Bringing you the
"Good News" of Jesus Christ
and His Church While PROMOTING CATHOLIC
Apologetic Support groups loyal to the Holy Father and Church's
magisterium
Hello. My name is John Smith and I live in
Massachusetts. I'm a 19-year-old homosexual
male.
I was raised an Atheist, but I feel like Catholicism
is the true way.
How do I go about joining the Church?
I'm aware that my sexuality may be a problem,
but I do pray regularly for forgiveness for
my acts.
I'm also in love with a very extreme fundamentalist.
It worries me, partly because:
he doesn't understand the right way, and
his family doesn't understand; they are
fundamentalists as well.
On a different issue, I have friends who are
extreme atheists. I'm pretty sure there's
no way
I can get them to see the light by justifying
and explaining Christian principles to them
because they have such a vicious hatred for
all forms of religion.
So, what should I do?
John
{
How does a young gay man go about becoming Catholic and how do I answer my atheist friends? }
John
replied:
Hi, John —
Thank you for your question.
To be a Catholic one must embrace
as true and submit to 100% of the
Church's Teachings in the area of faith
and morals.
You said that you pray for forgiveness
for your sinful acts. That's good,
but you might also try praying that
God deliver you from these sinful
acts. You need to take steps to avoid
them. We are all sinners and most
of us habitually commit the same
sins over and over. Nevertheless,
some sins are easier to avoid than
others.
You said you are in love with another
man. Well, you can't continue maintaining
this relationship with him while
at the same time asking forgiveness
for sinful acts. If you can be his
friend without expressing your affection
for him in a sexual manner, that's
fine, but you can't plan on continuing
to sin. It's one thing to fall into
sin, it's another, to plan on falling
into sin. In that case, you are adding
the sin of presumption to the sins
of homosexual acts.
If you are truly interested in joining
the Church, you need to enter a good RCIA program.
They typically start in September
and run through the Spring.
In that regard, I can help you since
I run a RCIA group in Watertown
which is about 6 miles away. If you want to come and check it out, I'd
be happy to have you join us. We
meet on Sunday nights. If
you like it, you would
be more than welcome to stay through
the rest of the season as well.
You just wouldn't be able to be confirmed
with this year's group. We could also
put you in touch with some good priests
that could give you spiritual direction.
Given your struggle, I would highly recommend
it.
By the way, most of the ACC team is located
here in Massachusetts, so I'm sure
I speak for all in saying, if you are serious
about becoming a Catholic and dealing
with your same-sex attraction we would love
to be there for you.
We certainly aren't here to condemn
you but you know the Truth, so you
need to allow God's grace to help
you walk in it.
If we can help. Just let us know.
John D.
Mary
Ann replied:
Hi, John —
Find your local
group of Courage, and they
can advise you very well. There
is no barrier to a homosexual
becoming Catholic, but the homosexual
would have to practice chastity,
as all Catholics do, which means
the right use of their sexual
faculty; in marriage being open
to procreation.
As for the Fundamentalist, you could
give him the book, Catholicism
and Fundamentalism, by
Karl Keating, but if he is an extreme
fundamentalist and is a homosexual,
he is deeply conflicted.
You see, Catholics know that being
a homosexual is not a sin, though
homosexual acts are — just
as kleptomania and pedophilia are
not sins, but stealing and sexually
abusing children are.
There is a
difference between a condition and
acting out on that condition. A person can be born
with a strong temper, and he has
to learn to control it. A person
can be born with strong urges, this
way and that, but he still has to learn to control them.
One task in life is to rule our passions
with reason and love according to
God's plan.
Mary Ann
Mike
replied:
Hi, John —
I just wanted to add to the excellent
comments from my colleagues.
I'm glad your wrote to us as I sense
the Holy Spirit moving in your life.
It's good and healthy that you are
conscious of this spiritual battle
present in your life between the
flesh and the spirit.
Many don't even recognize this.
With prayer, the Lord can and will
assist you in your current struggles.
We all struggle with sin and will
continue to struggle until we are
6 feet under the ground : )
I personally believe in praying the
Rosary because of the spiritual damage
it can do to the evil one. Here's the scoop behind the history of the Rosary.
It was in the year 1214 that the
Church received the Rosary in
its present form and according
to the method we use today. It
was given to the Church by St.
Dominic, who had received it from
the Blessed Virgin as a means
of converting the Albigensians
and other sinners. Saint Dominic,
seeing that the gravity of people's
sins was hindering the conversion
of the Albigensians, withdrew
into a forest near Toulouse, where
he prayed continuously for three
days and three nights. During
this time he did nothing but weep
and did harsh penances in order
to appease the anger of God. At this point our Lady appeared to
him, accompanied by three angels,
and she said,
"Dear Dominic, do you know which
weapon the Blessed Trinity
wants to use to reform the
world?"
"Oh, my Lady," answered
Saint Dominic, "you know
far better than I do, because
next to your Son Jesus Christ,
you have always been the chief
instrument of our salvation."
Then Our Lady replied, "I
want you to know that, in this kind
of warfare, the principal
weapon has always been the Angelic
Psalter (nowadays: the Rosary), which is the foundation-stone
of the New Testament. Therefore,
if you want to reach these hardened
souls and win them over to God,
preach my Psalter."
So he arose, comforted, and burning
with zeal for the conversion of
the people in that district, he
headed straight for the cathedral.
At once, unseen angels rang the
bells to gather the people together,
and Saint Dominic began to preach.
As my colleague John implied, I would
recommend networking and getting
to know solid practicing Christians.
You can probably do this in a RCIA group.
Here is a web page the explains the
family process of joining the Church:
I used to run a free program that sent Catechisms to seeking Protestants and non-Christians but no longer have the financial or operational means to do this anymore. Nevertheless, if you wish to go deeper, consider buying a cheap copy of the Catechism of the Catholic Church to learn everything we believe as Catholics.
In order to assist you in answering
the questions from your very extreme
atheist friends,
I recommend these books:
Thank you very much for all your
replies, especially Mr. Humphrey.
I hope I get this right. It means
a lot to have all of my questions
answered, and not simply the ones
about my sexuality. There are many
other aspects of my life, some far
more important.
It means a lot to have them recognized.
John
Mike
replied:
Hi John,
Thank-you for the kind words.
I'm fortunate to have a solid team
of Catholic defenders who are compassionate
yet hold to the teachings of the
Church.
Tell your atheist friends about our
site. Although I still highly recommend
that Christian
Apologetics book, It may save
a lot of time for you, if you just
redirect them to the site.
While they are asking us questions,
you can be reading about the proofs
for the existence of God and more.
: - )
Take care,
Mike
Please report any and all typos or grammatical errors.
Suggestions for this web page and the web site can be sent to Mike Humphrey
