\u2026The reason I\u2019m even commenting on these brief flashes of \u201cunawareness\u201d or whatever-it-is, of not being consumed with feelings of \u201cotherness,\u201d is because this is the last place I expected to experience something like this. I flew down to Central America alone, re-entered \u201cla bodega\u201d, and have daily come up against rampant and incessant homophobia from the teenage boys I live with (and Central America\u2019s machismo culture in general) \u2013 a recipe for angst and feeling super-gay and isolated. And yet\u2026<\/p>\n
I\u2019m intrigued by the fact that I can feel so at home in my body while in a context where, honestly, I think bad things would happen if it got out that I\u2019m gay. I\u2019m experiencing almost-ideal self-perception in regard to my sexuality* in a less-than-ideal environment to be gay because, I think, they do one thing really well at the orphanage: work with the kids through diverse gifts and histories. I may not be \u201cout\u201d here, but the fact that I\u2019m gay, and the way I\u2019ve grown and deepened because of that fact,** has enabled me to serve these kids in a manner that is different from other staff members and yet still important and valued \u2013 namely, I tend to be more aware of how certain kids are being pushed to the fringes, more aggressive against bullying, and less rough in my behavior toward even the most obnoxious boys (one of whom, as I type, is randomly pressing buttons on my computer forcing me to engage in manic typo-prevention).<\/p>\n
This is why I think the Church has so much to offer those attracted to the same sex.*** \u00a0So many people can only dull the ache of difference by staying in communities comprised of those who are equally \u201cother\u201d and thus experience a kind of normativity.**** Though the Church does, in some ways, serve a similar function, it does not do so through the normalization or flattening of otherness; the Gospel is not about homogenization (this is one reason I think we have four notoriously idiosyncratic Gospels accounts), it\u2019s about redemption, conformation, and scandalous equality before God.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t love Christian community because I get to spend time with people \u201cjust like me,\u201d though Christ-followers do share certain unshakeable foundations. I love Christian community because it reminds me that I am united in purpose and worship with a bunch of crazy people around the world who aren\u2019t like me at all<\/em> and who reveal Christ to me in ways that would be otherwise unknown.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nmore<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"blogs: \u2026The reason I\u2019m even commenting on these brief flashes of \u201cunawareness\u201d or whatever-it-is, of not being consumed with feelings of \u201cotherness,\u201d is because this is the last place I expected to experience something like this. I flew down to Central America alone, re-entered \u201cla bodega\u201d, and have daily come up against rampant and incessant […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1071,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1264,11,110],"class_list":["post-6847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gay-catholic-whatnot","tag-gay-catholic-whatnot","tag-his-banner-over-me-was-love","tag-the-fruit-of-service-is-peace"],"yoast_head":"\n
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