For those who may not have heard of it, Courage is a spiritual support group aimed at helping Catholic men and women to live in accordance with the Catholic Church's pastoral teaching on homosexuality. It was founded in 1980 by Cardinal Timothy Dolan’s predecessor as Archbishop of New York, Cardinal Terence Cooke, who placed it under the direction of Father John Harvey, OSFS.
In the ensuing years, from its New York foundation, Courage has established approximately fifty chapters throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, and Europe. In 1994, the Pontifical Council for the Family (under what was apparently a more “judgmental” pontificate) gave its support to the apostolate “for helping homosexual persons to live in accordance with the laws of God and the teaching of His Church.”
A brief perusal of the Courage website will reveal two things. The first is the magnitude of the cross borne by our same-sex attracted brothers and sisters who wish to live their lives in accordance with God’s will. In these days when secular society is doing everything in its power to push such persons out of the closet and into a sinful state, when what the Vatican document on seminary admission mentioned as "the so-called 'gay culture'" is dominant, one can only imagine how heavy their burden has become. The second thing one sees is the outstretched hand of the Church and its promise to stand by the afflicted for the duration of their temporal lives with spiritual direction, the Sacraments, and both pastoral and fatherly support. (more...)
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