Change, change, change...

Mother of Cherilyn Sarkasian LaPier, are these people nuts?!

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In the gay community coming out is a sort of ordination ritual proclaiming, "You are a gay forever, according to the order of... whatever." - and there are no dispensations after that - unless the person decides to go transgender. That doctrine could change however if recent studies can be verified. Heresy you say? Read on...

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"Back in 1973, Dr. Robert Spitzer persuaded the American Psychiatric Association to stop classifying homosexuality as a mental disorder. More than two decades later, the same Dr. Spitzer finds his new research out of step with the prevailing view of homosexuality that he helped create. He says his five-year study of 200 people shows that homosexuals can change their sexual preference.

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“I think I’ve always been somebody who likes to challenge prevailing orthodoxies,” said Spitzer, chief of biometrics research and professor of psychiatry at New York’s Columbia University. “There was an orthodoxy in 1973, and there is a recent orthodoxy in the mental-health profession which makes this kind of a taboo question to even ask.”

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Spitzer’s study of 143 males and 57 females was presented May 9 at the American Psychiatric Association’s annual meeting and since has been met with praise from conservative groups and criticism from homosexual activists. He will also present it to the Catholic Conference on Healing for the Homosexual next month at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

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Dr. Richard Fitzgibbons of the Catholic Medical Association, which in November released “Homosexuality and Hope” for Catholic physicians, educators, clergy, parents and mental health professionals, said he feels vindicated by the Spitzer study. “It’s encouraging to see a man of science who is able to document what we are stating.”

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“Homosexuality and Hope” calls homosexuality a preventable and treatable condition and says it is not genetically determined and unchangeable. “Our statement says that there is no such thing as a homosexual identity. ... It is a state of emotional woundedness which can be healed,” said Fitzgibbons, a Philadelphia psychiatrist who helped head the task force that produced the document. " - Continue...

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Shifters.

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Other researchers presented opposing studies showing that their subjects reported suffering mental stress or emotional pain from the treatment used to overcome homosexuality. "Of the few [24 out 202] who succeeded in making changes, Schroeder and Shidlo said six were what researchers called “heterosexual shifters,” people who were able to shift from being attracted to the same gender to the opposite sex. The other 18, they said, continued to struggle with same-sex desires. “Some labeled themselves as heterosexual, eight or nine took no label at all, and many were asexual or celibate,” Schroeder said.

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Shidlo said the study found that most people felt they experienced success early on in their therapy, but failed later: “Some people that we spoke to who failed to change said that had we spoken to them at some point earlier in their journey, they would have told us that they succeeded.” - Same Source

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My thoughts.
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As I've said before - any individual seeking any sort of therapy must be strongly motivated to do so - few in this culture have that motivation - wanting it for them is neither practical or effective. One needs to remember what the Catechism teaches: “Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection” (No. 2359).

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In other words such persons are called to holiness, and by following this path, one's passions are eventually quelled and the person actually begins to experience the freedom of spirit and peace that are the guarantee of the promises of Christ... and persecution besides. Temptations are never absent to anyone in this life however, and in many cases, especially with young people, subsequent falls - but as Catholics we have the assurance of the sacrament of penance to restore us to grace. So not to worry so much about changing orientation - just stay in the state of grace: "Seek first his kingship over you, his way of holiness, and all these things will be given you besides." - Matt. 6:33

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"Do not, then, surrender your confidence; it will have great reward. You need patience to do God's will and receive what he promised." - Hebrews 10: 35-36 (The virtue of patience is sustained by the infused virtue of fortitude and the Holy Spirit's gift of fortitude, if it is lost, we can recover it through the sacrament of penance, this trust in the mercy of God bolsters our confidence.)