Courage International condemns a Vatican Synod working group report for mischaracterizing its ministry and breaching member confidentiality in an official Church document.
Newsroom (11/05/2026 Gaudium Press ) The Courage Apostolate, a Catholic ministry that provides pastoral support to people who experience same-sex attraction and have chosen to live chastely, has issued a sharp rebuke of a Vatican Synod working group report published last Tuesday, accusing the document of containing both calumny and detraction against the organization and its members.
The statement, released in response to the General Secretariat of the Synod’s final report from Working Group 9 — formally titled “Theological Criteria and Synodal Methodologies for Shared Discernment of Emerging Doctrinal, Pastoral, and Ethical Issues” — marks a rare and pointed conflict between a recognized Catholic apostolate and an official Vatican body.
The Report and Its Allegations
Published on May 5, 2026, the Working Group 9 report drew immediate attention for its treatment of Courage, an organization with over 45 years of history within the Catholic Church. The report included testimony from two men in same-sex civil marriages — one from Portugal and one from the United States — with the American specifically criticizing Courage in his account, which was appended to the document as an official annex.
Among the most serious allegations leveled in the annex: that Courage is associated with “reparative therapy,” a claim the organization flatly denied. The testimony also described Courage chapter meetings as “secretive and hidden” and characterized fellow attendees as “lonely, hopeless, and often depressed.”
Courage’s Two-Part Rebuttal
Courage’s response was precise and legally-framed in theological terms, invoking two distinct moral categories from Catholic tradition.
On the charge of calumny — the making of false statements to damage another’s reputation — Courage argued that the report fundamentally misrepresents its work. “Courage is not nor ever has been involved in ‘reparative therapy,’ as alleged,” the organization stated, adding pointedly that synod officials could have verified this by simply contacting Courage leadership before publishing.
On the charge of detraction — the unjust disclosure of another’s faults or failings — Courage challenged the use of a single individual’s account to publicly characterize the private experiences of its broader membership. The organization noted the inherent tension in the testimony itself: meetings described by the witness as “secretive and hidden” are in fact intentionally confidential, designed to allow members to speak candidly about deeply personal struggles without fear of public exposure — precisely the kind of exposure the annex delivered.
“Whether his estimation is correct, we don’t know,” Courage said of the witness’s description of attendees. “But it’s precisely because people often are lonely, hopeless, and depressed that we bring them together for support and insist on the confidentiality that enables them to speak freely about their struggles.”
A Wound From an Unexpected Direction
What made the rebuke especially striking was the source of the criticism. Courage acknowledged it has faced similar attacks before — but from outside the Church.
“Courage has suffered calumny and detraction before, but usually from secular outlets,” the statement read. “It is a great sadness and an additional wound to our members to have this false and unjust depiction in a Vatican document.”
The language signals more than institutional frustration. For an apostolate that holds canonical status within the Roman Catholic Church — granted on November 28, 2016, as a diocesan clerical association of the Christian Faithful — to be criticized within an official Vatican publication represents a significant ecclesial rupture.
An Organization With Deep Roots
Founded in 1980 at the request of the late Cardinal Terence Cooke of New York, Courage was established by Father John F. Harvey, OSFS. Its founding chapter, held in New York City, produced the organization’s Five Goals: Chastity, Prayer and Dedication, Fellowship, Support, and Good Example — a framework that has guided its pastoral approach for more than four decades.
The organization has since grown to more than 160 chapters across 15 countries, led today by Executive Director Father Brian Gannon. Its sister ministry, EnCourage — founded in 1987 and formally named in 1992 — extends pastoral accompaniment to the families and friends of LGBT-identifying individuals, currently operating more than 100 chapters in eight countries.
An Invitation, Not Just a Complaint
Courage closed its statement not with escalation but with an offer: synod officials wishing to understand the organization’s work over its 45-year history are welcome to meet with its chaplains and members directly.
Whether that invitation is accepted may say much about how seriously the Vatican’s synodal process intends to engage with the range of voices — including those within established Church ministries — that make up the Catholic landscape on one of its most contested pastoral questions.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from Courage
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