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Spiritual Direction and the Gay Person
Original and much needed, and neither prescriptive nor advocating any particular position on civil rights or a particular denomination or faith group, Spiritual Direction and the Gay Person will assist homosexuals in relationships, prayer, liturgy, and in the problems produced by their commitment to or rejection of institutional religion.
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FROM THE REAR COVER
"Spiritual Direction and the Gay Person is a first-class resource and guidebook for both spiritual directors and those in direction in the mutual journey to spiritual wholeness. Combining the best in contemporary personality development theory with a solid grasp of the central personal and social issues facing lesbian and gay people, the author provides a practical and balanced resource, even for the director approaching the subject for the first time. I highly recommend this book, which I think will take its place among the few classics on gay spirituality."
--Robert Nugent, S.D.S.
Co-founder of New Ways Ministry
"Again and again I scribbled 'Excellent!' in the margins of this book -- unflinching in examining the gay experience, refreshing in recognizing God's handiwork there, illuminating in charting this particular path of spiritual growth, and chockfull of references creatively and insightfully used. Not only spiritual directors will welcome this book, but also counselors, teachers, religious leaders, parents, friends, and anyone seriously interested in gay spirituality, including lesbian and gay people themselves
--Daniel A. Helminiak,
Author of What the Bible Really Says about Homosexuality and Religion and the Human Sciences
James L. Empereur, S.J., is vicar and liturgist at the San Fernando Cathedral in San Antonio, Texas. Founder of the Institute of Spirituality and Worship, founding editor of Modern Liturgy magazine, he was previously professor of liturgical and systematic theology at the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley and chair of the doctoral facultv in the arts, worship, and proclamation at the Graduate Theological Union. He is the author of five previous books, including The Enneagram and Spiritual Direction.
----------------------
FROM THE REAR COVER
"Spiritual Direction and the Gay Person is a first-class resource and guidebook for both spiritual directors and those in direction in the mutual journey to spiritual wholeness. Combining the best in contemporary personality development theory with a solid grasp of the central personal and social issues facing lesbian and gay people, the author provides a practical and balanced resource, even for the director approaching the subject for the first time. I highly recommend this book, which I think will take its place among the few classics on gay spirituality."
--Robert Nugent, S.D.S.
Co-founder of New Ways Ministry
"Again and again I scribbled 'Excellent!' in the margins of this book -- unflinching in examining the gay experience, refreshing in recognizing God's handiwork there, illuminating in charting this particular path of spiritual growth, and chockfull of references creatively and insightfully used. Not only spiritual directors will welcome this book, but also counselors, teachers, religious leaders, parents, friends, and anyone seriously interested in gay spirituality, including lesbian and gay people themselves
--Daniel A. Helminiak,
Author of What the Bible Really Says about Homosexuality and Religion and the Human Sciences
James L. Empereur, S.J., is vicar and liturgist at the San Fernando Cathedral in San Antonio, Texas. Founder of the Institute of Spirituality and Worship, founding editor of Modern Liturgy magazine, he was previously professor of liturgical and systematic theology at the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley and chair of the doctoral facultv in the arts, worship, and proclamation at the Graduate Theological Union. He is the author of five previous books, including The Enneagram and Spiritual Direction.
- GenresSpirituality
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
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May 15, 2024
A LITURGIST PROPOSES GREATER INCLUSION OF LGBT PERSONS IN SPIRITUALITY
Fr. James L. Empereur is parochial vicar and liturgist at San Fernando Cathedral in San Antonio. He was formerly a professor of liturgy at the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley, Calif.
He wrote in the Introduction to this 1998 book, “When I first mentioned to colleagues and friends that I was considering a book on spiritual direction with gay people, the response was universally … that there is a definite need for such a book at this time… I offer this volume as one attempt to move gay/lesbian studies into the field of spirituality in a concrete way… Its primary audience is spiritual directors and directees, especially of the Christian faith, many of whom are certainly not novices in the spiritual life. But it is not limited to these people. There is much here that any gay man or woman who is interested in the spiritual journey would find helpful… This book does not adopt an advocacy position regarding specific civil rights of gays or the morality of homosexual activity. In fact, the only thing advocated is how to assist the gay man or lesbian woman in their spiritual pursuits… If the reader detects a certain slant more to the homosexual male than the homosexual female, it is because the writer is a man. I believe that what I have developed will be of great assistance to lesbians committed to the spiritual life.”
He states in the first chapter, “Homosexuality is one of God’s most significant gifts to humanity. TO be gay or lesbian is to have received a special blessing from God… God has chosen some to be gay and lesbian as a way of revealing something about God-self that heterosexuals do not. On the acceptance of this premise all authentic and successful spiritual direction with gays and lesbians stands or falls. A spiritual director who cannot embrace it would be advised to limit his/her work with homosexuals. This does not mean that the director must accept everything which passes as gay/lesbian activity… But it does mean that a director who wishes to devote considerable time to the direction of homosexuals ought not to see that particular orientation as something less than the heterosexual one.” (Pg. 1)
He continues, “Homosexual and holy are not incompatible terms… All creatures of God show forth God’s handiwork, but the world also needs variation so that the richness of this handiwork is made unmistakably evident. God gives gays and lesbians the rather startling variation of their sexuality to help their brothers and sisters have greater insights into the reality of their God.” (Pg. 2-3) Later, he adds, “It is not beyond the workings of God that our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters are teaching us something about God in the flesh and how to live under the cross.” (Pg. 7)
He notes, “Gay spirituality may be no more incarnational than any other Christian spirituality but that does not take away from the fact that it has a special role to perform in the Christian tradition and in living out the Christian life.” (Pg. 14)
He points out, “We are now more comfortable saying that there is a divine preference for the poor and dispossessed, that Christ focused his ministry on those pushed to the edges of society, that the Spirit of God is with the struggling oppressed peoples of the earth. Therefore, these people become a major source of theological reflection in our time.” (Pg. 54)
He suggests, “I do not want to suggest that the pain of an ended or interrupted relationship is an issue with every gay person coming into direction… There may be greater causes of suffering, but suffering there is and it is important that gay persons have clear spiritual resources to draw upon to integrate the suffering parts of their lives. Often dealing with the absence of God is to deal, then, with the absence of a lover.” (Pg. 63)
He asserts, “The irony is that the growing biblical scholarship today shows that the Bible says very little about homosexuality. It would be impossible to come up with a biblical position out of the few scattered references to same-sex experiences. It is not clear that the Bible ever condemns homosexuality as we understand it since it is always mentioned in contexts where there is another overriding concern such as hospitality or ritual purity.” (Pg. 80)
He states, “Gay persons in the liturgy will be an ever present challenge to the Church to be true to itself. How can worshipping communities continue to marginalize gays, demanding, in effect, that they remain silent about their sexuality, and still claim that sacramental life is about inclusiveness?... At the end of a liturgy gays should not be left wondering what their place in the Body of Christ it, whether they have a role to play, and to what degree they are worthy to participate.” (Pg. 99)
He contends, “We have no choice but to move into intimacy. To avoid this passage means that one cannot grow as a human being, cannot, in fact, reach or maintain the Conscientious level. And most significantly we cannot love God, except abstractly. A gay man or woman can only love others as a gay man or woman. Their love for God must be homosexual. Nothing else will work.” (Pg. 147)
He says, “What we co lack at this time is a good model of homosexual Christian maturing. We need the modeling of a gay Christian male and female to present to our world that it is possible to be not only gay and Christian but also to be gay, Christian and spiritually mature.” (Pg. 163)
This book will be of interest not just to LGBT persons, but to spiritual advisors of all sorts.
Fr. James L. Empereur is parochial vicar and liturgist at San Fernando Cathedral in San Antonio. He was formerly a professor of liturgy at the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley, Calif.
He wrote in the Introduction to this 1998 book, “When I first mentioned to colleagues and friends that I was considering a book on spiritual direction with gay people, the response was universally … that there is a definite need for such a book at this time… I offer this volume as one attempt to move gay/lesbian studies into the field of spirituality in a concrete way… Its primary audience is spiritual directors and directees, especially of the Christian faith, many of whom are certainly not novices in the spiritual life. But it is not limited to these people. There is much here that any gay man or woman who is interested in the spiritual journey would find helpful… This book does not adopt an advocacy position regarding specific civil rights of gays or the morality of homosexual activity. In fact, the only thing advocated is how to assist the gay man or lesbian woman in their spiritual pursuits… If the reader detects a certain slant more to the homosexual male than the homosexual female, it is because the writer is a man. I believe that what I have developed will be of great assistance to lesbians committed to the spiritual life.”
He states in the first chapter, “Homosexuality is one of God’s most significant gifts to humanity. TO be gay or lesbian is to have received a special blessing from God… God has chosen some to be gay and lesbian as a way of revealing something about God-self that heterosexuals do not. On the acceptance of this premise all authentic and successful spiritual direction with gays and lesbians stands or falls. A spiritual director who cannot embrace it would be advised to limit his/her work with homosexuals. This does not mean that the director must accept everything which passes as gay/lesbian activity… But it does mean that a director who wishes to devote considerable time to the direction of homosexuals ought not to see that particular orientation as something less than the heterosexual one.” (Pg. 1)
He continues, “Homosexual and holy are not incompatible terms… All creatures of God show forth God’s handiwork, but the world also needs variation so that the richness of this handiwork is made unmistakably evident. God gives gays and lesbians the rather startling variation of their sexuality to help their brothers and sisters have greater insights into the reality of their God.” (Pg. 2-3) Later, he adds, “It is not beyond the workings of God that our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters are teaching us something about God in the flesh and how to live under the cross.” (Pg. 7)
He notes, “Gay spirituality may be no more incarnational than any other Christian spirituality but that does not take away from the fact that it has a special role to perform in the Christian tradition and in living out the Christian life.” (Pg. 14)
He points out, “We are now more comfortable saying that there is a divine preference for the poor and dispossessed, that Christ focused his ministry on those pushed to the edges of society, that the Spirit of God is with the struggling oppressed peoples of the earth. Therefore, these people become a major source of theological reflection in our time.” (Pg. 54)
He suggests, “I do not want to suggest that the pain of an ended or interrupted relationship is an issue with every gay person coming into direction… There may be greater causes of suffering, but suffering there is and it is important that gay persons have clear spiritual resources to draw upon to integrate the suffering parts of their lives. Often dealing with the absence of God is to deal, then, with the absence of a lover.” (Pg. 63)
He asserts, “The irony is that the growing biblical scholarship today shows that the Bible says very little about homosexuality. It would be impossible to come up with a biblical position out of the few scattered references to same-sex experiences. It is not clear that the Bible ever condemns homosexuality as we understand it since it is always mentioned in contexts where there is another overriding concern such as hospitality or ritual purity.” (Pg. 80)
He states, “Gay persons in the liturgy will be an ever present challenge to the Church to be true to itself. How can worshipping communities continue to marginalize gays, demanding, in effect, that they remain silent about their sexuality, and still claim that sacramental life is about inclusiveness?... At the end of a liturgy gays should not be left wondering what their place in the Body of Christ it, whether they have a role to play, and to what degree they are worthy to participate.” (Pg. 99)
He contends, “We have no choice but to move into intimacy. To avoid this passage means that one cannot grow as a human being, cannot, in fact, reach or maintain the Conscientious level. And most significantly we cannot love God, except abstractly. A gay man or woman can only love others as a gay man or woman. Their love for God must be homosexual. Nothing else will work.” (Pg. 147)
He says, “What we co lack at this time is a good model of homosexual Christian maturing. We need the modeling of a gay Christian male and female to present to our world that it is possible to be not only gay and Christian but also to be gay, Christian and spiritually mature.” (Pg. 163)
This book will be of interest not just to LGBT persons, but to spiritual advisors of all sorts.
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