"The Church opposes any unjust treatment of homosexual persons, insisting on their equal dignity before God and firmly correcting anyone who in any way ridicules homosexual persons. It is also the duty of the Church in every diocese to provide adequate pastoral programs to help homosexual men and women live the Gospel to the full."
Father John F. Harvey
Founder of Courage
For more than thirty years, Courage has been helping same-sex-attracted Catholic men and women to lead chaste lives. This book will relate not just the history of the apostolate but how and why it was founded. It will introduce readers to the numerous souls whose lives were changed by following the goals of Courage and who found peace, understanding, and joy in choosing a life of chastity.
This book is an attempt to tell the story of Courage from the point of view of a member.
Founded in 1980 in New York, Courage has grown into an international organization. Yet its very existence seems to defy the tide of the popular culture. In spite of pressure on all sides and even from inside the Church, Courage continues to stress the traditional teachings of the Church. While society's attitudes toward sexuality have changed, the teachings of the Church have not. It is possible that of all the Church's teachings, none has been more distorted and misunderstood than the teaching regarding human sexuality. Yet the Church could not be more clear: all of us, homosexual and heterosexual, are called to be chaste.
Born into a Catholic family, James entered a religious order, left it and ultimately entered into a long term same sex relationship. He became a minister in a gay Church, officiated at same sex weddings and enthusiastically championed the Gay Cause. At the death of his partner he returned to the Catholic Church through, in his view, the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary. He has since become a consecrated secular under vows as a member of the Secular Institute, the Lay Missionaries of the Passion.
James, a faithful Catholic since his return to the faith of his youth in 1988, is a member of Courage and for the past twenty-five years very involved in this apostolate.
His education includes a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Language and Literature from Pace University, and a Master of Arts degree in English Language and Literature from Trenton State College (now The College of New Jersey). He obtained a Master of Professional Studies in Ministry from New York Theological Seminary. The latter was obtained in 1976 while active in the Protestant denomination for same-sex-attracted-persons, the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches.
James worked closely with Father John F. Harvey, O.S.F.S. who encouraged him to write this history of Courage, sat for several interviews and gave him access to Courage records. Father James B. Lloyd, a longtime Courage adviser, has written an introduction to the book.