This blog was originally posted at Courage International's Truth and Love website. “You seem very…managed.” I sat across from a priest on a retreat. He had just heard me describe a few elements of my relational history. This was his response. “I mean, it’s sort of like a filing cabinet,” he went on. “You pulled open these nice, neat folders to show me, then put them back in.” In the immediate aftermath of the conversation, I felt frustrated. You can’t be emotional all t

This blog was originally posted at Courage International's Truth and Love website. Explaining the Church’s teaching on same-sex desires in today’s world isn’t easy. We feel hesitation, embarrassment…shame. Living the Church’s teaching on same sex desires poses it’s own challenges. Internal confusion, hiding…shame. June’s Pride Month offers a compelling alternative for many. Why not simply reject a “repressive” Christian sexual ethic? Why not shrug off shame once and for

This blog was originally posted on Christopher West's Cor Project website. I awoke in the dark. It took a moment to get my bearings. I was in a sleeping bag, lying on the floor of a tent. It was cold, cold enough that I second-guessed the urgency of why I’d awakened. However, to paraphrase John Muir, nature was calling and I needed to go. I wiggled out of my sleeping bag and into the crisp mountain air. What I saw in the sky took my breath away. Allow me to explain. I’m a sub

This blog was originally posted at Courage International's Truth and Love website. In my undergraduate ministry classes, we heard a common theme. The line was repeated over and over again in every class from all our professors. I even heard a rumor that someone had embroidered it onto a pillow as a gift for another person in the major. I tried searching for something similar on Etsy for this blog, but no cigar. It’s a line from Pope Paul VI in his 1975 exhortation On Evangeli

This blog was originally posted at Courage International's Truth and Love website. Zion, Mojave, Red Rock. I’ve been to these deserts, walked their canyons, seen their contours. I’ve stood at the Grand Canyon and Sedona, and driven the long, lonely interstate through Utah. And it was beautiful. The experience of same-sex attraction can often land you in this desert place. For many, vulnerable community seems sparse, friendships are difficult to navigate, and God doesn’t seem

This blog was originally posted at Courage International's Truth and Love website. This week I changed login information for one of my many online apps. In one section, I could select a new update. Male. Female. I prefer not to say. How do you identify? “Identity politics” has gotten a lot of play across the red-blue spectrum in recent years. While it may appear as if the human person is the recipient of an upheaval heretofore unseen, this is not a new question. At the outset

Growing up in the days of AIM, one family computer in the middle of the living room presented challenges. Not only did my siblings and I need to compete for coveted screen time, but we also faced a test requiring catlike reflexes and a ninja’s hyper-awareness of their surroundings - the parent over the shoulder. “Who is QTpie87?” “Are any of those chats with boys?” “Why does that say ‘bitch’?” We mastered the art of minimizing screens, of keeping more innocuous chats up long