Gay and Catholic | Commonweal Magaze

Contents:

• GAY, CATHOLIC, AND AMERIN
• 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: ACCEPTG MY SEXUALY, FDG COMMUNY, LIVG MY FAH
• MEMORI OF A GAY CATHOLIC BOYHOOD
• 'GAY AND CATHOLIC': A Q&A WH WRER AND SPEAKER EVE TH
• GAY CATHOLIC BOOK EXTRAS: WHEN THE GOG GETS WEIRD, THE WEIRD GET SPIRUAL DIRECTN
• THE GAY CATHOLIC WRER WHO CHANGED MY LIFE
• GAY AND CATHOLIC
• GAY CATHOLIC CLERGY BOOKS

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. *GAY AND CATHOLIC: This book is wrten by Eve Th, an LGBT Catholic whose journey has clud some difficult suatns and whose discernment journey has revealed her votn for celibacy. This book cuts through the ntroversy and argument about homosexualy to prent a passnate explanatn of official Church teachg, although at this pot, is a ltle dated sce was published 2001.

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

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. 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.

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

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

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. I image that the primary dience, those who "fd bety, mutual aid, and solidary gay life, even though we believe we've found somethg much greater Christ, " will unrstand on an experiential level that will make ronate even more eply.

MEMORI OF A GAY CATHOLIC BOYHOOD

What she do stead is tease out some practil helps she's found livg out this teachg, both for gays tryg to be celibate for relig reasons, and for straight people / fai who n always be better at lovg our gay brethren, pecially those who are sgle/ chapters on iendship (a good third of the book) are very possibly the bt I've ever read on the subject, and her words are relevant to every iendship, full stop. Nonfictn spirual-readg845 reviewsNovember 16, 2015I really remend this for anyone wh a tradnal Christian view on homosexualy (which is to say, that those wh same-sex attractn should be celibate) and also for those terted how sglens n feel to Christians. 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.

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

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.

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. - In the appendic, Th explas mon challeng to gay Catholics and provis suggtns that n be 2 books9 followersSeptember 17, 2020Exceptnally well-wrten a way that mak you want to keep readg.

GAY CATHOLIC BOOK EXTRAS: WHEN THE GOG GETS WEIRD, THE WEIRD GET SPIRUAL DIRECTN

41 reviews7 followersFebary 2, 2021A pellg memoir-slash-book-of-votnal-discernment-advice that brgs to paful life the lite balancg act of gay Catholics who choose to be celibate. July 14, 2016This is one of two books (the other beg Wley Hill's Washed and Wag) that I am able to remend almost whout qualifitn to both 1) straight Christians who wish to dive to the experienc of gay and lbian Christians and 2) gay and lbian Christians who want to dive to what looks like to follow J (and the Church's historil teachg on sexual ethics) well. The two biggt strengths of Gay and Catholic as I see them are an emphasis on figurg out the "y" of the gay Christian life and not jt the "nos" and an eye to addrsg the practili of gay celibate life (What do I do when I have a csh?

I have dipped my to to ex-gay lerature and was hant to read this alternate perspective -- mostly for fear of liberalism and a lewarm stance agast the related s -- but am so very glad I did! ” It’s OK, and maybe if I myself was gay or had a person much closer to me who was gay, would have meant somethg more, but I me away om this kd of feelg like was jt an amalgamatn of her thoughts and parts of her life story.

It don’t go to biblil arguments for or agast gay marriage/relatnships and the “moraly” of “the gay liftyle” (which is credibly rehg not to have to read), but giv a guile for how one uld live out celibacy.

THE GAY CATHOLIC WRER WHO CHANGED MY LIFE

151 reviewsAugt 12, 2022Although I don't necsarily agree wh Eve Th's intifyg as gay or queer, I have to say that her self-effacg manner, humor, and gentlens have ma easy for me to listen and grow.

GAY AND CATHOLIC

“In this fascatg self-portra and sightful portra of his tim, a proment queer historian rells growg up the 1950s and ’60s—a smart, p, nservative, Catholic boy om a workg-class Italian fay the Bronx transforms himself to a radil left, openly gay Columbia Universy stunt. "D’E, who has been an ement historian of the Amerin gay man’s experience and stggle durg his lifetime, has turned his searchg eye ward and now giv a different kd of history—one that’s pegged to his own life, lov and learngs. "As D’E appli his skills as an acclaimed social and cultural historian to his own youth, Memori of a Gay Catholic Boyhood offers a rg and thoughtful wdow to a time of enormo change Amerin society and the Catholic Church.

“John D’E’s Memori of a Gay Catholic Boyhood is a tenr memoir of New York Cy boyhood, stretchg om the ethnic, workg-class enclav of the Bronx to the burgeong world of gay liberatn the Village to the radil classrooms of Columbia Universy. 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. 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.

GAY CATHOLIC CLERGY BOOKS

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.

And one of the most important ways to do that is by explorg the ways real, actual gay believers have given their liv to Christ, lovg and servg, ways both ancient and new.