Exposing the Exposé – Part II
Author: Andrew Comiskey and Marco Casanova
June 21, 2021
Eve Tushnet, in her article
‘ConversionTherapy is Still Happening in Catholic Spaces – and its effects on L.G.B.T.people can be devastating’, subtitles a section ‘Leaving Space for the Cross.’
We find this incredibly ironic. How far does the Cross go? Does the
Cross lay claim to every aspect of our lives, even our sexual identities?
The Cross must go to the
essence of our being, laying claim to our sexuality. In order for the Cross to reach
such depths, disciples must surrender completely to Jesus.
Can the Cross break the back
of disorder in our lives? Mary Healy writes: ‘Since today there are people with
same-sex attraction for whom it seems innate and unalterable, the assumption is
often made that to take the biblical teaching at face value is to condemn such
persons to a life of loneliness, frustration and unfulfillment. But this
assumption is incompatible with the witness of the New Testament. Same-sex
attraction is simply one form of the disorder that is in every human heart due
to the fall, although it can bring with it particularly difficult crosses. The
gospel proclaims not only the forgiveness of sin but the healing of all these
forms of disorder and the power to live a transformed life in communion with
God and others.’[1]
Eve, leave room for the Cross!
Allow it to break the back of every moral disorder. The Savior is not
allergic to disorder. The Cross awaits, Eve, for you to let go of your
commitment to ‘gay’ identification.
Surrendering to Jesus and His
Cross is a process that requires walking partners. We need an empowered Church
community. We need skilled helpers. That’s why we take issue with Eve
demonizing a host of orthodox caregivers – orthodox in that they, unlike Eve,
hold to a sound anthropology and thus a therapeutic trajectory for one’s right to
become reconciled to the purpose of her sexuality.
Many of these healers are our
friends: Rich Wyler, Richard Fitzgibbons, Fr. John Harvey and Courage
International, Joseph Nicolosi, the Archdiocese of Denver, Christopher West and
the Theology of the Body Institute, Dr. Bob Schuchts and the John Paul II
Healing Center, and our very own Desert Stream Ministries. These colleagues are
seasoned caregivers who give of themselves freely to those seeking help.
To portray them as dangerous,
Eve uses anecdotal evidence based on questionable recall of counseling
experiences. Time and time again, persons who reverse the healing path and
embrace the LGBTQ+ lifestyle re-write their therapeutic histories as coercive
to the point of caricature. We at DSM have witnessed this in churches and
courts and government councils around the country. We’ve felt the impact of it
in bad rulings that outlaw a person’s right to choose their therapeutic path.
We conclude: the moral reversal into LGBTQ+ identification necessitates skewed
self-justification. Orthodox caregivers become the enemy.
Eve’s choice of anecdotes
sounds thin and unreal. ‘The therapist offered a tantalizing prospect: “He
believed in complete healing of wounds and traumas.”’ ‘She said she wasn’t
seeking conversion therapy. However, the Catholic psychologist from whom she
sought help would not listen.’ ‘She said her therapist scolded her for “dressing
like a boy”; he praised her for being “a highly compliant patient.”’ ‘That I
would be healed by learning about [homosexuality] enough and praying enough.’ ‘Her
therapist and her spiritual director both seemed to think that marriage was her
only “shot at happiness,”’ recalled another interviewee. Ridiculous. No
caregiver in her right mind would say that.
Desert Stream/Living Waters is
mentioned, though Eve never asked our opinion. She casts a shadow on us based
upon the suicide of a woman we never met, nor had we ever engaged with the caregivers
who surrounded her troubled life. Because we did a conference within a 100-mile
radius of the woman’s home, Eve infers that we contributed to her trouble. What
we did just discover is that this woman spent her last 2 years in ‘gay’-affirming
therapy and with a female lover. Eve, you falsely accuse us. And smear
reputable caregivers.
Eve concludes with confusing
and unchaste possibilities for her case studies. ‘She has explored
relationships with woman, even though she still is figuring out “the moral
piece” and how her sexuality and faith might find harmony.’ ‘I’m living with a
man and want to pursue gay marriage.’ The last interviewee is living with his
partner yet committed to a ‘Catholic sexual ethic.’ ‘We almost broke up because
I said, “I’m never gonna be able to give you what you want.” And he said, “I
don’t care about that. I want to be with you.”’
Eve’s alternate to ‘conversion
therapy’ is a slippery slope. It appears to accommodate not only disorder but
sin. ‘Gay’ celibacy and ‘gay’ friendships are still unchaste. The Church must
be clear. Jesus came to break the back of any and all moral disorder in our lives.
Leave space for the Cross, and don’t crucify Jesus’ members who champion Its
power.
[1] Mary Healy, Living the Truth in Love, Part
II (unpublished work). 2020.
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