy (pecially makg clear that her experience shouldn't be taken as The Universal Experience of Gay, Celibate Catholics) and passn even more.

) I uld see some pots the book as spurrg the most ntroversy/discsn among orthodox Catholics, cludg:-- her fn of votn, at least as across the book-- the ia of chaste, mted, same-sex iendships-- her hope for theologil velopment the Church's language on homosexualy (namely, whether homosexualy self is "trsilly disorred") -- albe while strsg that velopment doctre don't mean *change* y, room for nversatn/bate, but I very much believe that the discsns Eve propos uld take place wh the realm of orthodoxy. 143 reviews58 followersOctober 20, 2014A poignant nversatn story, que ankly the bt book on celibacy I've ever read, and a brilliant this on how the Church n bee a welg environment for those who are gay while upholdg Tradn.

GAY MOSW MOSW CY GUI

And had me lghg so hard you would have thought I was readg Dave book is well worth your time if eher homosexualy or Christiany is somethg important to you, and if both are, then this is absolutely dispensable readg.

Eve Th is a celibate gay Catholic who upholds the Church's teachgs on marriage and th fds herself the difficult posn of beg looked upon as spect (at bt) by Christians who don't unrstand why someone would ntue to self-intify as gay while at the same time beg at odds wh most gay muni.

GAY MOSW · CY GUI

This is a difficult road: "I've never been ashamed of beg gay that I n rell, but there have been many tim when the equent small, grdg huiatns of explag my celibacy left me feelg worn down, rentful, and equal parts self-righteo and ashamed. "In orr to help gay people live out their votn, the Church needs to be a place "where we n be hont and where we n beg to e out to ourselv and to others a space that may be safer than our hom and fai.

" While many Christians are ready to help those who want to wholly renounce their former homosexual inty (Th c the "ex-gay" movement and apostolat like Courage), the approach have been found helpful by some but not by all. She strs that her experience has not been one of "stgglg wh same-sex attractn;" rather the "reason I ntue to ll myself gay, " she wr, is bee "beg love wh women has ually ma me a better person.

" Along the way Th ftly pots out the many ways which the experienc of celibate gay Christians have parallels wh those livg other votns, makg her proposal relevant for gay and straight alike.