DIOCESE—Father Phillip Kaim quotes a famous advertisement from the early 1900s, said to have been written by explorer Ernest Shackleton to try to recruit 26 men for one of his expeditions to Antarctica: “Men wanted for hazardous journey. Low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in event of success.”

The story is told that about 5,000 men applied, Father Kaim says.

“People respond when challenged to greatness,” he says. “I think that’s what Courage offers — that challenge to greatness and heroic sanctity.”

Courage is an international apostolate of the Catholic Church to men and women who experience same-sex attraction. Father Kaim has been appointed to lead the first Courage chapter in the Rockford Diocese.

A separate program called Encourage is beginning also. (See box at right.) It will serve family members of persons with same-sex attraction.

Father Kaim, parochial vicar at SS. Peter and Paul Parish in Cary, served for many years as a military chaplain both overseas and in the U.S.

As such, he spoke with troops experiencing same-sex attraction during the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy era. Soldiers couldn’t tell anyone except a chaplain for fear of being kicked out, he says. The chaplains could listen in strict confidentiality.

Confidentiality applies also to the Courage ministry. As with many support groups, dates, times and locations of meetings will not be made public. After signing up, members only will be given that information.

Members will pursue together the “Five Goals of Courage.” (See box, below left.) Developed by the first Courage group in New York City in 1980, they guide all Courage meetings and work.

To prepare for the ministry, Father Kaim attended several meetings of Courage groups in the Chicago area. Some groups have book studies, and some go to dinner after the meeting to foster fellowship.

Meetings include a time to share their personal struggles, he says.

“I’ve been very inspired by those men, by the kind of lives they seek to live,” Father Kaim says, noting like with the call of the Church in general, “there’s an appeal because it’s so counter-cultural.”

Noting that both Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas both said that true friendship is not possible without virtue, he says, and “in that mutual support, (they) can build holy and chaste friendships. This can be a great opportunity for them to rise to sanctity by what they offer.”

Although the ideal is to have different support groups for men and for women, in talking with international and local chapters, Father Kaim discovered that more men are members of Courage.

“Women have not signed up nearly as frequently as men,” he says. “But when a woman does come, they adopt her as part of the club. We’ll see how it goes and how many sign up.”

To become one of the founding members of the new Courage group in the Diocese of Rockford, call Father Kaim at the parish: 847/516-2636. See also the Courage website: www.couragerc.org