Читать книгу Accompanying those with Same-sex Attractions - David Prosen - Страница 7

Foreword

Father John F. Harvey, OSFS, who founded the Courage apostolate in 1980, would often say that “our best ambassadors are our members,” men and women who, living with the experience of same-sex attractions, had chosen to pursue the virtues of chastity and friendship according to the mind of the Church. Like Father Harvey, I have a deep respect for these brothers and sisters of ours, who speak very candidly about a profoundly personal experience — often to a skeptical or even hostile world — and testify to the power of God’s grace and providence to bring healing, peace, and freedom to their lives.

This kind of testimony is essential in our day, as questions about sexual identity, sexual attraction, and sexual intimacy come up ever more frequently in both secular and Church environments. The design and will of God for sexuality and sexual intimacy, as it is revealed in Sacred Scripture and the teachings of the Catholic Church, is still good news for every human being, even though the call to chastity can seem at first like a sacrifice too daunting to attempt. In a world that so quickly rejects God’s plan, however, the Church needs to proclaim it more clearly than ever. Dogmatic formulations, while always true, can sometimes be hard to hear amid the noise of the media and of political discourse. Personal witness captivates the attention of the modern world.

David Prosen is in a unique position to testify to the beauty and goodness of God’s will for sexuality and of the Church’s call to chastity. As a man who has experienced same-sex attractions for most of his life, he speaks very candidly about his own search for love and acceptance, the compromises he made along the way, and the disappointment he encountered. As a Catholic who has embraced the Church’s teachings about chastity, he shares honestly how difficult it once was to hear that teaching, and what a difference it made in his life once he was able to accept it. He is able to lead clergy and others in ministry to a deeper understanding of what Catholics who experience same-sex attractions need and seek from the Church and their spiritual fathers. This book is a special gift to the Church and could not have come at a more important moment.

“The great ideals of the past failed not by being outlived,” G. K. Chesterton wrote in What’s Wrong with the World, “but by not being lived enough.… The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.” David does not deny that the Christian call to holiness, which includes the call to chastity, can be difficult. But he invites the reader not to stop there — not to reject God’s plan, untried, as an impossible ideal. His candid testimony provides important guidance, both for those who experience same-sex attractions and for those who love them, to find a path through the difficulties and arrive at the fulfillment and the joy that God has planned for each of his sons and daughters.

Fr. Philip G. Bochanski

Executive Director

Courage International