Gay and Catholic

Gay and Catholic
Author: Eve Tushnet
Publisher: Ave Maria Press
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2014-10-20
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1594715432

Winner of a 2015 Catholic Press Award: Gender Issues Category (First Place). In this first book from an openly lesbian and celibate Catholic, widely published writer and blogger Eve Tushnet recounts her spiritual and intellectual journey from liberal atheism to faithful Catholicism and shows how gay Catholics can love and be loved while adhering to Church teaching. Eve Tushnet was among the unlikeliest of converts. The only child of two atheist academics, Tushnet was a typical Yale undergraduate until the day she went out to poke fun at a gathering of philosophical debaters, who happened also to be Catholic. Instead of enjoying mocking what she termed the “zoo animals,” she found herself engaged in intellectual conversation with them and, in a move that surprised even her, she soon converted to Catholicism. Already self-identifying as a lesbian, Tushnet searched for a third way in the seeming two-option system available to gay Catholics: reject Church teaching on homosexuality or reject the truth of your sexuality. Gay and Catholic: Accepting My Sexuality, Finding Community, Living My Faith is the fruit of Tushnet’s searching: what she learned in studying Christian history and theology and her articulation of how gay Catholics can pour their love and need for connection into friendships, community, service, and artistic creation.

Queer and Catholic

Queer and Catholic
Author: Mark Dowd
Publisher: Darton Longman and Todd
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2017
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9780232533095

This superb memoir of a gay, working class boy from Manchester exploring how to reconcile his sexuality with his Catholicism is all the more powerful because of his deep knowledge of and commitment to his faith. Spanning the late 1960s to the present day, Mark Dowd's Queer and Catholic chronicles a changing attitude to same-sex attraction over more than half a century and is packed with stories in turn funny, deeply moving and spiritually insightful, including: coming out to his parents by talking in his sleep, training to become a Dominican priest before eloping from a religious order with an ex friar, and attending the funeral of his father - accompanied by his father!

Gay, Catholic, and American

Gay, Catholic, and American
Author: Greg Bourke
Publisher: University of Notre Dame Pess
Total Pages: 330
Release: 2021-09-01
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0268201250

Catholic Greg Bourke's profoundly moving memoir about growing up gay and overcoming discrimination in the battle for same-sex marriage in the US. In this compelling and deeply affecting memoir, Greg Bourke recounts growing up in Louisville, Kentucky, and living as a gay Catholic. The book describes Bourke’s early struggles for acceptance as an out gay man living in the South during the 1980s and ’90s, his unplanned transformation into an outspoken gay rights activist after being dismissed as a troop leader from the Boy Scouts of America in 2012, and his historic role as one of the named plaintiffs in the landmark United States Supreme Court decision Obergefell vs. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage nationwide in 2015. After being ousted by the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), former Scoutmaster Bourke became a leader in the movement to amend antigay BSA membership policies. The Archdiocese of Louisville, because of its vigorous opposition to marriage equality, blocked Bourke’s return to leadership despite his impeccable long-term record as a distinguished boy scout leader. But while making their home in Louisville, Bourke and his husband, Michael De Leon, have been active members at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church for more than three decades, and their family includes two adopted children who attended Lourdes school and were brought up in the faith. Over many years and challenges, this couple has managed to navigate the choppy waters of being openly gay while integrating into the fabric of their parish life community. Bourke is unapologetically Catholic, and his faith provides the framework for this inspiring story of how the Bourke De Leon family struggled to overcome antigay discrimination by both the BSA and the Catholic Church and fought to legalize same-sex marriage across the country. Gay, Catholic, and American is an illuminating account that anyone, no matter their ideological orientation, can read for insight. It will appeal to those interested in civil rights, Catholic social justice, and LGBTQ inclusion.

Catholic Figures, Queer Narratives

Catholic Figures, Queer Narratives
Author: Frederick S. Roden
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 226
Release: 2006-11-14
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0230287778

This study examines the relationship between Catholicism and homosexuality and between historical homophobia and contemporary struggles between the Church and the homosexual? Moving from the Gothic to the late Twentieth-century, from Europe to America, it interrogates what is queer about Catholicism and what is modern about homosexuality.

Homosexuality and the Catholic Church

Homosexuality and the Catholic Church
Author: Fr. John F. Harvey, O.S.F.S.
Publisher: Ascension Press
Total Pages: 219
Release: 2014-06-25
Genre: Religion
ISBN:

As the founder and director of the Courage and Encourage support groups, Fr. John Harvey is aware of the sensitive nature of homosexuality. With his extensive experience ministering to those with same-sex attraction, Fr. Harvey presents the Church’s teaching in an objective and pastorally-sensitive manner. Priests, religious, and laity alike will benefit from the many questions considered here, including: -What is the basis of the Church’s teaching regarding homosexuality? -What do many consider to be the cause of same-sex attraction? -Can a person overcome same-sex attraction? -Why is it important for civil law to limit marriage to one man and one woman? -How can a person live the virtue of chastity joyfully?

Building a Bridge

Building a Bridge
Author: James Martin
Publisher: HarperCollins
Total Pages: 158
Release: 2018-03-13
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 006287344X

“A treasure...a wise and entertaining book that should appeal to the spiritual pilgrim in all of us, no matter what the faith and no matter whether believer or nonbeliever.” – Chicago Tribune The New York Times bestselling author of The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything and Jesus: A Pilgrimage turns his attention to the relationship between LGBT Catholics and the Church in this loving, inclusive, and revolutionary book. A powerful call for tolerance, acceptance, and support—and a reminder of Jesus' message for us to love one another. In this moving and inspiring book, Martin offers a powerful, loving, and much-needed voice in a time marked by anger, prejudice, and divisiveness. On the day after the Orlando nightclub shooting, James Martin S.J. posted a video on Facebook in which he called for solidarity with our LGBT brothers and sisters. "The largest mass shooting in US history took place at a gay club and the LGBT community has been profoundly affected," he began. He then implored his fellow Catholics—and people everywhere—to "stand not only with the people of Orlando but also with their LGBT brothers and sisters." Father Martin's post went viral and was viewed more than 1.6 million times. Adapted from an address he gave to New Ways Ministry, a group that ministers to and advocates for LGBT Catholics, Building a Bridge provides a roadmap for repairing and strengthening the bonds that unite all of us as God's children. Martin uses the image of a two-way bridge to enable LGBT Catholics and the Church to come together in a call to end the "us" versus "them" mentality. Turning to the Catechism, he draws on the three criteria at the heart of the Christian ministry—"respect, compassion, and sensitivity"—as a model for how the Catholic Church should relate to the LGBT community. WINNER OF THE LIVING NOW BOOK AWARD IN SOCIAL ACTIVISM/CHARITY.

Tenderness

Tenderness
Author: Eve Tushnet
Publisher: Ave Maria Press
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2021-12-03
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1646800753

Winner of a second-place award in the category gender issues, inclusion in the Church from the Catholic Media Association. What would happen if gay Christians began to believe the truth about God—that he loves all people unconditionally? In Tenderness, Catholic writer and speaker Eve Tushnet says trusting God’s love would be the beginning of a transformation, not only in the lives of gay Christians but also in the Body of Christ itself. She offers hope and companionship to those who have been deeply hurt by their parishes, a wound that also damaged their relationship with God. Tushnet also offers practical guidance from her own journey as a celibate lesbian. Tenderness explores scripture and history to find role models for gay Christians—including Jesus, King David, Ruth, St. John, Mary, poets, mystics, penitents, leaders, and ordinary gay people who have found unexpected paths of love. The book also offers guidance on living through or recovering from the painful experiences that are all too common in gay Christian life—from familial rejection and weaponized Christianity to ambivalence and doubt. Weaving her own story with resources, prayers, and practical actions that can help gay people trust that God loves them, Tushnet renews our understandings of kinship, friendship, celibacy and unmarried life, ordered love, personal integrity, solidarity with the marginalized, obedience, surrender, sanctification, and hope. This book is primarily for gay Christians, but it also offers a window into their experiences and needs that will make it useful for anyone in pastoral care or who wants to be a better friend to the gay people they know.

God and the Gay Christian

God and the Gay Christian
Author: Matthew Vines
Publisher: Convergent
Total Pages: 226
Release: 2014
Genre: Christian gays
ISBN: 1601425163

Reinterpretations of key Bible texts related to sexual orientation, written by a Harvard student, present an accessible case for a modern Christian conservative acceptance of sexual diversity.

Fortunate Families

Fortunate Families
Author: Mary Ellen Lopata
Publisher: Trafford Publishing
Total Pages: 131
Release: 2003
Genre: Family & Relationships
ISBN: 1412011892

Fortunate Families addresses the experience of Catholic parents who love their gay sons and lesbian daughters. The book had its genesis in a descriptive survey of over 200 such parents. It integrates results from the survey, church documents and stories so readers can access what they need most. Some readers will search for accurate information about Catholic teaching, others may connect with the lived experience of other Catholic parents. Still others will find examples of ministerial advocacy and support within the Catholic Church. Fortunate Families has all this and more. Conventional wisdom emphasizes the stories of parents who react to the news that their child is gay in verbally or physically abusive ways. These stories are told so often they take on an aura of normalcy. But there are other stories - of parents who struggle against the pressures of society and church to find and believe in the goodness of their gay child. It is critically important for parents to hear the stories of others who walked the same road before them-who have come through the experience closer to their gay or lesbian child, and who are willing to work to make the church more welcoming. Equally important is the opportunity for pastoral ministers to hear the voices of these parents and understand the need for outreach and pastoral care for gay and lesbian Catholics and their families. Fortunate Families will help prepare pastoral ministers help families come out of their isolation, work through their confusion and pain, and celebrate how fortunate they actually are.

The Silence of Sodom

The Silence of Sodom
Author: Mark D. Jordan
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 333
Release: 2002-05
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0226410439

The past decade has seen homosexual scandals in the Catholic Church becoming ever more visible, and the Vatican's directives on homosexuality becoming ever more forceful, begging the question Mark Jordan tries to answer here: how can the Catholic Church be at once so homophobic and so homoerotic? His analysis is a keen and readable study of the tangled relationship between male homosexuality and modern Catholicism. "[Jordan] has offered glimpses, anecdotal stories, and scholarly observations that are a whole greater than the sum of its parts. . . . If homosexuality is the guest that refuses to leave the table, Jordan has at least shed light on why that is and in the process made the whole issue, including a conflicted Catholic Church, a little more understandable."—Larry B. Stammer, Los Angeles Times "[Jordan] knows how to present a case, and with apparently effortless clarity he demonstrates the church's double bind and how it affects Vatican rhetoric, the training of priests, and ecclesiastical protectiveness toward an army of closet cases. . . . [T]his book will interest readers of every faith."—Daniel Blue, Lambda Book Report A 2000 Lambda Literary Award Finalist