Philadelphia Archdiocese Sponsored Workshop By “Ex-Gay” Therapy Proponents
Conversion therapy proponents have been welcomed in another U.S. diocese, deepening ties between some of the nation’s bishops and fringe LGBTQ-negative organizations who promote a practice not in line with church teaching.
The Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s Office for Life and Family co-sponsored a daylong workshop on gender and sexuality with Desert Stream Ministries/Living Waters, a group that promotes conversion therapy. The program, “Gender Matters – Fighting for the Integrity of Persons,” took place in early September. According to an event description, it planned to tackle questions like the following:
“Men and women are called to be good gifts in their gendered selves. How can they obtain freedom from the grips of sexual and relational brokenness, so as to unleash the gift God created?
“Jesus has come to heal broken humanity. Can He heal and transform sexual brokenness? Come and hear the witnesses of those who have found Christ and His Church to be a healing ground for their broken sexuality!”
Sexual brokenness is a prominent theme for Desert Stream Ministries/Living Waters, headed by Andrew Comiskey who was the lead presenter at the Philadelphia workshop. Comiskey’s ministry seemingly approves of a conversion approach to being gay. The ministry’s website said that “identification with Christ displaces a homosexual identity” and recommended the anti-gay organization NARTH as a resource for those seeking “ex-gay” therapy. He has helped lead the ex-gay Restored Hope Network, too.
The Philadelphia archdiocese is not the first Catholic institution to welcome Comiskey and his ministry. In January, Bondings 2.0 reported on a gender and sexuality conference featuring Desert Stream Ministries/Living Waters sponsored by the Archdiocese of Denver. A sign outside the archdiocesan offices and seminaries quoted Comiskey as saying the idea of a gay person is a “popular myth” and that “Satan delights in homosexual perversion.” In Marxch of 2019, Bishop Carl Kemme of Wichita invited the ministry to present there. And Crux reported that Comiskey was a keynote speaker at a July conference for ChristLife, which describes itself as a “Catholic ministry for evangelization” and has been endorsed by Baltimore’s Archbishop William Lori.
U.S. bishops are also on record explicitly endorsing Desert Stream Ministries/Living Waters. Denver’s Archbishop Samuel Aquila and Kansas City’s Archbishop Joseph Naumann have appeared in the group’s promotional materials. Aquila has sent priests from his archdiocese for trainings with the group, and has encouraged Catholics to start local groups for helping the allegedly sexually broken.
The Denver archdiocese has continued promoting harmful workshops, reported the Colorado Times Recorder. In early September, it joined Catholic Charities and Colorado Christian University’s Centennial Institute in sponsoring an LGBTQ-negative workshop. The featured speakers were Emily Zinos, who is linked with extreme anti-transgender groups, and Deacon Patrick Lappert, who has said surgeries related to a gender transition are a “form of tyranny” and “child abuse.”
Conversion therapy is linked to high rates of self-harm and suicide, particularly among youth, thus the efforts to ban it in state capitols nationwide. Though it is only a fraction of the U.S. episcopate that collaborates with conversion therapy proponents, that fraction can cause real damage if Catholics believe church teaching supports such dangerous practices. It does not.
—Robert Shine, New Ways Ministry, September 22, 2019
The reason a number of states have outlawed “ex-gay” therapy for minors, is that it is abusive, destructive and a scam. This is an article from The Intelligence Report published by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Truth Wins Out has exposed these fake ministries and therapies and their practitioners for decades. Wayne Besen, with TWO, has done great work in outing their leaders. These bishops and dioceses need to be confronted about the damage they are doing as proponents of these ministries.
https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2019/out-darkness-conversion-therapist-quits-ex-gay-movement
Monstrously, they want to portray us as unstable, unhealthy, unworthy and undesirable. The few brave voices within the Church calling for an end to this approach are then also considered problematic. Best approach : Keep showing up, Involve yourself. Show your face. Disarm them with kindness.
Sadly, Pope Francis himself supports this type of deceitful and dangerous quackery since, just a few years ago, he gave his backing to Mexican bishops in their opposition to a proposed legislative ban on so-called ‘Reparative Therapy’.
The Mexican bishops were successful.
Roman Catholic churchmen are sometimes seriously out of touch with scientific reality; there is a presumptuous, dogmatic arrogance that they know best.
A sign outside a diocesan office says that the “idea of a gay person is a popular myth” and that “satan delights in homosexual perversion”. And this is an example of priests/bishops with whom we are to establish good relations? Where to begin? What to say? Christ could not have uttered these words. How do people condone this?
I am a licensed counseling psychologist, and no self-respecting, licensed therapist I know would approve of “conversion therapy.” Their use of the term “therapy” is such a perversion of the term. It is so disheartening to realize that too many leaders in “my” Church still continues to try to act as if Vatican II never happened and to return to the 1950ies –if not the Middle or Dark Ages. True, dedicated therapists work to heal society so that those who do not fit the “norm” (whatever that is, according to “whoever”) are not marginalized or “tortured” into fitting. On a broader level, I find it so challenging to deal with males in the hierarchy who run from their own sexuality and then presume to be qualified to JUDGE others’ sexuality and who use the POWER of their office OVER others versus FOR others. I appreciate New Ways Ministry as a source of information and as a reference for those I encounter who experience the marginalization –if not the “torture.”
Re: Conversion Therapy
This revelation is exceedingly sad. Not exactly what I wanted to wake up to this morning. This is a very depressing situation. How does one balance the freedom of speech and suppressing speech that is harmful to life? What can we as the queer community do to rise up against such presentations in our Church? The Church should not grant a platform for speakers who promote debunked psychological therapy.
I’d like to hear other blog members thoughts on how to politely rebuke the bishops and other Church clergy and lay persons who promote gay conversion therapy out of shear ignorance.
Thank you for your response.
For those who have found help through conversion therapy, are we to deny their experience? Just because conversion therapy may not have been useful or good for
everyone does not mean that information about good that has come from it for some should be stifled. Let people hear
both sides and then decide on their own. The more information one has, the better a
decision can be made.
Sorry to disagree. Choosing “Conversion Therapy”? Would you choose a “treatment” that has no scientific backing? What about minors who might be forced to “choose”? There is no sound underpinnings for so-called “conversion therapy.” It is a perversion of the concept of therapy. Forward-thinking States have banned it. There can be a need for genuine therapy for victims of “conversion therapy.” Testimonials to its efficacy? Check on line, the founder of “conversion therapy” came out as gay and has turned against “conversion therapy.” I would be ashamed as a licensed psychologist if I did not speak up against this snake-oil approach to “helping” LBGTQ people deal with who they are in a sometimes very hostile culture –especially the culture of some religious organizations.
Thank you for your response.
Yes, you actually can deny the tales of those who falsely claim they were “helped” by conversion therapy. The former leaders of such groups now say its a fraud and that no one changed. They will tell you that clients claim to be helped to please others and to fit in. It’s shame based abuse disguised as therapy.
https://youtu.be/uKdqF4if4VE
Thank you for your response.
Evidence?
Allen, a full response to your post would require a more extensive post than is fitting for this site. But I do have a few comments apropos your question.
The premise of conversion therapy is that there is something harmful and/or wrong or unnatural about gay orientation, behavior and relationships. Psychiatric, psychological and sociological research over the last 70 years or more, has shown that this premise is mistaken. Any sexual behavior can be destructive. But homosexual actions have been shown to not be intrinsically destructive; gay relationships have been shown to be as healthy as straight relationships; and gay parents have been shown to be as loving and healthy as straight parents.
Human sexuality is quite varied, as is the sexuality of other living creatures. Which would seem to indicate that the creator creates variety in not only color, shape, size, but also sexual orientation and gender.
And what is conversion therapy? Proponents have used prayer, guilt, methods of 12 step programs, condemnations, hugging, camping trips, aversion therapy, diet, lobotomy, castration, and other methods to attempt to make gay people straight.
The stories of people being helped by conversion therapy in its many forms, have over and over been shown to be baseless. Leader after leader of group after group has admitted that their claims of change have been false, and they have resigned from or closed their groups and often entered into gay relationships themselves. And countless numbers of people who have been subjected to conversion therapy, have come forward to describe the harm it has done to them.
And why have so many people, who have attempted through conversion therapy to become straight, been harmed? Because the therapy in its many forms has been an attempt to change the innate nature of those people, and to force them to live lives without the kind of relationships that could provide them with love and fulfillment, often leading to years of suffering, depression and even suicide.
Just as laetrile was banned as a cancer treatment because it was ineffective and dangerous, some states have banned conversion therapy for minors, because of its ineffectiveness and danger. As a mental health professional who managed mental health counseling for clients, neither I – nor my company – would have ever authorized conversion therapy for either minors or adults.
(Just a further note. Though Robert Shine’s post above does not go into detail about transgender people and issues – other than to mention individuals and groups that are anti-transgender – that is another area in which many Catholic leaders are out of step with real people and real science.)
Thank you for your response.
I appreciate your reasoning of hearing both sides to allow people to decide; however, when there is a preponderance of testimony and science that something not only isn’t effective but dangerous then the responsibility rests with those professionals to work with the powers that be to cease and desist. For example, shall we let two sides argue the pros and cons of cigarettes or do we rely on the science that it is a harmful and life-threatening habit.
Conversion Therapy vs. Therapy
Allen, this blogs disagreement with your thoughts concerning “conversion therapy” is just that. It does not mean that queer people cannot benefit from appropriate counselling. When I was 23-years-old, in 1960, I had a severe crisis concerning my gay sexual orientation. I didn’t know what to do. I asked my mother for confidentiality that I could not tell her what the problem was, but I desperately needed psychiatric care. She agreed, and I began therapy with a psychologist who was formed by a Jesuit university. The goal of the treatment was what makes Don tick. Although it took a number of years, the outcome helped me to accept myself for who I was. This is the type of care that troubled LGBT youth and adults need. So, yes therapy, but not “conversion therapy.”
Thank you for your response.
Thank you for your response.