Reddit mentions of Made for Love: Same-Sex Attraction and the Catholic Church

> They are pro conversion therapy

There is nothing wrong with seeking therapy or spiritual counseling to seek a remedy from distress caused by a conflict between ones inclinations and faith or to come to terms with own sexual identity. There is something wrong with therapy which seeks to brainwash someone into ignoring inherent inclinations and/or forcing new inclinations upon someone.

So it all depends on what he means by "conversion therapy".

> my dad even believes that it is better for a gay teen to commit suicide than to go on to live an actively gay lifestyle

This is not the teaching of the Church. If the Church wants you to be saved, then why would she want someone to die before repentance? Furthermore, a good act must have a good means. Suicide is not a good means and cannot be used even if a good outcome is intended.

So he is absolutely wrong in this belief.

Note: Before someone comes in with an, "Actually, St. Thomas said..." then please keep it to yourself for now. It is not relevant for this conversation.

> I haven’t been able to find out clearly what the Church tells parents of actively gay kids

Just yesterday on Catholic Answers Live, they had on Fr. Michael Schmitz. He wrote a book called Made for Love which talks about the Church teaching on homosexuality. He writes about this topic from first hand experience. He is not gay, but his brother is and is active in the gay community. So he has experience with how families deal with children and siblings who reject Church teaching on homosexuality. He talks about how his family continues to show love for his brother even though they do not accept what he does.

Here is a video of a talk he gave at the Defending the Faith Conference back in 2016 where he outlines what he calls "The third way". The first way is for your parents to disown you. The second way is for your parents to accept everything you do. The third way is where your parents love you and keep you in their lives even though they do not agree with your choices.

Give it a listen. I think it is what you need to hear.

Hi! I'm a gay Catholic, and there is certainly room for you in the church! I think everyone else here has done a pretty thorough job of repeating the Church's teachings on same-sex attractions, so I won't bother getting in to them, but I will say that it is totally possible to live faithfully and happily as a Catholic while being LGBTQ+. (Also note that using those terms tends to incite some heated discussion simply over terminology for some reason, which I don't feel like getting in to right now.)

If you want some reading on the intersections of (Catholic) faith and sexuality, I highly recommend looking at:

• https://spiritualfriendship.org/
  
• https://universityideas.wordpress.com/
  
• https://www.patheos.com/blogs/evetushnet/category/gay-catholic-whatnot
  
• Made for Love by Fr. Mike Schmitz
  
• Building a Bridge by Fr. James Martin (this one gets a lot of hate due to the first edition leaving out the church teaching of celibacy, but people tend to miss the point that it isn't intended to be a treatise on church teaching, but rather a suggestion on how to start having such conversations)
  
• Gay and Catholic by Eve Tushnet
  
  Also, feel free to pm me or respond here any time if you have more questions or want to talk about it.
  
  Good luck on your journey in faith, and I'll keep you in my prayers!

Fr. Mike Schmitz has a book called Made for Love about same sex attraction. I haven’t read it, but I’m familiar enough with Fr. Mike that I’m sure he’s compassionate and loving, while still standing up for truth. Also he has a great talk from Steubenville and did an interview with Matt Fradd about Same-Sex Attraction

Book - https://www.amazon.com/Made-Love-Same-Sex-Attraction-Catholic/dp/1621642194

Talk - https://youtu.be/fWZ171V0wEQ

Podcast - https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pints-with-aquinas/id1097862282?mt=2&i=1000406916001

(Not even responding to what I said).

Love does not lead you to sin.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.amazon.com/Made-Love-Same-Sex-Attraction-Catholic/dp/1621642194&ved=2ahUKEwjQkNvBso_ZAhXL8YMKHcQZCMwQFjAKegQIExAB&usg=AOvVaw0jp75vwMg0WNjKDLkTJdqq