Replacg problems wh persons: Eve Th’s new book, Gay and Catholic | Catholic Culture

Contents:

• 'GAY AND CATHOLIC': A Q&A WH WRER AND SPEAKER EVE TH
• GAY AND CATHOLIC: ACCEPTG MY SEXUALY, FDG COMMUNY, LIVG MY FAH PAPERBACK – OCTOBER 20, 2014
• WHAT’S LIKE TO BE GAY AND CATHOLIC? AN TERVIEW WH EVE TH
• GAY AND CATHOLIC
• GAY AND CATHOLIC: ACCEPTG MY SEXUALY, FDG COMMUNY, LIVG MY FAH
• THE GAY CATHOLIC WRER WHO CHANGED MY LIFE
• GAY AND CATHOLIC: ACCEPTG MY SEXUALY, FDG COMMUNY, LIVG MY FAHGAY AND CATHOLIC: ACCEPTG MY SEXUALY, FDG COMMUNY, LIVG MY FAHGAY AND CATHOLIC: ACCEPTG MY SEXUALY, FDG COMMUNY, LIVG MY FAHGAY AND CATHOLIC: ACCEPTG MY SEXUALY, FDG COMMUNY, LIVG MY FAHGAY AND CATHOLIC: ACCEPTG MY SEXUALY, FDG COMMUNY, LIVG MY FAH
• FIVE GAY CATHOLIC OBSERVATNS FOR 2022
• A REVIEW OF GAY AND CATHOLIC BY EVE TH
• REPLACG PROBLEMS WH PERSONS: EVE TH’S NEW BOOK, GAY AND CATHOLIC

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

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. 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.

GAY AND CATHOLIC: ACCEPTG MY SEXUALY, FDG COMMUNY, LIVG MY FAH PAPERBACK – OCTOBER 20, 2014

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. 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.

I don’t thk I would have explored the Catholic history of iendship, the pth and bety iendship n hold for and the ways iendship n brg closer to God, if I hadn’t been gay. Gay people are redisverg the Scriptural and historil mols wh a special urgency, bee we had never been told that there were Christian mols for the same-sex love we longed for.

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

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. 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. 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.

GAY AND CATHOLIC

I knew that wasn’t te, and I’ve been very grateful for the chance to share the voic of people who have accepted themselv as gay and are seekg to live harmony wh the Church. 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. 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.

I do not mean any offense to those wh same-sex attractn who don't label themselv as gay/purely homosexual) ratg is 3/5 bee as a straight person, gave me a b of sight on gay Catholocism, but I feel like offers much more sight on what means to be a child of God and one wh the Catholic fah. We n exprs that love many non-sexual ways, even if secular society owns upon some thgs if there isn't a "label" attached to a "gay Catholic" book I feel 's a b "meh"; for a Catholic book on lovg others and fdg joy our votns (even when there are challeng), 's cent. It's an important thg to remember, no matter your is VERY important to gui others to the Catholic fah by answerg qutns that are actually asked, and not assumg we know what they're terted , pecially if they are gay.

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

Based on that last b, Th brgs forward a theme that "celibacy is not enough for gay people and that [they] mt cultivate an outward lookg spirualy, which seeks to love and serve others" ( page 79). Non-homosexuals mt also remember that 'beg celibate' is ed different for homosexuals and sgle heterosexuals, and not bsh off as if there aren't different is historil evince of same-sex kship/iendships, to where fai were joed together. Thkg that there is somethg wrong wh you and that your homosexualy needs to be "healed" n hurt you and the people around you more than acceptg that you n't force an ner part of you to change.

It also got nfg for me, knowg at an tellectual level that love for others isn't prohibed, even for gay people, but still feelg apprehensn about where the specific lims are. Instead, I thk she did somethg even better than that: she explas, tail, her journey and how she was able to fd a way to both love and feel fulfilled her life and her fah, not spe her homosexualy, but through . There are a few good books on personal experienc of beg gay and Christian, wrten a way that’s fahful to historil Christian teachg on sexualy, but there wasn’t anythg that was foced on the different paths that one’s life uld take.

The primary target dience is actual gay Christians who are tryg to figure out what their liv are gog to look like, and then anyone who wants to make the church more welg for gay and lbian you suggt ways for church to be more welg? And then the sendary thg would be that the troubl you experience are gog to pend somewhat on your cultural ntext, but they’re not gog to be totally alien for Catholics and is possible to build solidary both wh other gay Christians and wh the straight people who are the majory.

THE GAY CATHOLIC WRER WHO CHANGED MY LIFE

” Raised “somewhere between atheism and Reform Judaism” and moved to nvert to Catholicism while a qutng bisexual sophomore at Yale, Th has for the past ten years been the blogosphere’s rint celibate lbian. This book is about the many different ways which that ll to love n play out for people who are gay or experience same-sex attractn and accept the historil Christian teachg on chasty.

About the tellectual and spirual velopment that led her to an acceptance of church teachg on homosexualy, Th scrib a seri of helpful but ultimately unsatisfactory nversatns wh fellow stunts at Yale and wh the prit teachg her RCIA group. “Instead of askg myself whether I unrstood the reasong behd the church’s teachg—the reasong of God—I asked myself whether I was more sure that gay sex was morally ntral or more sure that the Catholic Church had the thory to teach sexual moraly.

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

For Th, though, an undog is precisely what those partnerships are, always and everywhere, and so one enunters equently her book breezy but btal dismissals of most actual gay Catholics. Th shar, “I’ve never been ashamed of beg gay that I n rell, but there have been tim when the equent small, grdg huiatns of explag my celibacy left me feelg worn down, rentful, and equal parts self-righteo and ashamed. By Eve ThIn this first book om an openly lbian and celibate Catholic, wily published wrer and blogger Eve Th reunts her spirual and tellectual journey om liberal atheism to fahful Catholicism and shows how gay Catholics n love and be loved while adherg to Church Th was among the unlikelit of nverts.

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. Eventually I wrote to Th, tellg her I hoped she’d wre a book someday, llectg and distillg her posts to a format I uld easily hand to my fellow gay Christians, not to my mentn my fay members, (straight) iends, pastors, and prits.

FIVE GAY CATHOLIC OBSERVATNS FOR 2022

At s heart this book, Gay and Catholic: Acceptg My Sexualy, Fdg Communy, Livg My Fah, is an extend effort to assure gay and lbian people that enterg the church will not mean the supprsn of their longgs and lov. Followg several chapters that narrate her upbrgg, cludg her g out at age 13, her days as a stunt activist, and her eventual nversn to Catholicism while an unrgraduate at Yale, Th simply exam several possible ways that gay Catholics may give and receive love while remag fahful to tradnal Christian sexual ethics.

Author 11 books297 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. 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.

A REVIEW OF GAY AND CATHOLIC BY EVE TH

The one stickg pot, of urse, is that they believe that sex is only okay wh a heterosexual marriage which means that if you’re gay and you’d like to have sex you’re a b hooped. 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 mean, she's a celibate, lbian, Catholic nvert who volunteers at a pro-life, crisis pregnancy center while makg her livg wrg and speakg as a self-scribed "profsnal homosexual. ) 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 reviews57 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. 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.

REPLACG PROBLEMS WH PERSONS: EVE TH’S NEW BOOK, GAY AND CATHOLIC

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. 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.