The co-founders of Eden Invitation, Shannon Ochoa (left) and Anna Carter (right). / Credit: Eden Invitation
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Feb 14, 2025 / 19:00 pm (CNA).
A Catholic ministry called Eden Invitation is working to “create space to receive the whole person” for people with LGBTQ+ experiences. Founders Anna Carter and Shannon Ochoa said they started the organization to form a community of Christians who want to stay close to God and their faith but experience discord in their desires and attractions.
Carter, the ministry’s president, explained in a Valentine’s Day “EWTN News Nightly” interview that these experiences don’t need to be “a cause for shame” but rather can be “an invitation to surrender more deeply to Jesus in your life.”
“I recognized in high school that I experienced attraction to other women. But I also was really into youth group and had these beautiful experiences of prayer and community, and I knew that the Church was home.”
Carter said she realized, “OK, this isn’t really going away.” So she asked herself: “How do I work this out? What does discipleship look like? What does friendship look like? What does vocation look like in the midst of all of this?”
She said Eden Invitation flowed out of that, “really trying to create community for other people wrestling with sexuality and gender in the Church and world today.”
The group now operates across the nation with members who describe themselves as “disciples with LGBTQ+ experiences, building community with others who desire a way of life in congruence with Christ and his Church.”
The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines chastity as “the successful integration of sexuality within the person and thus the inner unity of man in his bodily and spiritual being.”
Carter commented on this definition and the act of being chaste, saying that we need an “awareness of our body and soul and the reality that has for our sexual relationships.”
“Also, I think being aware of these places where we do experience discord and desires, being honest about that, and bringing all of that to God,” she added.
During her “EWTN News Nightly” interview, Carter was asked what her response is to young adults questioning their attractions and desires.
“To have increased vulnerability in some of your close relationships, and that this doesn’t have to actually be an obstacle to your holiness, but maybe this is actually a means that Jesus is inviting you to keep surrendering to him and just continuing to move forward in your life and discipleship,” she said.
“I think that as we grow in chastity, as a virtue, it’s about developing these habits of using our reason and our intellect within our desires. There’s a lot that can be gained as we grow in self-discipline in our lives.”
“I also think it affects the way we see other people, not just as objects for our own pleasure or own use but as people worthy of reverence and dignity.”
Carter further discussed the virtue of chastity in a recent Eden Invitation blog post where she expressed that living a chaste life goes beyond sexuality. She referenced Pope Francis’ description of chastity where he said that it “is freedom from possessiveness in every sphere of one’s life.”
“Only when love is chaste is it truly love,” the pontiff said.
Referring to Valentine’s Day, Carter concluded her “EWTN News Nightly” interview by saying: “I think, especially on Valentine’s Day, there can be a lot of mixed feelings if you find yourself in particular states of life. Stay close to the Lord, because no matter what your state of life is in this moment, that’s the place that God has you and that God wants to meet you.”
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