There IS An Authentic Catholic Apostolate for Same Sex Attraction

For the fullest understanding of an authentic Catholic Apostolate developed by the loving and steady leadership of the late Father John Harvey and his successors for those experiencing same sex attraction (SSA), and later for their families and friends a group called “EnCourage,” please visit Courage International (couragerc.org) and the Guild of Father John Harvey (frjohnharvey.com)

 
The mid 1950s in America and elsewhere witnessed a rising rebellion against criminalization associated with homosexuality.  Gradually, laws were eased, and along with mental health professionals, the stigma increasingly faded, as well.  However, the Catholic Church, along with strict Christian denominations, continued to consider homosexual acts gravely sinful.  Indeed, the Catholic Church from its origins, based on Scripture condemned homosexuality and other serious sexual behaviors.  

 
The Didache (also known as The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles) denounced all sexual acts outside of proper marriage.   Apostolic tradition and early Church fathers echoed each other’s warnings against such abominations as homosexuality.  (“What the Early Church Believed:  Homosexuality” catholic.com)

However, the rapidly changing world from the mid 19th century and most pronounced during the Sexual Revolution of the 1960’s was bound to affect pew Catholics. The Catholic Church underwent modernization—statues removed, the Tabernacle relegated to a side room, contemporary liturgical practices developed, more counseling than penance in the Confessional, and so forth.  Parents of sons and daughters “coming out” as homosexual sought a friendlier, if not totally accepting, Church environment for their children. 

 
Thus was formed Dignity USA, in 1969, that today still envisions total acceptance of anyone’s sexuality and full participation in all aspects of life in the Church.  Sin is not mentioned, and “dignity” is accented as though that intrinsic value of any person confers license to act on these desires of the flesh.  Regardless, the Catholic Church itself maintains to this day that homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered, and that homosexual persons are called to chastity.  (Catholic Catechism 2357-2359).

 
For whatever reasons, Dignity remains a force in 2025, but also its offsprings, New Ways and Fortunate Families.  However,  there was an authentically Catholic movement that arose but still remains in the shadows.  Also, eventually two prominent priest figures, Father James Martin championing Dignity, New Ways, and Fortunate Families, and Father John Harvey, beloved co founder of Courage,  would emerge, and the hope is that Courage International will triumph.

Brief Background on Courage:  An apostolate for persons experiencing same sex attraction, but inspired by the Gospel and Catholic Church teachings to chastity and holiness

 
Perhaps as a response to the purported pro active homosexual group Dignity and a rather lackluster Catholic response to growing acceptance of same sex behavior (among other loosened opposition to sex outside of Holy Matrimony), in the latter 1970s, talks for this apostolate endeavor began in New York under Terence Cardinal Cooke with Father Harvey who had been recommended for this task by Father Benedict Groeschel.   

 
The goal was to offer persons identifying themselves as homosexual a welcoming environment but Magisterial, or best stated, a trustworthy bridge to Truth and salvation.   

 
Father Harvey was ideal for this mission by not only a vast educational background which included multiple degrees and a doctorate in Moral Theology, but most essentially his drive to live a life as modeled by St. Francis de Sales and rooted in St. Augustine, among other Church gigantic figures.

 
After a two year preparation period,  Father Harvey led the first Courage meeting in 1980 to provide spiritual guidance, community prayer support, and fellowship to those seeking to cope with these feelings and live a chaste life.  Courage would go international, and a family and friends branch, EnCourage,  would be formed in 1987.  

 
Of Courage, Cardinal Robert Sarah noted, “These men and women testify to the power of grace, the nobility and resilience of the human heart.”

 
This was most likely due to the incredibly approachable Father Harvey who was also  a prolific author on the subject, decades before Father James Martin’s book on building bridges..  Cardinal Raymond Burke wrote the following about the gentle but convicted spirit of Father Harvey’s work,  “Homosexuality and the Catholic Church:  Clear Answers to Difficult Questions”: … “in these pages, Fr. Harvey helps us all to think more clearly and to act more rightly and lovingly.”

 
True to its mission, Courage focuses on the virtue of fortitude while attending to its members’ spiritual restoration and providing healthy companionship.  Typically, veteran members are quite adept at helping newer ones, under the guidance of a local deacon or priest.  Since its inception Courage initiated local chapters.  Today it hosts various online groups, develops conferences on a variety of germane topics, and  ZOOM meetings.  Its website is replete with many resources and articles.

 
Father John Harvey himself brought brilliant insights, developed dependable guiding documents and a steadfast, kind spirit, and inspired those with same sex attraction and relatives, often parents, to be…courageous… even with falls from grace.  (Confession is frequently an available Sacrament at Courage meetings.)

 
The  family and friends “branch” aptly named “EnCourage” moves families to understand the nature of this attraction while providing genuine ways to remain faithful.  Hundreds attest to the power of prayer and the eventual understanding that each must overcome personal obstacles for sanctity and genuinely love their confused children.  Moreover, by focusing on themselves to grow in truth and love, parents, siblings, other relatives and even close concerned friends would agree that they were—are— able to let go of self blame or an obsession to “convert their loved ones”  that frequently interferes in their relationships.  Veterans of EnCourage testify to increasingly trusting in God to care for their sons and daughters in ways previously unimagined by them.

 
Despite these inroads and the 1994 endorsement and support by the Holy See’s Pontifical Council for the Family, relatively few Catholics “in the pew” know about Courage-Encourage, and those that do remain baffled by its goals, which are most frequently, bluntly maligned and distorted by the enemy.   

 
Moreover, numerous dioceses around the world  embrace not Courage and EnCourage but still rotten offshoots of Dignity under the banner of Catholic.   A particularly popular priest, Father James Martin touts these organizations—worse without reference to Courage—thus leading thousands into duplicitous  “inclusivity and acceptance ” that seeps across the boundaries of Faith.  As I write this, frustrated Catholics fret over Pride flags waving at the Vatican with some odd signaling that Pope Leo XIV favors these dissident groups.  (Personally, I doubt it, and would caution rash judgment.)

 
Thus we have two prominent priest leaders who enveloped an ongoing challenge to meet the needs of same sex-attracted or sexually confused Catholics—two roads to travel.  One, the example of the late Father John Harvey,  guides Courage’s followers towards eternal Light; the other, Father James Martin, a hero particularly to Fortunate Families, to worldly contentment. One choice leads to paradise; the other to possible perdition.  One path is traveled courageously and in companionship with the Holy Trinity;  the other a capitulation and, at best, flirtation with evil. 

 
One cannot fault worried parents of those sons and daughters coached into lifestyles contrary to the genuine dignity of the personhood that often turns them away from God.   Moreover, it seems that the Church is not heeding this crisis when spokespersons for the sexual liberation of children—in Catholic circles, too—have the upper hand and the ears of even Rome.  

 
One glaring example that triggered these more unfortunate groups was “More than a Monologue:  Sexual Diversity and the Catholic Church:  Inquiry, Thought and Expression” “ hosted by Fordham University in 2011.  One attendee noted that she embraced Fortunate Families because of her son’s struggle with “Catholic guilt,” that we are “all God’s children” and cannot pretend gay people do not exist.  So her son is “out of the closet”—and good for that—but the “old proven way,” that best dignifies persons, and brings them the authentic fortune of salvific grace is then  repelled or hidden away. 

 
However, more anguishing are the libelous attacks against devout Courage and EnCourage members that spew from these awry organizations.  I personally know of one situation whereby a Catholic Deacon lost a seminarian formation teaching position because a Fortunate Family senior colleague resented his orthodox approach.  

 
The irony is that he and other EnCourage members have gone to great lengths to show their love to children who have a faulty perspective of their self identity or  enter into these thorny relationships.  The distinction is the boundary line over which they will not cross for the sake of their children.  Or, as Father Michael Schmitz notes in “Made for Love:  Same Sex Attractions and the Catholic Church,”  it is not their state of being that includes these attractions but the choices they make about them that draw concern.

 
Should we not rather imitate Father John Harvey and the wonderful directors who followed him, and contemplate the words of St. Paul to the Colossians 2:8:  See to it that no one captivate you with an empty, seductive philosophy according to the tradition of men, according to the elemental powers of the world and not according to Christ.

 
Courage-EnCourage is religious and laity working to respond to critics of chastity with love and truth, following in the example of Father John Harvey.  They are not publicly vocal activists; they do not hold news conferences or book segments with conservative, secular news shows.  Courage and EnCourage, like the Church itself, actually like Jesus Christ, is present, invitational and prepared to receive all who approach the Apostolate freely and without coercion.  

 
I will close by “putting on another hat” different from Father John Harvey’s approach.  I am still convinced God calls some of us to be outspoken and judiciously and prudently engage the world, including the Church.  Some must respond in truth when we see or read that which leads souls astray.  Yet, there is the right and wrong way.   Though extremely frustrating at times, to see so much  embrace of LGBTQ behavior, it helps to recall  that Jesus neither stormed Caesar’s Palace nor the Jerusalem Temple and demand condemnation of heretics or declarations clearing up ambiguities in the Law, even when they resulted in confusion and even betrayal.

 
Being proactive is the better path:  Pray, share the good news about Courage and  EnCourage, including the Diocese, Pastor, and Parish.  Forgive the  pushback from those who truly do not understand this dilemma—or its history in the Church— and the spiritual danger into which the duped are being led.   Personally,  I have to occasionally remind myself that Jesus Christ did not enter human history in the age of social media…for a reason.  

 
His timing is perfect, and teaches us to reflect before speaking and acting and always recall: 

 
1 Corinthians 13:1-13  excerpts here:   If I speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or clashing cymbal.(1) Love is patient, love is kind, It is not jealous, (love) is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own intentions, it is not quick tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoin over wrongdoing but rejoices with truth.  It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never fails. (4-8). 

 
Father John Harvey exemplified  that passage.  

So…take courage!