Hey people. Did you know I have a book coming out? THAT’S RIGHT. Pre-order that joint.
The cool thing about the book is that it’s short. That means I left a lot of stuff out. Plus I wrote the book a couple years ago at this point, and my thinking on Gay Catholic Whatnot has continued to evolve. Therefore, to give you all a sense of how I approach issues of faith and sexuality (so you’ll buy my awesome book, and/or request it at your local libraries–note that many public libraries do take requests!), I’m starting a series of posts which explore issues I left out of the book for reasons of space, or because I hadn’t considered this stuff yet. This also means you can email me [email protected] with questions, which I might incorporate into this series.
Here’s the current list of topics I’ll probably post on, although I don’t guarantee any of these and I’m sure I’ll add others. This list is in no real order:
* The Anima Christi as it relates to my gay Christian life
* a sketch of the chapter I wish I’d included, on celibate partnerships
* maybe something on the extraordinary growth and new public prominence of gay/queer/same-sex attracted Christians who accept the historic Christian teaching on sexuality
* spiritual direction and vocational weirdness
* is there a difference between vocational discernment and navel-gazing?
* art as a vocation
* teaching and fruitfulness
* marriage and religious vocations for gay/queer/ssa people
* don’t be your own abbot!
* misconceptions e.g. you’re probably just asexual
* marriage as asceticism and solidarity in struggle
* the possibilities of public honor for nonmarital sacrificial love
* discipleship as a process aka So a Gay Couple Just Started Coming to My Church, How Can I Be a Shepherd and Not a Jackass?
* is celibacy a purely private choice?
* the sexualization of gay Christians
* is celibacy just the new ex-gay?
* Mary, the woman in my life
* bridal mysticism for queer people
* gay saints
* “What I want to give is not what you want to receive,” or needs vs. neediness
* possible analogies: the arc of “courtly love” culture
* vocation as the next right thing
* the Kiss of Peace: liturgy to free us from our isolation
Plus something you’ll get later today, a bit of gallows humor to start us off; and a demi-related post about alcoholism as dramatic irony.