The Roman Catholic Diocese of Raleigh is starting a new ministry to gays and lesbians. Yet those who have embraced that identity may not like it. The ministry is called Courage, and its aim, in the words of its executive director, is to "assist men and women who are afflicted with the thorn of same-sex attraction."
A 29-year-old international ministry with about 90 U.S. chapters, the Courage Apostolate will serve as a kind of support group -- like Alcoholics Anonymous -- for men and women who want to remain celibate.
The move is part of a more aggressive push by the dioceses of Raleigh and Charlotte to march in step with the Vatican on the issue of homosexuality.
On Feb. 24, the bishops of both dioceses will hold a news conference at the legislature to announce their support for an amendment to the state's constitution defining marriage as a union of a man and a woman.
The effort is intended to quash the possibility of same-sex marriage, should a court find North Carolina's law prohibiting gay unions unconstitutional.
Such a bill has been introduced before, but has not drawn support from the leading Democrats who control the state House and Senate and has stalled in committee. With Democrats still in command, the bill is unlikely to gain much support this time.
Of course, homosexuality is a hugely divisive issue in many Christian denominations. The ordination of a gay bishop by the Episcopal Church six years ago led several churches and dioceses to bolt from the denomination.
Presbyterians, Lutherans and Methodists are also battling how much standing to give gays and lesbians.
'Psychic disturbances'
The Catholic Church maintains that same-sex attraction is not sinful but that homosexual sex is.
That has given gays and lesbians wide latitude in finding their place within the Roman Catholic Church.
Nationally, there are several gay and lesbian ministries -- some that accept gays and lesbians as they are, others like Courage that view homosexuality as a problem to be overcome.
Though retired Raleigh Bishop F. Joseph Gossman chose not to wade into this thorny thicket, his successor, Bishop Michael Burbidge, is more eager to conform to the Vatican line.
The late Pope John Paul II endorsed the work of Courage. More recently, Pope Benedict XVI reiterated the implacable opposition of the church to homosexuality.
The Vatican refused to back a United Nations resolution urging the banning of criminal penalties against homosexuality.
Last year the Vatican urged seminaries to enlist the aid of psychologists in screening candidates for homosexuality and other "psychic disturbances."
The Rev. James Fukes, pastor of St. Julia Catholic Church in Siler City, who will serve as the spiritual director for Courage, said the new ministry was added at the request of parishioners.
"There have been some people who asked for some ministry by the Catholic Church to help them deal with the challenges and difficulties they have and remain close to God," he said.
Next month, the Rev. Paul Check, national director of Courage, will lead a workshop in Raleigh for priests and lay leaders. A priest in the Diocese of Bridgeport, Conn., Check has written widely on homosexuality, including one article in which he suggests that gay men come from broken homes or grew up alienated from their fathers and overprotected by their mothers.
"For example, many men with same sex attraction lack hand-eye coordination and as a result were spurned or the subject of jokes by their fathers or the neighborhood boys because they could not play certain sports easily," Check wrote in the St. Austin Review's November-December 2008 edition. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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(Source: YRCN)