The Archdiocese of Hartford,
Connecticut is launching an outreach program to council gay men
lesbians to become celibate, the Harford
Courant reported.
The diocese has announced the opening
of a local chapter of Courage, a Catholic ministry that teaches that
being gay is okay so long as men and women remain chaste.
“Thorough support and spiritual
intervention, we can help people with same-sex attraction lead moral
and fulfilling lives,” Robert Pallotti, director of the Office of
Diaconate, told the paper. “These people are hurting and so are
their families. Doing nothing would be a lack of compassion.”
Rev. Paul Check, the director of the
local chapter of the Catholic ministry, added: “[It will help
people] who have a unique struggle, an often difficult and vexing
one, and who want to know that the grace of Christ and his cross is
available to them in concrete and practical ways.”
Commenting on the news at progressive
blog ThinkProgress.com,
Zack Ford wrote that such programs only add to the burden gay men and
lesbian already feel.
“Rather than acknowledge that
Catholic teachings exacerbate the stress gays and lesbians can feel
as they struggle to come out, Pallotti and Check are eager to
capitalize on it,” Ford said.