Prayer to St. Joseph the Betrothed
O Holy, Righteous Joseph! While still living on earth, thou had great boldness before the Son of God, Who was pleased to call thee His father, as thou was betrothed to His Mother, and to
The Hidden and Secret Things: Healing Catholic Wounds in Orthodoxy
“For behold, Thou hast loved truth; the hidden and secret things of They wisdom hast Thou made manifest unto me. Though shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be made clean; Though shalt wash
Same-Sex Attraction and Childhood Sexual Abuse – The Evidence
In the 21st Century, LGBT activists and their allies have repeatedly claimed that gay people are born gay; and trans people are born in the wrong body. But there is no evidence to substantiate any
Why Men are Drawn to Orthodoxy: My Conversation with Fr. Michael Butler
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvZr8Wl0ivk
The LGBT War Against Orthodoxy: My Conversation with Fr. John Whiteford
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_ViMQ78Cuk
Saint Joseph Saved My Life
In order to save my life, God sent me the one saint who perfectly exemplified the human attributes that I most feared: FatherhoodMasculinityStrengthBraveryFortitude For as long as I could remember – I yearned to embody
…there but for the grace of God go I.
I never thought I’d be one of those people. I grew up in the North Bay – that largely agricultural, suburban, and affluent section of the San Francisco metro-area that comprises Marin, Sonoma, and Napa
Simplicity and Peace: Surviving Sex, Porn, and Fap Addictions
Give me the strength to seek you; Oh, you who allowed me to find you, and who gave me the hope of finding you more and more. – Saint Augustine For much of my life,
Conversion, Coming Home, and Hope in a Time of Chaos
Much of my life was chaotic. But it wasn’t always so. At home, as a child, before I became exposed to the wider world, I often felt safe and loved. Yet, almost immediately, in school,
A Good Father Tells the Truth
Above: Eugène Burnand, "The Prodigal Son" (1908) My dad was a good father. I didn’t always think so. When I was a kid, I thought he ignored me; he paid more attention to his work,
Fr. Donald Calloway, St. Joseph, and Homosexuality
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=An6zCAQPGL4
Sheltering at Home with St. Joseph, and My Father
Above: “The Icon Corner” by Vasily Maximov, 1869. “On our earth we can only love with suffering and through suffering. We cannot love otherwise, and we know of no other sort of love. I want
Charlton Heston’s “The Private War of Major Benson”
The 1955 comedy film "The Private War of Major Benson" is often regarded by film critics and historians, if they mention it at all, as a forgettable little diversion that Charlton Heston shot while on
Childhood Trauma, Homosexuality, and the Prison of the Mind
I have no formal education in the fields of psychiatry or psychology – this essay is merely an exploration of my own experiences as a person with mental illness. A person who sprained their ankle
Forged in Fire: A Homage to Blue-Collar Masculinity
Above: "Un Patron," or "The Lesson of the Apprentice," (1888) by Jean-Eugène Buland. “Mastering a trade gives you a sense of competency, confidence, and completion. Something positive happens when you get good at doing work
The Family, Fatherhood, and Masculinity in the Rebooted Series “Lost in Space.”
When I was a boy, I adored male television characters who were strong and assertive: James West in “The Wild, Wild West,” Steve Austin in “The Six Million Dollar Man,” and Lieutenant Starbuck in “Battlestar
The Confusion About Saint Joseph’s “Doubt”
An often-repeated mischaracterization about St. Joseph, especially in films depicting the Holy Family, is that he initially thought that the Virgin Mary had committed adultery before their betrothal. According to St. Matthew: “When as his
The Rise of the Catholic Layman, Husband, and Father in 2018
(Norman Rockwell, "Blacksmith's Boy." 1940) In her examination of feminist theory concerning the upbringing and education of young men, especially those espoused by Carol Gilligan, Christina Hoff Summers challenged their assertion that men are civilized
The Wound That Wouldn’t Heal
Above: Edvard Munch, "Melancholy" (1892.) As a child, I think I was a bit of a dreamer. My father and mother worked to exhaustion, trying to give their children a better life. And my siblings,
In remembrance of my father…
Above: John Byam Liston Shaw, The Prodigal’s Return (late-19th Century) Hail, holy queen, mother of mercy! Our life, our sweetness, and our hope! To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve, to thee
The Return of the Prodigal: Surviving Homosexuality and Pornography and Finding Peace in Jesus Christ
Pictured above: Max Slevogt, “The Return of the Prodigal Son” (1898–1899.)
Grade-School Teachers and the Pre-Homosexual Boy
Above: Hamlet Bannerman, "His First Day at Work" (1890). I never knew a male teacher until I entered middle-school. Before that, all of my instructors were female, predominantly middle-aged, and generally caring, compassionate, and even-tempered.
It’s Lonely in Hell – Fear, Isolation, and Male Homosexuality
Above: Edvard Munch. "The Absinthe Drinkers" (1890). “I’m only here to make a friend; to find someone who I can talk with; a nice guy that will understand me.” I kept saying that in my
Contra Mundum Comes Home: Brideshead Revisited, Your Gay Relative, and a Twitch Upon the Thread
(Pictured above: Jeremy Irons as Charles, Anthony Andrews as Sebastian, and Jonathan Coy as Kurt in the 1981 UK miniseries “Brideshead Revisited.”) The 1945 novel “Brideshead Revisited” by English Catholic-convert Evelyn Waugh maintains an odd
A Holy Family, the lost child, and salvation from homosexuality
Above: John Dickson Batten, “The Family” (1886) I have no recollection of seeing my parents pray when I was a child. We never prayed the Rosary together as a family. I probably knew one prayer
Seeing My Father Pray the Rosary – Saved Me From Homosexuality
Day after day I was able to observe the austere way in which he lived. By profession he was a soldier and, after my mother’s death, his life became one of constant prayer. Sometimes I
Saint Joseph as Universal Foster-Father of All Men With Same-Sex Attraction
“And seeing him, they wondered. And his mother said to him: Son, why hast thou done so to us? Behold thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.” (Luke 2:48) In his book “The Fatherhood
The Father is the only one who can carry his son…
On the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge, just north of San Francisco, is one of my favorite places to spend a quiet and sunny day walking and hiking. The area, part of the
The False “Gay” Self, Possession, and Restoration through Humility
(Above: “The Prodigal Son” by Nikolay Losev, late-19th Century.) "The Holy Spirit is not an artist who draws the divine substance in us, as though he were alien to it. It is not in this
Even though I abandoned God, He never deserted me…
(Pictured above: “Wandering in a Field” by Vasily Perov, 1879.) In 1988, as a young, confused, and rather naïve teenage boy, I made a pilgrimage of sorts to the Castro District of San Francisco. In
The greatest prayer I ever offered up to God happened when I didn’t even know any prayers
(Pictured above: detail from “Saint Francis in Meditation” by Francisco de Zurbarán, 1635-9) “…many individuals think they are not praying when, indeed, their prayer is deep.” – St. John of the Cross After years of
The Raw Reality of Locker-Room Talk: An ex-gay perspective
(Above: Detail from "The Shower After the Battle" by Alexandre Alexandrovitch Deineka, 1944.) For some “gay” men, one of the most traumatic memories of high-school is the embarrassing and uncomfortable experience of gym class and
Same-Sex Attraction, Porn Recovery, and St. Joseph: Keeping calm in the midst of chaos.
A good Catholic priest, who was very instrumental in my recovery from both same-sex attraction and an addiction to pornography, always had the same recommendation for me whenever I talked with him about my great
What those leaving “gay” – really need from the Church
“And Jesus said: Neither will I condemn thee. Go, and now sin no more.” (John 8:11) “Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you! You were within
St. Joseph the Worker as the Model of Healing for the Sons of St. Joseph
“St. Joseph takes us into his carpenter shop; and (as the sun glances through the open door) he teaches us not in words but in deeds that in the glorious drama of life in which
The Gay Well – A Big Empty Hole in the Ground
In the first place, man, the image of God, was created “male and female” (Gen 1:27). Men and women are equal as persons and complementary as male and female. Sexuality is something that pertains to
Coming to Terms with My Own Disordered Gay Brokenness and Realizing that Jesus Was the Only Man Who Could Fix Me
Above: Carl Larrson, "In the Carpenter Shop" (1905). “God created us to love and to be loved, so it is our test from God to choose one path or the other. Any negligence in loving
Surviving the AIDS Massacre and a Warning to Catholics Who Somehow Find Good in Gay
Prologue: When I got to San Francisco in 1988, I expected an endless funeral procession to be moving down Castro Street – there wasn’t. Instead, I saw hundreds of boys, just like me: rather wide-eyed,
Healing the Gay Family Tree
“The Gospels clearly describe the fatherly responsibility of Joseph toward Jesus. For salvation-which comes through the humanity of Jesus-is realized in actions which are an everyday part of family life, in keeping with that ‘condescension’