Plain-spoken and compassionate
I read Fr. Harvey’s book, The Truth about Homosexuality: The Cry of the Faithful, well before I met him, and even before I attended my first Courage meeting. It’s a plain-spoken, compassionate understanding of homosexuality, and of those, like me, who don’t like having those desires, and of those, like me, who have acted on those desires with unhappy consequences.
When I finally met Fr. Harvey in 1999 in Washington, DC, it turns out that he was just like his book, plain-spoken and compassionate and a fierce defender of the faith. He also had a marvelous sense of humor and a twinkle in his eye. Shortly thereafter, I volunteered at the Courage office in NYC for about six months and had many chances to speak with Fr. Harvey and to watch him in action.
This is what I learned: that he imitated Christ in his dealings with me and with others like me in the same compassionate way that Christ dealt with the adulterous woman. He wasn’t afraid to say that my sins were forgiven, but he also wasn’t afraid to add, go and sin no more. To his detractors (those who thought that we were irredeemable), he reminded them that only those who are without sin should be casting stones.
Mark, Courage member since 1999