Reparative therapies, no to the charlatans in the Church

Reflections by Massimo Battaglio

Last week, the newspaper tomorrow bravely and in depth examined the theme of the so -called reparative therapies of homosexuality. First an article came out in which there was talk of a well -known "repairer", Luca di Tolve, the one who before "was gay and now is with her" (according to the song of that other phenomenon of the song and beyond that he is Povia, of which we will talk about later).

In the days immediately following, there was room for two testimonies. They are those of two of our friends, Rosario Lo Negro and Luca Bocchi, who, reparative therapies and their effects, have suffered them.

On Tolve and his "courses" to "heal from heart wounds and rediscover the beauty of his identity in Christ", it was known for years. And it is known perfectly that it is nothing more than organized psychological violence that should have the effect of lowering libido, giving the illusion of being "healed by homosexuality".

They are reparative therapies in all respects, even if the author cannot define them as he has no title (he is not a psychologist, he is not a psychiatrist, he is not an trainer nor has any academic title) and therefore calls them "Christotherapy". The novelty is that now he performs them in a villa on the Madjugorie hill, thus conquering a lot of favor in the world of pious souls and their "pastoral companions".

Before moving on to the other two testimonies, we open the promised parenthesis on Povia, the author of the song that made the world of Tolve known: "Luca was gay". He too is debated in a thousand directions. He does interventions against abortion, against euthanasia, against the gender, against gender ... the success of that song gave him so much to the head, that he never had the strength to detach from it again.

Povia should have intervened as a judge in a talent show organized by the municipality of Nichelino, at the gates of Turin, in the next patronal feast. The mayor saw the program and made it change. SDEGNO CORO! LGBT+censorship! The dictatorship of the gender! Communists! Eh no, the mayor rightly replied. Ok the freedom of expression but in Italy there is no freedom of insult or that of utling false and tendentious news. And even if it were, certainly not at the expense of the Municipality.

The parenthesis is closed.

We arrive at the two testimonies. They are quite similar but Luca's is more linear. Raised in the environments of Mirandola's Catholic Action (MO), he lets himself be convinced by a friend to follow a psychological path to "get rid of homosexuality". We do not report all the most gruesome details and we limit ourselves to thanking Luca for the effort made in evocar them. We only put the link to the article on tomorrow: Here. What is most impressive of Luca's story is the amount of time taken to emancipate itself from the disasters carried out by what should have been a path of emancipation.

And the other thing that strikes, obscene, is that these "paths" were related in some way, perhaps unofficial, to the Modena seminary. It is so. At the time of the misadventures of Luca, to the Modenese seminarians who had discovered gay, a double alternative was "granted". Either you go or, since there is a shortage of vocations, remain but try to "redeem you" through the packages of encounters provided by the charlatans.

And the first to fall there were those responsible for the seminars themselves, who believed it. With the result that, in the end the boys left anyway. And not for the incompatibility of one's sexual orientation with the ordered priesthood, but to try to make up for a lifetime.

Rosario's story is quite similar but was born in the seminary itself, precisely in Agrigento. There it was the superiors who "advised" him "to" make contact "with a particular" agency "and blah blah blah ... in short: they imposed on him to undergo reparative therapies. Here too, we save the details, thank you and put the link. Here. What truly alarms is that the then rector of the institute still seems rather convinced of methods.

Just on tomorrow, it expresses itself as follows: "The goal of the training course is that of a full human, emotional, spiritual and vocational maturity and there are no imposed therapies". And continue: “With many of the seminarians who have freely chosen to take that path, I have maintained excellent relationships. Some of them are priests, others are married.

Nobody has ever personally told me about trauma suffered, otherwise I would have listened to, I would have tried to understand. If there were reasons of suffering related to my action, I would have had no difficulty in apologizing ". He adds that he also took care of "Participate in some meeting to test their correctness" and who did it together with the bishop himself.

But mercy, excellence! To verify the goodness of the ration of her seminarians, do you ask in advance to be able to eat their canteen? And don't imagine that that day will eat a little better?

And in fact, Rosario, by phone, replies clear to me: "This is not a ball but a ball! What is that seminarian who, between leaving and still doing an attempt, does not decide for the second? Do you know what I was told after a session with one who was given of the psychologist? That the things I told him, I would have had to repeat her to the rector, if not he would have brought him back". Very professional, in fact.

It is amazing how ecclesiastical training environments are facing (when they get there) the theme of the sexuality of young people to be "forming". Based on ignorance, another ignorance reproduces. Maybe someone is invited to keep a "laboratory", perhaps making sure that he is a man of the church or at least there, a father Amedeo Cencini, for example, a psychologist priest who, on sex, knows it long. He arrives with his theories on "structural and non -structural homosexuality"(On the first there is nothing to do but, from the second, you can go out with our methods). He adds a little grotesque concepts like "The DOC homosexual is hungry for sex. The authentic homosexual does not experience the couple. There is no couple for homosexual. The homosexual needs many relationships. If she has been in pairs for many years, it means that both have allowed themselves the freedom of many adventures extraneous to the couple".

Perhaps it is Cencini's point of view, to show him things in a somewhat distorted way. By attending too many homosexuals in talare, it can only see that the total of its champion lives homosexuality in an extremely libertine and compulsive way. But try to widen your gaze?

But no: Cencini speaks with affabulatory tone, the seminarians listen to enchanted, and you're done. Green light for the next homosexual repair agency. Agencies that propose "paths", "walk", all these words that Catholics like them so much, in order not to use the term "reparative therapies of sexual orientation", which even the Congregation for the Clergy has condemned.

Is Cencini available? But there is Tolve! There is Povia! They have no title but ... if ... by chance ... they were the boys themselves to invite them ... why not? This has happened too. Just before the meeting, fortunately problems with the audio system were fortunately verified.

It is desolant to note that, in many Italian seminars and in their surroundings, if the dulcamara on duty appeared to pass their love Elisir by singing "buy my specific, I give it to you", you would make a lot of money.