Spiritual accompaniment for persons with same-sex attraction

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Notes

1. Spiritual direction can be known by various terms such as spiritual accompaniment and guidance, and the director is also known as a companion, friend, etc. Specialist texts on spiritual direction may be consulted for further information regarding the pros and cons of varying terminology.

2. The statement Homosexuality and Hope notes that alienation from the father in early childhood is frequently found in the history of a person who experiences same-sex attraction (Catholic Medical Association 2000, 3). For Rev. John Harvey one of the principal factors which individually or collectively contributes to SSA is the “inability of the child to identify with the gender of the same-sex parent” (Harvey 2007, 12).

3. Dr. Richard Fitzgibbons, e-mail message to author, May 23, 2015.

4. Janelle Hallman remarks “women with SSA regularly report feeling deprived of maternal nurturing and affection” (Hallman 2008, 64). She discusses her experience from therapy with women who experience same-sex attractions and notes that they often experienced excessive closeness with their moms or excessive distance, there being no middle ground (Hallman 2008, 61–62). Andria L. Sigler-Smalz, a clinical pastoral counselor, cites the following “There is often a desperate quality to the emotional attraction in women that struggle with lesbianism. One client, who recognized that her lesbian relationships re-enacted her need for maternal love, explained to me, ‘When I meet a woman that I feel drawn to, it is as if a place inside me is saying, ‘Will you be my mommy?’ It is a compelling and powerful feeling, and a helpless one. Suddenly, I feel little. I want to be noticed by her, I want to be special to her, and that want takes over my mind” (Sigler-Smalz n.d.).

5. Abuse produces many wounds in the victim. Serious issues arising include the need for healing and for justice against the perpetrator(s) for the offence committed.

6. Janelle Hallman comments that “Depression and anxiety are common in the lives of women with SSA.” (Hallman 2008, 60–61). See also page 4 and footnote 43 of Catholic Medical Association (2000). Garofalo et al. (1999) report that gay, lesbian, bisexual, or not sure youth report a significantly increased frequency of suicide attempts.

7. “Although MSM represent approximately 4 percent of the male population in the United States, in 2010 male-to-male sex accounted for 78 percent of new HIV infections among males. […] In the Philippines, 84 percent of all new sexually transmitted HIV infections in 2013 occurred in MSM, with Manila being the epicenter of the epidemic” (McTavish 2014, 637–638).

8. Saint Alphonsus Liguori writes further “Hence holy Job made a compact with his eyes not to look at any woman, even at a chaste virgin; because he knew from looks evil thoughts arise” (Liguori 1888, Instruction III, II, 1).

9. For more information, see their website: http://www.couragerc.net.

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Notes on contributors

James McTavish

Fr. James McTavish, F.M.V.D., M.D., is a Scottish missionary priest with the Fraternidad Misionera Verbum Dei. He originally studied medicine at Cambridge University, later gaining his fellowship in surgery from the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, before specializing in plastics and reconstruction. He then heard the call of the Lord to heal the wounded Body of Christ through evangelization — “Give me life by your Word” (Ps 119). Having studied moral theology and bioethics in Rome, after priestly ordination he was then assigned to Manila in formation work, biblical apostolate, and teaching morality and ethics in various medical and theological schools.