Since it took the Roman Catholic Church centuries to formally acknowledge its error in maintaining that the universe revolved around the Earth, I guess I should not be surprised that the Catholic Church in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is continuing to promote fraudulent "ex-gay" therapies to gay Catholics - even though the American Psychological Association specifically condemned such therapies in August, 2009, and found that there is no credible evidence that they work, and more or less told licensed therapists that engaging in such "cure" therapy is unethical. Apparently, the Church's attitude is one of why let the truth and scientific evidence stand in the way of religious based bigotry. A new story in the Minneapolis Star Tribune looks at this dishonest and homophobic behavior by the Church and includes comments by Michael Bayly of The Wild Reed (listed in this blog's blog roll). Here are some highlights:*
Gay and lesbian Roman Catholics who contact the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis for spiritual guidance can find themselves directed toward programs aimed at helping them become celibate. Called reparative therapy, the programs are provoking national -- and even international -- protests from critics who say they are ineffective at best and, in some cases, harmful. Many see the programs as an example of the Vatican's swing toward conservatism, and an insulting blow to a decade of bridge-building between the church and the gay community.
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Gay and lesbian Roman Catholics who contact the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis for spiritual guidance can find themselves directed toward programs aimed at helping them become celibate. Called reparative therapy, the programs are provoking national -- and even international -- protests from critics who say they are ineffective at best and, in some cases, harmful. Many see the programs as an example of the Vatican's swing toward conservatism, and an insulting blow to a decade of bridge-building between the church and the gay community.
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"[Retired Archbishop] Harry Flynn came to us -- we didn't go to them, they came to us -- in the late 1990s and asked us to serve as resource people for the church," said Michael Bayly, executive coordinator of the Catholic Pastoral Committee on Sexual Minorities (CPCSM). "Then a new pope comes in. Now the archdiocese won't even take our phone calls." So they are speaking out on their own. They're hosting a forum Tuesday at St. Martin's Table Restaurant and Bookstore in Minneapolis that they say will shine a spotlight on what they term the "pseudo-scientific organizations" that endorse reparative therapy.
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Under the auspices of its Office of Marriage and Family, the Catholic church's programs are modeled after Alcoholics Anonymous and its sister program for the families of addicts, Al-Anon. The programs, called Courage (AA) and Encourage (Al-Anon), are intended to help gays remain chaste. . . [and] includes a Q&A with the director of Courage's national office, the Rev. Paul Check, in which he says, "People are relieved to know the condition [of homosexuality] is both treatable and preventable."
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"That's how much things have changed recently," Bayly said. He pointed to an article last November in the Catholic Spirit, the archdiocese's newspaper, endorsing the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH). Describing itself as a nonprofit educational organization serving people with "unwanted homosexual attraction," it maintains that through therapy, homosexuals can "develop their heterosexual potential."
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Minnesotans aren't the only ones objecting. There have been protest marches outside NARTH meetings in Dallas and London, and there's a NARTH protest page on Facebook.. . . .Philip Lowe Jr., a former member of the Twin Cities chapter of Courage. . . . He quit the group and the church a year ago. He has since found a new partner and a new church home, St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral in Minneapolis. "We've been embraced by that community," he said. "I wish that everyone could experience that."
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Under the auspices of its Office of Marriage and Family, the Catholic church's programs are modeled after Alcoholics Anonymous and its sister program for the families of addicts, Al-Anon. The programs, called Courage (AA) and Encourage (Al-Anon), are intended to help gays remain chaste. . . [and] includes a Q&A with the director of Courage's national office, the Rev. Paul Check, in which he says, "People are relieved to know the condition [of homosexuality] is both treatable and preventable."
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"That's how much things have changed recently," Bayly said. He pointed to an article last November in the Catholic Spirit, the archdiocese's newspaper, endorsing the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH). Describing itself as a nonprofit educational organization serving people with "unwanted homosexual attraction," it maintains that through therapy, homosexuals can "develop their heterosexual potential."
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Minnesotans aren't the only ones objecting. There have been protest marches outside NARTH meetings in Dallas and London, and there's a NARTH protest page on Facebook.. . . .Philip Lowe Jr., a former member of the Twin Cities chapter of Courage. . . . He quit the group and the church a year ago. He has since found a new partner and a new church home, St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral in Minneapolis. "We've been embraced by that community," he said. "I wish that everyone could experience that."
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I continue to recommend that gay Catholics leave the Church and find a new spiritual home where they will not be deemed "inherently disordered" and fed a constant stream of anti-gay propaganda that only breeds self-hate and self-loathing. Happily, the number of church home alternatives is increasing and gay Catholics should check them out. Better yet, get your families to check them out with you. Only when enough people begin to leave and more importantly stop giving money will the Church hierarchy be forced to move from the 13th century into the 2st century.
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