Posted on 01/29/2003 10:27:34 AM PST by Polycarp
Catholic Church backs 'cure for gays'
January 30 2003
By Barney Zwartz, Religious Affairs Writer
A controversial American psychologist who claims homosexuals can be cured will speak in Melbourne tonight with the support of the Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne, Denis Hart.
Dr Peter Rudegeair is visiting Australia with Father John Harvey, the founder of Courage, an organisation that helps homosexuals live by the precepts of the Catholic Church.
The Melbourne archdiocese has helped pay the costs of the visit, and Archbishop Hart's endorsement is included in letters to every parish priest by Father Denis Ward, the chaplain for Courage in Melbourne.
Gay Catholics have criticised the official support for tonight's talk at the Catholic Theological College in Fitzroy.
A spokesman for the Rainbow Sash movement, Michael Kelly, said Dr Rudegeair's ideas were abhorrent and intellectually bankrupt.
"They promote the idea that homosexuality is an illness, and through the grace of God all illnesses can be cured. It's ideologically driven, that homosexuality cannot be natural or life-enhancing." Mr Kelly said.
Mr Kelly said he was not concerned at the impact on homosexuals but on Catholics generally. "The mentality will seep into the Catholic groundwater," he said.
Father Harvey said yesterday that the purpose of Courage was to teach people how to be chaste. If people wanted therapy they were referred to a psychiatrist.
"Talk of a 'cure' is too vague," he said. "There's two kinds of change. The first is the ability to overcome temptation and be able to be chaste, and that takes a lot of prayer and a lot of work."
The second change was in orientation. "At our present state of scientific knowledge we do not have any infallible ways of getting out of the condition."
Father Harvey said the inclination to same-sex attraction (SSA) was an objective disorder. "All that means is that there is something wrong with it - 98 per cent of men and 99 per cent of women develop a natural physical attraction to people of the opposite sex. That's put there by God; out of that comes family and children. But same-sex attraction doesn't fulfil the purpose of sexuality."
At tonight's talk, Father Harvey said, he would give the Scriptural and philosophical foundation of the church's teaching. Dr Rudegeair would talk about the factors that contribute to homosexuality.
Dr Rudegeair summarised his teaching in an open letter to bishops last July. He said gay activists had spread an enormous amount of misinformation to gain social acceptance.
He said boys who suffered from distant father relationships and were bad at sport could feel inadequate, which could lead to homosexual attractions. "The sooner these problems are addressed in therapy the more hope there is for a full recovery."
Large numbers of people, including clergy who had SSA are now substantially cured," he wrote.
The secretary of the Victorian branch of the College of Psychiatrists, Dr David Barton, said homosexuality was not a disorder and therefore required no treatment as such.
Dr Louise Newman, the chairwoman of the college's NSW branch, said the idea of reparative therapy to change sexual orientation was rejected by most mental health bodies.
TRYNOASITOL
Dr Rudegeair summarised his teaching in an open letter to bishops last July. He said gay activists had spread an enormous amount of misinformation to gain social acceptance.
Understatement!
Yeah, Mr Kelly, we all know how friggin' "life enhancing" it is.
FMCDH
Why is the cure view "controversial" and the born that way and cannot change view isn't? By definition a controversy has two sides, doesn't it? Journalists manipulate issues with the abuse of terms like "controversial" and "divisive" all the time. H E L L O ? If one view is - so is the other.
You sir are no more a Catholic than Bill Clinton.
Anti-Catholic disruptor alert.
Thus, the notion that homosexuals must not only be cured of their temptations and sinful actions, but must be converted into heterosexuals, is more than a little dubious. In some cases, such a miraculous transformation can occur. But it is mistaken to assert that such a transformation MUST occur in every circumstance. Multiple passages in the New Testament make it quite clear that it is expected that SOME Christians will indeed be called to live a life of singleness and celabacy -- as was the case with our Lord himself.
I don't think anyone is saying this. In fact. Fr. Harvey states the opposite here.
then this is a strong indication that God's calling for them is a life of singleness and celabacy in service to God
Certainly.
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