A Warrior and Apostle for Courage

This article was originally shared with Courage members in Brisbane, Australia, in February 2011.

Father John Harvey 1918-2010

Requiescat in Pace

Fr John Harvey, an Oblate of St Francis de Sales for 73 years, died in Maryland USA on 27th December 2010.  He had been a priest for 66 years.

Most of the following is a repeat of the full page obituary that was published in the Brisbane Catholic Newspaper, The Catholic Leader on Sunday 30th January 2011. I have added some personal reminiscences  for the Courage article series that goes out to Courage members, workers and supporters.

While Father John was known mainly for his work in the Courage ministry which he co-founded with Fr Benedict Groeschel in 1980 at the request of Terence Cardinal Cooke of New York, he was also a competent moral theologian and psychologist.  For those who do not know about Courage it is  a spiritual support group for men and women with same sex attraction who wish to live in accordance with the moral norms of the Roman Catholic Church. The Archdiocese of Brisbane has a chapter which meets monthly. See below for details. 

Father John Harvey’s erudition

He held degrees as Doctor of Theology and Master of Arts in  Psychology from the Catholic University of America. It is interesting that Father John wrote his doctoral thesis on the Confessions of Saint Augustine and expounded Augustine’s view of grace in sustaining the person in fulfilling difficult obligations.  This is a perspective that Father  Harvey will show in his later writings on the issue of homosexuality and  the pastoral approaches in ministering to many Couragemembers and  pastoral workers and supporters of the  Courage ministry.  His two mains works on homosexuality are: The Homosexual Person – New Thinking in Pastoral Care  1987 and The Truth about Homosexuality – The Cry of the Faithful  1996 both published by Ignatius Press. He was a constant writer and as a teacher in higher education he  had written forty five articles for professional theological and psychological journals on the questions of homosexuality and counselling. He co-authored some of his work with  his good friend, the distinguished well known scholar,  William E. May. 

First visit to Australia in 1979  

Father John visited  Australia at least three times. The first was when he was a visiting lecturer in Bioethcs and  Sexuality at the Catholic Theological Union in Hunters Hill in 1979. He had been invited by the Marist Fathers of New Zealand and Australia to lecture on moral and pastoral psychology. 

He was also invited by the editorial board of  the prominent Australian theological journal Australasian Catholic Record (ACR) to write an  article on recent trends in Moral theology in America. I reread the article last week and it still has relevance for the Church today, for it describes the differences in two schools of theology:  the Moderate realists and the Proportionate good.  The article can be found in Vol. 56, No.4. October 1979.

One quote from the article is particularly apt given the issues surrounding the pastoral care of persons with same sex attraction:

  There is a constant teaching that the grace of God is given in sufficient measure to 

  enable an individual to practice virtue and to avoid sin in difficult circumstances and 

  that it is erroneous to say that a real obligation is impossible to fulfill. In positive terms

  the tradition has held that there is always sufficient grace to do what is of obligation.

Second visit as Courage director to Australia in 1998

I had known about Father Harvey from my reading of his theological writings but first met him in person at the  1998 First Australian Courage conference. This was held at the Dominican Priory in Canberra where there were about sixty in attendance and  a dozen priests/chaplains as well. Archbishop Francis Carroll, the then president of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference,  celebrated the opening Mass for the three day conference. Delegates came from every state except Western Australia. After the conference Father John visited Brisbane and gave a number of talks. Father John explained that his primary purpose for this Australian visit was to develop and consolidate the Courage ministry in this country. The  first engagement in Brisbane was to a group of priests and lay workers where Father John explained topics such as the primacy of conscience, the five goals of Courage, and the nuptial meaning of the Body  taught by  John Paul 11. Father John explained that the concept and meaning of the nuptial meaning of the Body takes away the labelling effect of the word homosexuality when describing a person. For we are all children of God, not a label. He was also interviewed by the Catholic Leader editor for a subsequent article in that paper. 

Visit to Emmanuel Covenant Community

On a Friday evening gathering of the Emmanuel Covenant Community, Father John outlined his wisdom of putting forward an alternative for Catholics who do not want to continue their homosexual genital life style. Father John  had a nice Australian touch when he mentioned that one of his heroes was Frank Sheed  (Melbourne born – who went to England pre- war) who when  engaged in his apostolate of the Catholic Evidence Guild, would explain his view point and not get into strident  arguments. For Frank Sheed, the truths of the Faith and Catholic doctrine virtually spoke for themselves.

A telling moment for us all was when Father John recounted that in his forty years of work assisting men and women with an homosexual attraction/orientation, not one wanted to be like that.  He confided that if he were to rewrite his 1987 book entitled “The Homosexual Person” he would change the title, because no one ought to be defined in terms of their sexual attraction. For all of us are made in God’s image and are His creatures. He loves us intimately. Our claim to greatness is the fact that we are all loved and created by God – the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Visits to Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne followed. Father John was pleased with the turnouts that occurred and in one public forum in Adelaide two hundred people attended. In Melbourne and Adelaide he was well received by the current Archbishops, George Pell and Leonard Faulkner. 

Third visit in January 2003

Father John brought with him a  psychologist – Mr Peter Rudegair. (Unfortunately he was killed in a motor vehicle accident a couple of years ago). They lectured in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide and gave quite a number of workshops which were well attended. Mr Rudegair then returned home to the United States and Fr John came to Brisbane where I had the privilege of being his chauffeur. He gave an excellent workshop-session at St Leo’s College within the University of Queensland, which was surrounded by protesters. He allowed some of the protesters into the gathering and when one or two were being disruptive he knew how to respond, because he was a man of love and compassion.  It seemed that he was not a newcomer to organized cohorts of protesters. A frightening situation for some became a place of learning  and wisdom. It was a great demonstration of how a man of deep courage and authority was able to speak the truth of the Gospel and bring out of the vast store of the Church’s experience and teaching pertinent remarks and answers for all of us to ponder in the months ahead. 

The legacy of Father Harvey

Courage continues to operate in the United States, Canada, England, Ireland, Poland, Mexico, Slovakia, Singapore, Hong Kong, The Philippines, Australia and New Zealand. There are now over 100 chapters of Courage world wide

My recollection of Father Harvey 

Fr. Harvey with Brendan and his family

At the time of Father Harvey’s 2003 visit, Brian Smith the founder of the Emmanuel Covenant Community was dying. I was thrilled that Father Harvey, who had met Brian at the Canberra Conference in 1998 , was willing to visit him at home and provide comfort and a blessing. He was a humble servant of God who had pastoral sensitivity, great erudition and an ability to succinctly  educate his audience. All this without using powerpoint, overheads and whiteboard. No mean task given our more technological age and dependence on these items. 

Father John used our house as his base and was accommodated for sleeping purposes three doors down from my place with another Emmanuel Covenant Community household: a household who truly lived by Saint  Paul’s exhortation in Romans 12:13 “Share with God’s people who are in need and practise hospitality.” Father John had no airs and accepted our arrangements in good grace for he was earnestly focused on the way of the Lord. 

Father John also made use of my City Counselling office for meeting with any same sex attracted person  – who was not necessarily a Courage member - but wanted time with Father. It was a delight for me to be able to assist this humble man.

A tribute to Father John Harvey – one of a kind among venerable men

What also struck me about this man was that in his last visit to Brisbane he was in his eighties and displayed  enormous energy. His passing reminded me of two other venerable  men from Brisbane who also died in 2010. Doctor Charles Elliott, eighty seven years on 2nd January and Father Bill Murphy, ninety two years on 6th  February. Both  these men had enthusiasm, apostolic zeal, humour and great love. In my last meeting with Father Bill – in January 2010 –we spoke about the Jesus we meet in receiving the Body and Blood of the Lord. Father Bill’s final words were about the Resurrected Jesus. I was to meet him again at an unspecified date at his place.  Instead he went to his heavenly reward and I will now have to wait until I am called to my heavenly reward to meet him again! 

I mention this because in our day and age some would dismiss the old as being of no account and redundant – yet all three men mentioned above had the energy of God and the power of love which reached out to all and sundry – surely a gift that we must not neglect in our aged brothers and sisters wherever they are in our society and communities. I would encourage whoever reads this article to cultivate a wholesome relationship with a mature venerable brother and or sister. It can be an unexpected pleasure, and to paraphrase  C.S.Lewis,  one can be surprised by a joyful friendship. 

Saint Paul loved Philemon and wrote a beautiful message for him. I would like to honour Father John Harvey in the same way because this is what he did in Brisbane and I was privileged to be a witness. Verse 7. “Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints.” 

May the soul of Father John Harvey rest in peace.  Amen. 

Brisbane Courage is a ministry of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane

Email:  brisbanecourage@bigpond.com