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October 12, 2023By Maria LeDoux | The Catholic Free Press
Father Colin Blatchford is the associate director of Courage International, an apostolate of the Catholic Church started in 1980 for men and women who experience same-sex attractions and those who love them.
The title of his talk at the Worcester Catholic Women’s Conference was “Authentic Loving Accompaniment.”
“Courage in some ways is a peer support group system. There is no desire for change in a person except for a desire for holiness,” Father Blatchford said.
He said many people have family members who have same-sex attractions and wonder, “How can I nurture these relationships and convey how much I love them without denying the Church?”
“The Church is a place of suffering,” but Jesus Christ shows through Scripture how to receive a person with an open heart; he said.
Father Blatchford explained the five rules of Courage: to live chaste lives; to dedicate lives to Christ through service and spiritual direction and frequent reception of the sacraments; to form authentic friendships with others; to be mindful of chaste friendships and encourage and sustain them; and to live lives of good example.
Father Blatchford said people must recognize that others who are willing to share their story have been dealing with same-sex attraction for a long time and “we are just finding out.”
His response is to tell them three things: that you love him or her, that God has a plan for your life; and that you want to hear his or her story.
Father Blatchford emphasizes communication when accompanying people with same-sex attraction, whether that is verbal or through body language.
“Rightly ordered self-giving love is not just for married people. Man cannot truly find himself except by making a sincere gift of himself,” said Father Blatchford. It is everybody’s vocation to be holy, just as God is holy, he said.
Sharing his own experiences as a priest, Father Blatchford says that just because he is not married and lives a celibate life, he can be happy. He can share in the “joys, sadness, and intimacies” of his parishioners. “I have felt love and I have felt fulfilled. God has a plan even if we don’t know in this moment.”
Father Blatchford spoke on scientific research like the John Money experiment on the Reimer twins in the 1950s at the gender institute at Johns Hopkins University, and legislative changes like the 2015 Supreme Court ruling on marriage equality.
“We can meet people where they are at like our Lord did … we have to be willing to be open to others and what they speak about. … God loves each and every one of us and calls us to be in union with him and participate in his plan for salvation. It is our duty to encounter them and make known the heart of Christ,” he said.
