This blog was originally posted on FOCUS's website. “This can’t be real.” I was a theology teacher showing my classroom a video featuring testimonies of devout Catholics experiencing same-sex desires. Despite their same sex attraction, the individuals had decided to strive to live within the teachings of the Church. Most students were genuinely surprised and engaged in respectful dialogue during this lesson, but this student had clearly taken issue with the film. “They’re mak

It was my freshman year of college. I enjoyed newfound freedom, which mostly consisted of late-night trips to Steak & Shake with my new circle of friends. On the surface, my new life in university was flourishing, but in the depths of my soul, I sensed something integral to my well-being was muted, or missing. My growing sense of this lack followed a series of heartbreaks in my teenage years. At the time, I wouldn’t have told you that I had been in love. I never had a boyfrie

I remember sitting there on the dirty concrete floor of my dad’s workshop. The cold and damp cement had caused those moldy old porno magazines my dad kept there to have a dusty feeling and a stale smell of mildew. I had stumbled upon that sinful stash; a tangible mark of my dad’s struggle that would, in time, become my own. I think I was probably about 4 or 5 years old and I knew shame in that moment. From that early exposure to a reality of sin far beyond my tender age, I kn

The following letter was originally posted by The Catholic Woman. Dear Sister, I’ve been attracted to women since I was 15. Men were a little earlier. Everybody’s got something, eh? I was raised in the Catholic Church, encountered Christ in the Eucharist as a teen, and have chosen formation and community ever since. On my last birthday, more than 1/2 my life had been spent intentionally following Jesus. Next birthday, 1/2 my life has included attraction to women. Sister