CNA Staff, Sep 26, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).
Courage International, the Catholic apostolate that helps men and women experiencing same-sex attraction “persevere on the path of holiness,” marked 45 years of ministry on Sept. 26, celebrating nearly half a century of helping individuals struggling with sexuality to “live a chaste life” in line with Church teaching.
The Connecticut-based organization traces its earliest roots to an effort started by New York archbishop Cardinal Terence Cooke, who in 1978 conceived of a same-sex attraction ministry and asked Father John Harvey, OSFS, to lead the effort.
Harvey, who died in 2010, authored the 1979 pamphlet “A Spiritual Plan to Redirect One’s Life,” offering a program for “homosexually-oriented persons” to “achieve a chaste, productive, and happy life.”
The apostolate held its first official meeting the following year on Sept. 26 at the Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Manhattan. In 1981 the group published the first version of its “Five Goals,” which include dedications to chastity, service, the sacraments, and fellowship.
Within a few years the program expanded to Canada, officially becoming an international organization; it also began to expand throughout the U.S. at the time.
An endorsement by the Holy See came in 1994. The group by this time had already begun hosting annual “Courage Conferences,” with Harvey publishing several new works on the ministry over the years.
The group’s offerings for those struggling with same-sex attraction include retreats, literature, online chat groups, and a men’s sports camp — a weekend of “team sports with encouragement, coaching, and an abundance of Christian fellowship” (where teams compete in an “annual epic battle for the coveted Harvey Cup”).
‘Such a needed ministry’
Father Brian Gannon, the executive director of Courage, said the group was originally founded to minister to men with same-sex attraction and eventually expanded to include women. A sister program, “EnCourage,” ministers to family members of those with same-sex attraction.
The group works primarily through chapters, which number around 160 worldwide and function as clergy-led support groups.
“There’s individual groups in various dioceses that are run by chaplains — either priests or deacons — and they meet on a regular basis, usually about once a week,” Gannon said.
Group members “come together, read through the goals, discuss their experiences and challenges during the week, and pray,” he said. “Prayer is absolutely central to it.”
Courage has a presence in numerous countries worldwide, including the Philippines, Singapore, and Poland. In addition to executive leadership, the group is overseen by an episcopal board of several bishops. “It’s fully sanctioned by the Church,” Gannon said.
Gannon himself came into the leadership role in 2024. Years before he helped to start a Courage chapter in Bridgeport, Connecticut. He was approached by the organization last year and asked to serve as director.
The priest took on that role in addition to his pastorship at St. Theresa Parish in Trumbull, Connecticut. “It’s a challenge,” he said with a chuckle. ”But you balance it as best you can. You always want to do more for both [roles].”
He described the men and women who take part in the apostolate as “truly inspirational,” while the organization’s staff, including another full-time priest, are “very hardworking.”
Looking to the future, Gannon said the group is hoping to expand its social media presence. He also said it is making efforts to contact each new bishop installed in the U.S.
“We’ve just started to reach out to newly appointed bishops, sending them a welcome letter and encouraging them to get in touch with us, letting them know we’d love to come and talk to them about starting a Courage chapter if they don’t have one,” he said.
Gannon said participants in the ministry do not seek a watered-down version of Catholic doctrine. “They want to follow exactly what the Church is teaching,” he said.
“The secular world has a twisted view of sexuality,” he said. “This is such a needed ministry. It helps people find peace.”
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How very refreshing to read about the members of Courage International instead of C.S. Lewis’ “men without chests”—like those well-positioned tongue-twister cardinals from Luxemburg or Argentina.
It might even be in season, at Cardinal Grech’s “2028 Ecclesial Assembly,” for Courage International to replace the tiresome photo-op Jesuit Jimmy Martin and his camp followers. Why are we reminded, here, of the pre-synodal Thomas More who had the personal courage to evaluate accurately his own times which were so much like our own?
“If we lived in a State where virtue was profitable, common sense would make us good, and greed would make us saintly. And we’d live like animals or angels in the happy land that ‘needs’ no heroes. But since in fact we see that avarice, anger, envy, pride, sloth, lust and stupidity commonly profit far more than humility, chastity, fortitude, justice and thought, and have to choose, to be human at all…why then perhaps we ‘must’ stand fast a little—even at the risk of being heroes” (from Robert Bolt’s “A Man for All Seasons”).
This is a terrific ministry in the Catholic Church. It is a ministry that serves Christ and the Gospel. It should be wholeheartedly supported by Catholics knowing that the Evil One will always be working to tear down the Good. I had the honor of sitting next to Father Harvey at a conference some years back. He was a man of humility and his personal integrity was evident once you got to know him. The Archdiocese of NY ought to advance his cause.
What exactly is The Catholic Church teaching about Christ’s teaching on respect for the Sanctity of the marital act within The Sacrament of Holy Matrimony which affirms Christ’s teaching on respect for the Sanctity and Dignity of the life of every beloved son or daughter from the moment of conception to death? Certainly we can know through both Faith and Reason, for some time now, many Baptized Catholics have been permitted to remain within The One Body Of Christ, while rejecting Christ’s teaching on sexual morality, in essence, creating a counterfeit magisterium that rejects Christ’s teaching on respect for the Sanctity and Dignity of every human life from the moment of conception, to death, which is necessary to affirm for human flourishing. Who can deny that permitting a counterfeit magisterium to subsist within The Body Of Christ that denies The Word Of God Incarnate is anti Christ, and has resulted in a Great Apostasy? You can only have a Great Apostasy from The True Church Of Christ.
The Courage Apostate exists to help those who desire to lead a life that respects the inherent Dignity of themselves as well as every human person as a beloved son or daughter, something all persons should desire to do and are certainly Called to do. Why then, has a counterfeit magisterium been permitted to subsist within The One Body Of Christ, that promotes the affirmation of the engaging in of demeaning acts, that deny the inherent Dignity of the human person? Only Love, which is always rightly ordered to the inherent personal and relational Dignity of the human person, can serve for The Common Good, for Love, is devoid of every form of lust, and thus serves to affirm God’s Desire for human flourishing.
All who are followers of The Christ are Called to Holiness, which is a Call to overcome our disordered inclinations, and become transformed, through our acceptance of God’s Grace and Mercy, so that we are not lead into temptation, “but delivered from every evil”, no longer a slave to sin, which denies our inherent Dignity as a beloved son or daughter in Christ.
Opposing abortion, affirming the Sanctity and Dignity of the marital act within The Sacrament of Holy Matrimony, and standing up for our inherent , unalienable Right to come to Know, Love, And Serve The True God, The Most Holy Blessed Trinity, In The Unity Of The Holy Ghost, are certainly part of The Deposit Of Faith, that every Catholic must believe with Divine and Catholic Faith, For God, The Ordered Communion Of Perfect Divine Eternal Love, In The Unity Of The Holy Ghost, The Most Holy Blessed Trinity, Is The Author Of Love, Of Life, And Of Marriage.
Let us not forget, that Cardinal Fernández, with permission from the man who was not canonically elected to the Papacy, invented the novelty of “a personal pastoral magisterium of the pope”, which , under the guise of the very issue for which the election of this particular man to the Papacy, was null and void, prior to his invalid election to The Papacy, and Cardinal Fernandez ‘s attempt to recreate “a personal pastoral magisterium of the current pope”, in order to accommodate an occasion of sin, denying God’s Commandment, regarding lust and the sin of adultery, which, no doubt, is a rupture from Sacred Tradition, Sacred Scripture, and The Teaching of The Magisterium, grounded in Sacred Tradition, and Sacred Scripture, The Deposit Of Faith that Christ Has Entrusted to His Church is being denied.
Whereas:
“If there is a union of a private nature, there is neither a third party, (no Holy Ghost), nor is society affected. Now, if the union is given the category of marriage, there could be children affected. Every person needs a male father and a female mother that can help shape their identity.”- Jorge Bergoglio, denying The Sanctity of the marital act within The Sacrament of Holy Matrimony, and the fact that God, The Most Holy And Undivided Blessed Trinity, Through The Unity Of The Holy Ghost, Is The Author Of Love, Of Life, And Of Marriage, while denying sin done in private is sin, and that we, who have been Baptized Catholic, are Called to be “Temples of The Holy Ghost”, in all our relationships.
Whereas:
“We have to change attitudes before we even think about changing what the Church says about any given question”, is in fact, a denial of The Unity Of The Holy Ghost, and thus a denial of The Divinity Of Christ And The Divinity Of The Most Holy Blessed Trinity, Father, Son, And Holy Ghost, which is Apostasy.
Whereas:
Each statement is a summation of the heresy of modernism, which in denying The Unity Of The Holy Ghost, The Spirit Of Perfect Divine Eternal Love Between The Father And His Only Begotten Son, Jesus The Christ, Who Proceeds From The Father And His Only Begotten Son Jesus The Christ, denies The Divinity Of The Most Holy Blessed Trinity, which is apostasy, making it appear as if” we can be like gods, declaring what is Good and what is evil, permitting the devil to be in the details. “ Oh what a tangled web they weave…”
Whereas The Veil Has Been Lifted, and The Apostasy Exposed.
“They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would no doubt have remained with us; but that they may be manifest, that they are not all of us.”
The fact that those who deny Christ’s Teaching regarding lust and the sin of adultery are attempting to create a counterfeit magisterium and subsist within The One Body Of Christ, is indeed manifest.
The Office Of The MUNUS is “forever”, because it is a Gift Of The Holy Ghost, and thus we can know through both Faith and reason, that the source of all heresy , including the heresy of modernism, which denies the Sanctity and Dignity of the marital act within The Sacrament of Holy Matrimony and thus God’s intention for respect for The Inherent Sanctity and Dignity of all Human Life from the moment of conception to death, is the denial of The Unity Of The Holy Ghost, The Spirit Of Perfect Divine Eternal Love Between The Father And His Only Begotten Son, Jesus The Christ, Who Proceeds From Both The Father And His Only Begotten Son , Jesus The Christ, In The Ordered Communion Of Perfect Divine Eternal Complementary Love, The Most Holy Blessed Trinity.
At the heart of Liberty Is Christ, “4For it is impossible for those who were once illuminated, have tasted also the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, 5Have moreover tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come…”, to not believe that Christ’s Sacrifice On The Cross will lead us to Salvation, but we must desire forgiveness for our sins, and accept Salvational Love, God’s Gift Of Grace And Mercy; believe in The Power And The Glory Of Salvation Love, and rejoice in the fact that No Greater Love Is There Than This, To Desire Salvation For One’s Beloved.
“Hail The Cross, Our Only Hope.”
“Blessed are they who are Called to The Marriage Supper Of The Lamb.”
“For where your treasure is there will your heart be also.”
“Behold your Mother.” – Christ On The Cross
Save an electron.
ND: “ the man who was not canonically elected to the papacy?”who and according to whom?
I wish that more people would differentiate between being gay and acting on the sin. Heterosexual unmarried people living together are just as sinful as engaging in homosexual acts. Same with divorced and remarried people without an annulment. Why don’t priests and bishops talk about these other sins??
Some of us deacons actually do preach about these matters (that is when our priest/pastors decide to share the ambo with the deacon). Deacons who for the most part are married carry more credibility than celibates when it comes to speaking about the morality of married life. A deacon who preaches about contraception better be practicing what he preaches otherwise he’s a hypocrite.
That old chestnut about being married gives one more credibility to speak on marital matters is hogwash. I don’t have to have cancer to tell people is bad!
I have known the wives of Protestant ministers and rabbis who have said repeatedly, that if they ever had a marriage problem, they would only go to a celibate Catholic priest!
Your comments are woefully self-serving. Many married laypeople have told me that they are more comfortable speaking with me as a married cleric than with a priest. You should take note that I fully support a celibate clergy so I hope you’re not misconstruing my comment as a slap against celibacy. It is a great gift to the Church.
Honestly, it would help a lot if they did.
Also we can’t presume that two people that are living together are having sex.
Unchastity differs from sodomy Mother Ellie.
We should all practice chastity according to our state of life but SSA acts are additionally sinful.
Unmarried cohabitating couples are living in sin but in many cases that situation can be remedied through the Sacrament of Matrimony. The same isn’t true for SSA couples.
I understand your point, but that distinction is not really relevant to the current situation. The issue confronting the church is that progressives in the hierarchy want the church to affirm those who are actively and intentionally living a gay lifestyle. Priests seem to be unwilling to take a firm and vocal stand on homosexuality, divorce & remarriage, and cohabitation. It’s a clear pattern.
Holy Scripture indicates that Christ’s apostles were married and that there is no objection to marriage for the leaders of the Church. See St. Paul testimony and also Matthew:
1 Corinthians 9:5
Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas [Peter]?
Matthew 8:14)
4 And when Jesus entered Peter ‘s house, he saw his mother-in-law lying sick with a fever.
1Timothy 3:2-5
Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4 He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, 5 for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God ‘s church?
Hebrews 13:4
Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.