Posted on 04/06/2008 2:09:23 PM PDT by Pyro7480
As best as I can determine, my same-sex attraction began in reaction to my father, who was a violent alcoholic. He often drank, came home to throw things around the house and abuse my mother in addition to threatening me and my brother. I thought he hated us. Consequently, I didn’t want to be anything like him.
In my sorrow, I started looking for the love of my father in thearms of other men. At age 17, a predator took advantage of me under the teacher/pupil dynamic and I became completely mixed up about human sexuality. Over the years, one thing led to another until I moved in with a man more than 20 years my senior....
From 1990 to 1994, I went to Mass off and on. In 1995, I told my "partner" that I couldn’t go anymore because I was very angry with the Church. I boxed up all my crucifixes and Bibles and dropped them off at the office of the bishop of La Crosse, Wisconsin with a letter renouncing the Catholic faith.
To my surprise, Bishop Raymond Burke replied with a kind letter expressing his sadness. He wrote that he would respect my decision and notify the parish where I had been baptized. Ever so gently, Bishop Burke said that he would pray for me and look forward to the time when I would reconcile with the Church....
As someone who suffered in the state of mortal sin for many years, I assure you that there is no happiness outside of the moral order. The only authentic response to the challenge of same-sex attraction and sin is the truth in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
(Excerpt) Read more at clmagazine.org ...
Hat-tip to Dawn Eden
Another excerpt from the article:
Before we go any further, it is important to realize a major cause of same-sex attraction disorder. As a former insider of the community, I can tell you that the so-called gay rights/abortion rights coalition is a proximate result of the contraceptive mentality which was predicted 40 years ago by Pope Paul VI in Humanae Vitae. People abusing one another as sexual objects brought about a mainstream culture of death that tolerates and advocates all kinds of adultery and child abuse, including abortion. This selfish mentality also led to human embryonic stem cell research and euthanasia.
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God bless this gentleman, and that fine writer Dawn Eden, too!
And Bishop Raymond Burke!
Yes, indeed. Raucous round of applause, a Guinness, and a kitten to Bishop Burke!
A kitten? ;-)
I always try to give people I admire a kitten. You don’t like kittens?
Sigh. Most people want the Guinness, but only a few want a kitten.
I’m a cat person actually, though I never actually owned one, outside of the stray I briefly took care of when I was a kid. I just thought that was a random thought on your part. ;-)
Sigh. Most people want the Guinness, but only a few want a kitten.
You have a female cat (with kittens), don't you?
Actually, I don’t. My most recent kitten is almost a year old now. My neighbors across the street have kittens, though, and my kids are nagging for another one.
Kittens are a Restorative, like Guinness.
You could be a cat-foster-parent, if your circumstances don’t lend themselves to a long-term commitment to a cat.
I can see how you could get that impression. It’s just a literary trope, really.
If sexual abuse of children were to be completely eliminated, I think the number of gays in society would shrink drastically.
God bless him for having the courage to speak out. He will be attacked for it.
We couldn't pawn any of ours off either - currently we have eight.
Excellent!
Just in case anyone wasn’t clear on just how cool (and holy) Archbishop Burke is. Someone get that man a red hat!
“As someone who suffered in the state of mortal sin for many years, I assure you that there is no happiness outside of the moral order. The only authentic response to the challenge of same-sex attraction and sin is the truth in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.”
Actually, the author is mistaken on two counts. What is needed is not an “authentic response to the challenge of same-sex attraction and sin,” but rather authentic forgiveness, as distinct from merely institutional absolution from the Vatican. And that forgiveness can only be found in the Bible, not in Catholic doctrine.
You don’t believe has “authentic forgiveness”? Presumptous one you are!
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And that forgiveness can only be found in the Bible, not in Catholic doctrine.Well then, from Holy Writ:
"And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." (Matthew 16:18-19)
Once outside the Church, every man is his own pope. Some people are under the mistaken impression that Church doctrine is from Scripture and the Tradition that preceded the writing down of Scripture. Instead of celebrating the young man’s release from sin, it is an occasion for Catholic bashing. God bless the young man and may he serve as an example.
What is your stance on divorce? Catholic doctrine matches the stance of Our Lord.
typo correction ...mistaken impression that Catholic doctrine is from OTHER than Scripture...
I didn’t say whether he had forgiveness, only that he’s seeking forgiveness from the wrong source.
And if Joseph Ratzinger were actually Peter in disguise, then you’d have a case.
Clueless. Biblical ignorance is the only possible way you can fail to understand that Our Lord gave that power to all the Apostles and to those they chose to join and succeed them.
LOL! And a wisteria plant.
Can you explain how the Bible forgives sin?
I have a wisteria that is (1) constantly trying to devour the south side of my deck and (2) spreading little baby wisterias everywhere.
The only good news is that it is a white cultivar so it's not as invasive as the purple kind and I can stay ahead of it.
Of course, I still have to deal with the seedlings that migrate from all the purple wild wisteria in the woods up behind us . . . .
All in all, I'd rather have a kitten!
One of my FRiends here said, “If you hate someone, give him a wisteria, so he’ll never forget you!”
Mine is still threatening to die; the lawn service poisoned it a couple of years ago, and then it got frozen late last April. DP just gave it a fertilizer spike. Other wisteria are climbing all over trees and houses already.
The Apostolic Succession was recognized repeatedly by the early Church Fathers (e.g. St. Clement who lived and wrote in the 1st century) -- some of whom (e.g. St. Ignatius and St. Irenaeus) knew the Apostle John personally and studied with him.
In order to deny this, you have to think that holy men who actually spoke and studied with one of Jesus's apostles, and all of their successors, somehow "got it wrong" until the sixteenth century. . . . then, somehow, a few men who did not have the direct link with the Apostles suddenly "got it right". And, of course, if the early Church Fathers "got it wrong" . . . they were the men who compiled the Bible. What if they got that wrong, too? (Even Martin Luther couldn't bring himself to ditch the letter of St. James -- but it was close.)
It's much more straightforward and reasonable just to acknowledge the early history of the Church and disagree with it, if that's what you want to do.
The house at the corner has purple draperies all through the woods, and the pine trees up behind us on the hill are festooned with it. It clashes with the blooming redbuds, kind of a horrible sight.
Instead of rejoicing that this young man has been delivered from sin, you make it an occasion to attack the Church? Whazzup widdat?
. . . at least you could talk about kittens, or wisteria, or something harmless!
“Ornamental” junipers will eat your house, too ... and they’re not nearly as pretty as wisteria. My pitiful wisteria is in the far corner of our back yard, from where it will take many years to reach the house, if it recovers.
“Why do you want to sell your house, Mrs. Tax-chick?”
“Well, the wisteria is coming to strangle us in our beds!”
On the other hand, the river birches are running rampant, and shedding their nasty little twigs, branches, and dead leaves all over everything (not to mention dropping spring sap on my nice new deck.)
When we sell this huge house and move when the last kid graduates, my husband says he will personally destroy any river birch near whatever house we wind up in . . . . typical contractor trees, quick effect and then years of hassle.
LOL - around here they plant Bradford pears. Those clouds of pretty flowers smell like you're downwind of a waste management facility.
Back in Norman, we had a crabapple tree that looked pretty and smelled nice.
But not only do they smell nasty, they have brittle wood and narrow branch angles and split the trunk down the middle when they drop a branch. And then in response they set about a million suckers at the base of the trunk . . . . a seriously ugly tree once it has some age on it.
Better to invest in a Yoshino or Kwanzan cherry . . . not a lot of scent (what there is is nice but it's faint), but beautiful and a low maintenance tree. I like the crabapples (my parents had one at their old house) but if they're near a sidewalk or driveway the fruit is a nuisance squishing all over. But the birds love 'em! Mom used to help us make crabapple jelly from the fruit if we could get to them before the birds. Took pounds and pounds of sugar, but we had the satisfaction of eating toast with our very own jelly on it!
Thank you for the great article. I will pass it on to my son and daughter-in-law who are suffering their child’s decision to lead this unholy and unhappy life style.
A success story is just what they need!
God contine to bless Bishop Burke
I notice that our interlocutor never came back to explain how the Bible would have forgiven poor Mr. Hess’s sins. Cebu ...
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