Straight to Jesus - Tanya Erzen

Скачать книгу

independent audit. Under Chambers, the fundraising aspect of the ministry is more evident, and there are now multiple ways to give money to the organization, including donating stock, supporting AmeriVision (a Christian phone company that donates 10 percent of an individual's long-distance bill to Exodus), making Exodus a beneficiary in a will, matching grants, and transferring frequent flyer miles to Exodus. Despite these new channels for potential financial support, Chambers has written as recently as 2003 that the organization owes
100,000 to vendors because fewer attendees than expected appeared at the 2003 annual conference.29 According to the newsletter, operating expenses are
15,000 a month over revenues. In 2002 Exodus cut six full-time staff employees to half time and put all plans for Exodus Youth activities on hold.30 Perhaps for this reason, Exodus also has a specific section on its Web site called “Prayer Requests” where it asks supporters to pray for the ministries and their work. “Your prayers are vital to the success of Exodus. We believe that there is great power in prayer.…Exodus ministries worldwide covet your prayers.” In the newsletter, writers continue to ask for money for computers, travel, brochures, Web site upgrades, conference displays, and the newsletter. “Twice a week when the staff processes donations, we pray over every check that comes in. We are [as] grateful for the female prisoner who faithfully sends us in her
1.00 every month as we are for the
5,000 check that came in from a man who tithed on the sale of his parents' farm.…Would you join us prayerfully, financially and purposefully?”31 In his personal appeal in the newsletter, called “From Alan's Desk,” Chambers writes, “I leave you much the same way I hope to always leave you: utterly desperate. I am desperate for the Lord to do exceedingly abundantly above what I can ask or imagine.” However, according to the ECFA, Exodus had a surplus of funds at the end of the 2004 fiscal year. The organization's total income was
925,315 in 2004, and it spent
658, 637 on administration, fund-raising, and program services.32

      Despite Exodus's financial issues, the ex-gay movement has continued to expand into a network of organizations with overlapping but not necessarily coordinated agendas, including Jewish and Catholic groups, psychoanalytic organizations, and independent therapists throughout the world. These include Homosexuals Anonymous; Sexaholics Anonymous; JONAH (Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality) in Jersey City, NJ; Courage, a Catholic organization in New York City; Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays in Washington, D.C.; and the National Association for the Research and Treatment of Homosexuality (NARTH) in Encino, California. Non-Protestant and non-Christian ex-gay ministries like Courage and JONAH have aligned themselves with NARTH rather than Exodus because of radical differences in religious style, goals, and theology.

      Courage is a Catholic organization, with chapters throughout the United States, which was founded and is run by Father John Harvey, a Catholic priest. I met with Father Harvey several times at the headquarters on 46th Street in Manhattan, a run-down church with frayed carpet on the stairs, an office overflowing with piles of paper, and one good-natured but harried assistant named Tracey. As we sat knee to knee in a cramped prayer room, Father Harvey, who is eighty-five and stooped but still lively, explained that while teaching theology in the 1950s, he began reading Freud and found that the priests in his class knew nothing about homosexuality. After publishing several articles, he began informally counseling priests, and in 1978 Cardinal Terrence Cook of New York invited him to establish a spiritual support system for men and women with homosexual inclinations in the New York archdiocese. Father Harvey began the first Courage meeting in 1980, and the archdiocese of New York continues to sponsor him. Initially, he organized five-day retreats in northern Virginia for priests, which he called Retreat, Renewal, and Recreation, to help them address their own homosexuality, and he recalled that from 1978 to 1990 he counseled over 250 priests who struggled with homosexuality. After 1990 he devoted himself to working solely with laity, although priests still lead Courage support groups all over the country. Father Harvey makes use of NARTH, which will refer people to a therapist and a priest, and the relationship is strong because Joseph Nicolosi, the director of NARTH, is Catholic and attends many Courage events.

      Courage adheres to the Catholic idea that the solution to homosexuality is chastity and community. The Catholic ex-gay movement emphasizes celibacy over heterosexual marriage because celibacy signifies a spiritual and sacrificial path that is in line with Catholic theology. Courage's official goals are

      To live chaste lives in accordance with the Roman Catholic Church's teaching on homosexuality.

      To foster a spirit of fellowship in which all may share thoughts and experiences, and so ensure that no one will have to face the problems of homosexuality alone.

      To be mindful of the truth that chaste friendships are not only possible but necessary in a celibate Christian life and in doing so provide encouragement to one another in forming and sustaining them.

      To live lives that may serve as good examples to others.33

      Tracey, the office assistant, tried an Exodus ministry in Canada, but she thought the group focused too much on heterosexuality and marriage. The whole purpose of evangelical ex-gay ministries is to recover heterosexuality through a relationship with God, but Father Harvey believes that there is no way a person will ever eliminate temptations, and his or her goal should instead be to live a chaste Christian life. While Exodus's philosophy agrees with Father Harvey's ideas about celibacy as a necessity on the path to change, it places more faith in the possibility of total conversion and marriage. Father Harvey is skeptical and cautious about the idea of change and marriage, even as he believes in heterosexual marriage as the fullest expression of healthy sexuality, and he is opposed to the idea that if you pray enough, you will “come out” of homosexuality. “I'm not denying that God can work miracles, but many people may not ever come out of their condition. You can't tell someone that he has an obligation to come out of homosexuality—you just put it there as an option.” While he believes in the idea of a relationship with God to heal homosexuality, he ultimately does not think this is enough and believes that individuals must grapple with their sexuality by renouncing their sin and electing to lead celibate lives.

      Courage is small, underfunded, and less organized than Exodus. Exodus members do not invite Father Harvey to speak at their meetings, even though he has inquired about the opportunity to talk about the Catholic version of celibacy. Although some Exodus speakers attend the annual Courage conferences, they will not collaborate directly, which has more to do with theological differences than their view on homosexuality. While Father Harvey explained that he had faith in ecumenism, he is certain that the Exodus board is unwilling to hear his message. Unlike the evangelical vision of a personal, unmediated relationship with God, Courage believes that priests have the power to eradicate sins, including sins of homosexuality, if a person is truly repentant. Frank Worthen, on the other hand, believes that priests and sacraments are unnecessary intermediaries between believers and God. He refers to the Catholic focus on the Virgin Mary as “the cult of Mary.” Despite these underlying theological differences, Father Harvey aligns himself with groups like Exodus rather than Dignity, a pro-gay Catholic group that he calls “Catholic dissidents,” because he lacks other options for allies.

      In contrast to the theological suspicion of Catholics from people like Frank, Jewish people occupy a more exalted but ambiguous status in the ex-gay movement. Because of the long relationship between evangelicals and Israel, Frank and others consider them God's “chosen people.” Evangelical and conservative Christians believe Israel will figure prominently in the events of the apocalypse.34 For this reason, Exodus has been eager to build alliances with conservative Jewish organizations. Just across the Hudson in Jersey City is the headquarters of JONAH, an organization run by Arthur Goldberg and Elaine Berk for Jewish men and women struggling with homosexuality. Their sons came out to them while students at New York University, and

Скачать книгу