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Encircling The World With Pure Love

We of The CHASTITY Ring have devoted many hours to this Site in order to make it one that you may both Use Now and  Return To over and over again in the future.  We have hopefully addressed all your Chastity concerns and questions to the best of our own ability and through extensive research, when needed, in order to serve you better.

Our SIDEBAR Room Names at the Right are linked to whatever kind of information the Title suggests.  So, just Click on whichever Room interests you and you will be granted access to that Room.  You are free to copy whatever Information you find there, and either keep it for yourself, or share it with others.

ALSO of Interest - Our FAQ Tab is a very useful one for the LGBT Community especially, in that it addresses the issues of Gay Sexuality and Chastity for those who wish to follow the Teachings of the Roman Catholic Church regarding Chaste Living.

THE 12 STEPS PROGRAM we each contributed to has been revised to place the emphasis on How to Live a Life of CHASTITY using the 12 Steps of AA.

In Addition, there is Another Program called, The Spiritual Path of Chastity; Practices and Discipllines (see SIDEBAR) with the same Theme, for whomever prefers it to the 12 Steps.

Rooms for Prayer and Meditation are in the SIDEBAR as well.  Even a Page about the Consecration to Jesus through Mary as per the Formula of St. Louis de Montfort.

And Lastly - A MailBox is provided in the SIDEBAR for your Personal and Private inquiries, should you wish to Write us with any questions or concerns.

Take your time, Read our Posts, Enter the Rooms, Come and Go as you please.  We are confidant that you will find Something that is especially meant just for YOU!

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Last Week, The CHASTITY  Ring posted a Poll asking our Visitors if they suffered from the Gay Catholic Identity.  The Results showed that “YES” was the most voted upon reply.  But, there was also the choice for  “Yes, But not enough to do anything to change things”, which got a Vote.  No one said, “NO”.  What does this suggest to us?  Gay Catholics are in pain.  Perhaps even acute pain.  Perhaps even depressed, repressed, and/or isolated.  If not in acute pain, perhaps they have learned to cope with just enough outside distractions and entertainment to manage the stress enough to get by.  Or perhaps even the coping has not worked and they have turned to alcohol or drugs to try to numb the pain instead.  Whichever statement is true, the bottom line is still the same; they are suffering. If you are reading this, perhaps even YOU are suffering.  What can you do about it that woud actually make a difference?

For Gay Catholics, the answer will either be an interior one or an exterior one.  Judging by the POLL Results, for the majority, it will be an Interior one - A Decision, preceeded by the Two Steps (2 Posts) taken before this one; your Beliefs as a Catholic, and your Examination of your Conscience about those beliefs and whether or not you have considered your Faith worthy of this manner of deep reflection.  How seriously you have addressed these Steps may or may not lead you to that Interior Decision that will transform your pain.  It may, if you persevere in prayer and meditation even after these writings have been completed.  Or, it may not, if there is some part of you that still thinks that coping is living as God intended it.  What will YOUR Decision be?

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In Today’s Post, I ask that we first review again the roots of Gay Catholic loyalty to the Church.  The Church upholds the Traditions of the Early Christians and the Teacings of the Scriptures that compose the Canon.  Our Faith is in Jesus Christ, but as Catholics, we believe that He entrusted the Keys to the Kingdom of God to His successors, beginning with St. Peter, in order that we might be continually instructed throughout the ages and changing times.  This is why we accept the Authority of the Holy Father.  And, we believe in all Seven Sacraments.

Yesterday, we examined the Eucharist as the Real Presence of the Resurrected Christ.  Today, we must also examine the Teachings that explore the place of a well-formed Conscience and the workings of the Holy Spirit within Each individual, personally.  For this explanation of what the proper role of the Catholic Conscience is, I turn to a Theologian of our day, far better equipped to speak knowledgably to this subject than I -  A Canonical Catholic Hermit and gifted Theologian, I share with you the words of Sr. Laurel borrowed from The Stillsong Hermitage Blog:  

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Our Poll Of The Week revealed an interesting kind of statistic that we find relevant to the questions we have been discussing. 

Weekly Poll Results

The Question asked was – Do You Suffer From The Gay Catholic Identity?

The Results:

4 - Yes

1 - Not Enough To Try To Change Things

We of The Chastity Ring always appreciate the participation of our Visitors and Friends in these Polls.  Among other things, they help us to understand how we may better serve you through our future Posts.  Thank you!

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Why In The World Do Gay Catholics Remain Loyal To The Church?  Sadly, not all do.  And, this is not to speak against those who have found that leaving the Church was their only option.  No one knows what goes on within the minds and hearts of others but God.  And, no one has the right to judge.  But, this post is for those who stay.

When Our Lord spoke His message about the Eucharist, He made it plain that His Disciples would have to eat His flesh and drink His blood.  The crowds that had been following Him when what He spoke gave them inner peace or healed their families of many illnesses suddenly dispersed, and either never returned at all or perhaps found their way back slowly, after a while.  We cannot be sure.  What is recorded in Scriptures says only that Jesus then turned to His own Disciples and asked if they, too, would leave Him.

For Gay Catholics, I ask that this passage - JOHN 6:53-69 - be examined in prayer, and in deeply reflective meditation.  Jesus knew that to speak this Truth about His Real Presence in the Eucharist, which He was to formally institute later on at the Last Supper, would, after His death, remain for all the living thereafter, the One Sure Connection to His Resurrected Self.  Therefore, I propose for every Gay Catholic to consider well this Key to Divine Union and the beginning of Eternal Life here on Earth.  What was first revealed to the Disciples, what first thinned the crowds of followers and scattered the lukewarm hearts 2000 years ago, is still the stumbling block for the masses today. Is the Eucharist the Real Presence of God?    

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NEW POLL – Vote Now

Do You Suffer From The Gay Catholic Identity?

Friends – We are only victims if we continue to believe we are all alone in our pain.  Today, we must acknowledge that we ARE in pain.  Even if we have buried that pain for years, it is Still there.  And until we acknowledge it, it will continue to dictate to us and send us messages that we are “less than” and that we “do not deserve to be happy”.

Please take a Moment to begin your own Recovery by responding to our Poll in the SIDEBAR to your Right.  Thank You!

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How we perceive ourselves is very significant when attempting to change whatever no longer serves us in our lives.  If we have grown accustomed to labeling ourselves as shameful, sick, unworthy, or some other horribly inaccurate term, then, most likely, guilt has become a basic ingredient in our distorted sense of identity.  Stemming from those subconscious labelings, we may even have developed neurosis because of the sense of estrangement from Society such beliefs have resulted in.  Either that, or we have managed to construct more suitable “public personas” we then wear to mask our deep-seated self-loathing.  Unfortunately, these personas, over time, usually wind up back-firing and may even serve to deepen our neurosis by further burying the painful emotions that caused us to invent them in the first place.

If we are Catholic, the neurosis is probably far more keen, since the message goes to the heart of our very idea of Salvation and the Life beyond this life.  If this life has become intolerable, Gay Non-Catholics may at least hope for Peace in the After-life.  But for Gay Catholics, even that hope seems to be dashed against the rocks.  It is painfully evident that many Gay Catholics have been internalizing that even God cannot love them unless they change.

Years may be invested in attempting this “change”.  Even heterosexual Marriages may occur when the behavior modifications convince some Gay Catholics that they Have changed, only to later discover that all that really changed was the way they hid their pain behind this New Mask.

Friends, I understand.  We of The CHASTITY Ring, we All understand.  Please, let us help you find what you need to let the Love in, so you can be happy as God intended you to be.  Yes, God intended you to be!  The Gay Catholic Identity can be reformed.  It must be reformed.  It is a thing falsely created, and based on lies and untruths.  Let us re-create it together, in Christ!

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It is a very common misconception to believe that living Chastely turns one into a sexless human being.  Ugh!  Who would ever seek such a pitiful state as that?  On the contrary, Chastity brings back the original vibrance of a well-balanced sexuality that finds its fulfillment in the core of its very being.  Chaste Sexuality is a reflection of a person deeply at one within one’s Self, and with one’s neighbor.  The “Self” meaning the highest Self, and not the ego’s self.

The Self in Communion with God is a beautiful, wondrous, and marvelous thing to behold!   Balanced and poised in its Center, it speaks and acts in accord with its Divine connection, rather than from its former self-centered base.  Sexuality eminates now, and without threat to anyone, and is attractively magnetic in its qualities.  Others experience it as a certain form of dynamic energy and can be inspired by it to seek God.  It is Pure, and Innocently powerful.

The lower self is not eliminated totally, however, but is more lulled into a sleep mode, so to speak.  Vigilance is still required in order to maintain the equilibrium.  The Danger is that the lower self may begin to “pride” itself on what it would like to claim as its own victory over itself.  This is why Humility is a major Key to Chastity.  “We” do not achieve this state.  Grace and our cooperation have brought us to true self-knowledge, and after many trials, we have simply come to understand our true place in the world, and our true stance before God.

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Friends and Visitors – I am taking this Exerpt from the Website called, Catholic Spiritual Direction, because the Content of this particular Page seems to me to be of significant worth for Us all:

“Well known Investigative reporter Michael Willesee (from Australia) rediscovered his faith through his personal experience and live reporting of miracles within the Catholic Church. In 1998 he made a report entitled Signs From God about Catalina Rivas (Katya Rivas), a woman who displayed the stigmata from Bolivia among other miracles. Scientists put these miracles to the test live on TV hosted by Fox Broadcasting. This program shows the stigmata actually becoming visible on Catalina as well as other signs and miracles.”

This television program can be watched online using the web address below or at YouTube.com. (To watch at YouTube.com search for “Signs from God part 1″ and then continue for the other 8 parts.)

http://www.catholicspiritualdirection.org/sciencefaithvideo.html

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Even if the Beauty and Freedom of a Chaste Life appeals to a Gay Catholic Person, there is still the dilemma of Belonging.  The Catholic Church, to a great degree, has not really made it inviting for a Gay person to announce that he or she is a Gay Catholic, living according to Church Teaching, and then expect a warm welcome as a result.  Sadly, even Chaste Gay Catholics do not feel the Welcome of the Church.  Often the alienation intensifies for a while, being that there does not seem to be anyplace where one fits in any longer.  Not in the Gay Community, and rarely in the Church Community.  So, realistically speaking, one must come to terms with how to approach the matter in the most positive way, considering the circumstances.

Some Thoughts as to how to handle this particular difficulty: 

• Ask for a meeting with the Pastor, and feel it out before telling your story, to see if he might be receptive about discussing the matter openly with you.
• Attend some Church Function and see how the Parishoners behave and speak.  Notice if there are “Clicks”, and how you are treated as a “newcomer”.
• If you have already been attending, but have never told anyone you were Gay, think who might be one person you feel would be SAFE to open up to?
• Proceed Slowly!
• Use even the Web to find other people in your situation and swap ideas.
• Let us know what difficulties or successes you have.  Maybe we can pass your ideas along to help others.

Keep Coming By!  Thanks.