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How do we embody the Gospel for persons enslaved to the false liberties of our day? We pray, and ask God to give us mercy, vision and boldness to make known His transforming love to them. The other day, I encountered a person staffing a drive-through window who could not be discerned as either male or female. Tempted by shock, I composed myself and recalled instantly a dream a few months back in which Jesus encountered an exceedingly fragile woman and said to her ‘I only want

‘As long as it continues to be told, no story is ever wasted,’ opines a ‘gay’ Christian writer. Like many today, he feels compelled to testify of how Jesus confirms his intrinsically homosexual self as one expression of the good news. Everyone has a story indeed. But not every story tells the truth of the Gospel. I contend that persons whose stories feature Jesus as the advocate of identities based on disordered desires distort the Gospel. However charming their speech and po

‘Mercy without justice is the mother of disintegration.’ Thomas Aquinas Conviction for sexual sin is dull today. We no longer feel bad for acting badly. Misuses of mercy may well enable the problem. When we placate the disintegrated who sow seeds of disorder everywhere, are we disintegrating others? Where is justice for persons caught in the crossfire of another’s sin? Last week, we as a staff prayed for a godly wife whose husband abruptly left her and is fast-tracking a divo

Emptied and wearied by well-doing, I subjected myself to fools—fantasies that rushed into my void like sewage. I was as wanted and exciting as were those around me. I wanted my dream to come true. Barely able to choose otherwise, I did. By grace alone (and a friend’s help), I made my way to Mass in a strange town and locked eyes with the Crucified over the altar. Bearing my little cross, I embraced Jesus and hid myself in His wounded side. When the priest read the Gospel—John

Today’s freedom to be whatever one thinks (s)he is, gender-wise, sheds new light on the question of homosexuality and change. If Kevin can wear a dress, use a woman’s restroom, and legally damage another for not referring to him as Karen, then a Christian’s commitment to leave behind an identity based on his or her same-sex attraction while aspiring to love a member of the opposite gender seems positively sane. Or at least possible, and at best worthy of the respect we accord

By Brian Barlow On a recent trip to San Diego, I was given an unexpected gift for my birthday. My bride Nichole had been planning this trip for several weeks. We dropped the boys off at grandparents and arrived at our new waterfront hotel in downtown San Diego. San Diego held for me many memories from my sexually disoriented past. We walked the streets together and I saw familiar sites which evoked that past. I found my heart growing heavier as the night progressed. Once seat

Dear ____, Bless you for finally being open about your same-sex attraction. That is a brave step and I pray that God and a faithful community will honor your confession. You have a big part to play in whether your honesty honors you and your loved ones. What you are admitting is that you have desires that seem to conflict with loving your wife and children. That is different from assuming a ‘gay’ identity. As we are sons of the one Father, made in His image, we can agree that

‘This child will be a stumbling block, causing some to fall and others to rise in Israel; He will be a sign that divides and reveals the hearts of many. Your heart, Mary, will be pierced as well.’ (LK 2:34, 35) Simeon prophesies the piercings incited by the Prince of peace. Perhaps this is why the day after Christmas we celebrate the Church’s first martyr, St. Stephen; having barely mediated upon Jesus’ birth, we honor the cruel death of one who embodied Christ by forgiving h

‘Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses.’ St. Paul Vl My young friend Kelsie recently said: ‘If I worship Jesus above all, and He is the Lord of my desires, then of course He can change them!’ She referred to her own commitment to overcome same-sex attraction and relationships, and the progressive freedom she has discovered thus far. She is a witness of Jesus, and one voice among man

‘The Cross becomes a new center of gravity for bringing together what is divided.’ Pope Emeritus Benedict Anyone who wrestles with sexual sin (or been impacted by those who do) understands the divided soul. On the one hand, we long to give ourselves to others meaningfully, with integrity; on the other hand, we are driven and derided by vanities. These addictions are distortions of what is good—each of us, no matter what our sins, has ceased to be a good gift for others. But s

Rome’s synopsis of its synod on ‘family life’ includes 3 paragraphs (out of 58) on homosexuality which could be a cause for alarm. The bishops appear to grant ‘homosexuals’ a kind of ethnic status—homosexuals are treated as a people group whose ‘sexual orientation’ we are ‘to accept and value.’ (50) Further, ‘it must be noted’ that the supportive components of homosexual unions are to be treated as ‘precious’. (52) This troubles me for many reasons, not the least of which is

‘Fatalism is resigning ourselves to the inevitable; faith is entrusting ourselves to the One who is worthy of our trust.’ Richard John Neuhaus A prevailing assumption today: homosexuality is a genetic, inborn condition that requires us to defend ‘gay’ persons and ‘gay marriage’ because persons with such inclinations just cannot help it. Parents who confirm ‘gay-identified’ children seem especially intent on perpetuating such a fatalistic view of homosexuality; they lead the w

‘These matters are in my hands and I will bring them to fruition according to My Mercy, for nothing can oppose My will.’ Jesus to St. Faustina Growing acceptance of gender brokenness seems founded on the belief that people are born incurably ‘gay,’ ‘transgender’ etc. Why not be and act according to who one intrinsically is? Rarely discussed is the fracturing impact such acceptance has upon vulnerable boys and girls. Identity formation involves far more than genetics. Who we b

‘The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.’ (PS 103: 6) We have lost an understanding of human nature, founded in the Creator. So we embrace anyone’s sexual inclination as identity and destiny. That involves the false pairing of gender brokenness with ethnicity and women’s rights. Bad logic. Since when is the immutable and God-given fact of being born a particular gender or skin color the same as a moral disorder? I just spent a day with an amazing group

‘For Jesus Himself is our peace, who has made the two one, and who has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility…His purpose was to create in Himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross.’ (Eph. 2: 14-16) Jesus gave us one goal—to become a chaste, trustworthy gift to either gender; He provides one path on which to become a mature expression of that gift. Together in Christ, we s

I came to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ amid the afflicting power of homosexual attraction and conduct. In those years, shame veiled such struggles. I was fortunate to find Christian guides who helped me to discover Jesus as the basis for a new and true humanity. Today, we arise out of shame and into the evolving community known as LGBTQ. Such a community may appear to afford some a kind of corporate identity and defense against a heterosexist world. What it actually doe

Only through the Cross and the mercy released from the One who gave all can we counter the new Pharisee. Boy, do we need it now. I am witnessing a new Pharisaic tendency in Christian spokespeople for ‘GLBT’ (etc.) communities. Instead of surrendering the sexually broken ‘selves’ to Jesus, these ones make huge efforts to justify their homosexuality. Though some claim orthodoxy (no sex outside of marriage), they nevertheless seek to integrate the gay self and ‘celebrate the gra

‘Your most merciful Heart is all my hope. I have nothing for my defense but only Your mercy; in it lies all my trust.’ St. Faustina Kowalska I witnessed this profoundly at our first Living Waters meeting last week. The newly revised material centers on that theme of becoming good gifts to others. Together we expressed our starting points: SSA, addiction, high anxiety, and the ache of old wounds among them, as well as how shame hovers over these problems and veils the gift we

“Jesus said to His disciples: ‘I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!’ ” (Luke 12: 49) Instead we celebrate ‘gay marriage’ and forego real marriage; we criminalize teens who seek to grow beyond their homosexuality but advocate for a child’s right  to determine his or her own gender and have as much ‘consequence-free’ sex as (s)he wants by legalizing over-the-counter contraceptives. We champion the demonized and demonize those in search o

But when local churches become advocates of grace and truth for the gender broken, healing rises like sun breaking through clouds. And I am pleased to say that the church is rising in this hour to mobilize for such healing. She has been provoked by ‘gay marriage’ victories, by the confusing face of once reliable ministries, and by the falling away of many whose sexual shame has now become their boast. Most importantly, her faithful pastors have heard the cries for help from c