Tuesday, April 15, 2008

The Pope Comes to America

Pope Benedict comes to the United States today and will be greeted by our illustrious leader, George W. Bush.

I have a lot of mixed emotions regarding the Catholic church and the Pope. I'm a practicing gay Catholic and as you can imagine, quite hurt by the many hateful and hurtful things the church and this pope continues to say about LGBT people. I'm convinced that if Jesus Christ walked the Earth right now, he'd he ashamed at the vile hatred flowing from the church. We're all God's kids here, gay or straight. When will the Church realize this?

The divisive nature of the church has caused many to become turned off by religion and Catholicism. The church has lost a significant amount of power, I mean who listens after the abuse crisis . . . and when you have gay relatives and loved ones, you're going to love and support them first. Ok, I'm done with discussing this guy.

Caught up with my good friend and ex-girlfriend tonight. Yes, you read right...my ex-girlfriend. She's the only woman I've ever dated. This was waaaaay back in high school. I'm proud to say I'm a gold star aka never had sex with a woman before!

It was great to chat with her. She's coming up to beantown with my brother soon. Possibly the first weekend in May cuz my bro may help me move. Yay!

1 comment:

Mychals Prayer said...

When the Pope visits Ground Zero, he will be greeted by a vigil honoring the late FDNY chaplain, Father Mychal Judge, the first official casualty of the 9/11 attacks.

Mychal was considered a living saint by many even prior to his heroic death. His extraordinary works of compassion have been compared to Mother Teresa (see http://SaintMychalJudge.blogspot.com )

But ironically, Fr. Mychal Judge would be barred from the priesthood today because he was openly gay, though celibate. He often asked, “Is there so much love in the world that we can afford to discriminate against any kind of love ?!”

We have no illusions that this pope is going to change. Rather, we are bearing witness to two truths -- that God created and loves gay people, and that the pope does not speak for the whole Church, the Ecclesia, on these matters.

Indeed, two-thirds of U.S. Catholics-in-the-pews reject the pope’s views and support either civil unions or full marriage rights, according to numerous surveys. As Fr. Mychal also said, "Don't let the (institutional) church get in the way of your relationship with God."

Boston offers many local parishes which are GLBT friendly. Check out St. Cecilia's, St.Ignatius (Newton), the Franciscans and Paulists downtown, and others.