EnCourage is a spiritual accompaniment group for parents, family members, and friends of persons who experience same-sex attraction. This confidential support ministry, sponsored by the Archdiocese, offers a safe space for those seeking to navigate their faith while maintaining loving relationships with family members.

At the recent October meeting, Sr. Gilmary, RSM, a member of the Courage Office who serves the EnCourage ministry, joined the group to share her insights and experience.

A Parent’s Testimony

One local parent shared her powerful experience of being part of the EnCourage community:

“Being engaged in the Encourage ministry has been a blessing for me. I have learned so much about persons with same sex attraction and how they feel and how they perceive things. There are so many things that I never knew. I also found comfort and solace in hearing the stories of others who are going through and had gone through experiences similar to mine.”

She went on to describe the most important lessons learned through her participation:

1. I am not alone.
2. I am not responsible for fixing my loved one. That’s God’s job. I must surrender His job to Him.
3. My job is to love them and to be a witness of God’s love.
4. My job is to seek to come closer to God through prayer and receiving the sacraments of reconciliation and Holy Eucharist.”

She concluded: “I am so thankful to Almighty God for providing this EnCourage ministry to us through His Catholic Church in this Archdiocese.”

EnCourage members are parents, spouses, siblings, and friends of people who identify as LGBTQ. They are looking for help to keep the faith and keep the family bonds intact.

The Five Goals of EnCourage

1. To grow spiritually through spiritual reading, prayer, meditation, individual spiritual direction, frequent attendance at Mass, and the frequent reception of the Sacraments of Penance and Holy Eucharist.
2. To gain a deeper understanding of the needs, difficulties, and challenges experienced by men and women with same-sex attraction.
3. To establish and maintain a healthy and wholesome relationship with their loved ones who experience same-sex attraction.
4. To assist other family members and friends to reach out with compassion and truth to, and not to reject, their loved ones who experience same-sex attraction.
5. To witness to their loved ones by their own lives that fulfillment is to be found in Jesus Christ through His Body, the Church.

EnCourage monthly meetings are held on the 3rd Monday via Zoom. The next meeting is in January 2026.

For more information, please email: encourage.trinidad@gmail.com

Resources are available at : www.couragerc.org