St. Mary Magdalen, by Donatello.
Today is her feast day. The 15th century sculpture for the Baptistry of the Duomo in Florence looks to be rather contemporary in style, don’t you think?
Boy friends.
GN: You said they (men leaving homosexuality) need close male relationships. How can men struggling with homosexual feelings have a close male relationship without those feelings becoming sexual?
Joseph Nicolosi: Well, he’s going to have those feelings. No doubt about it. And he shouldn’t be afraid of those feelings but he has to learn how to translate those feelings into authentic friendship.
One of the questions I often ask a man just beginning therapy, I will say to him, “Have you had the experience of being sexually attracted to a guy but when you got to know him as a person and a friend, the sexual attraction disappeared?” And they almost always say, “Yes.” And I ask, “Why do you think that was so?”
They have no answer for it. Because they have translated the mystique and there is no more sexual energy there. It is now a friendship and when you develop that kind of brotherly feeling, the idea of having sex is absurd. That’s exactly the process they have to go through time and time again until all men seem like just other guys and there is nothing sexual about them. - Source
My response.
Over the years I have observed that the same sex couples I’ve known, really became more friends or brothers than lovers. If sexual relations continued in their relationship, it had to be supplemented by pornography, drugs, promiscuous behavior, or sharing sex partners. More often than not, the relationship appeared to turn into what could only be termed a co-dependent attachment, rather than an union or marriage in the typical understanding of those terms.
On the other hand, I once met a couple of men who had decided to live together chastely in order to be able to receive the sacraments. Accepting Catholic teaching regarding same-sex activities, their partnership turned into a very deep friendship and they lived together as brothers, devoting themselves to prayer and good works. They have been together now for over 30 years, while they have maintained loyalty to Christ and one another as chaste celibates for over 28 years. Fr. Benedict Groeschl once referred to their situation as “their own little Courage group”.
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