{"id":7,"date":"2014-12-15T10:27:00","date_gmt":"2014-12-15T10:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/2014\/12\/rainbow-love-in-the-sun.html"},"modified":"2016-04-14T21:22:32","modified_gmt":"2016-04-15T01:22:32","slug":"rainbow-love-in-the-sun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/pitstopforthespirituallybamboozled\/2014\/12\/rainbow-love-in-the-sun.html","title":{"rendered":"Rainbow Love in the Sun"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"gay-pride-876078_1280\"<\/p>\n

It was the summer of 1999; I had just flown from London on a one-way ticket to San Francisco, having been accepted as an ordination candidate for ministry with the Catholic Diocese of Oakland, CA.\u00a0 Prior to commencing a final two year stint at the seminary, I got to \u2018acclimate\u2019 to California by staying at a parish in Oakland.\u00a0 I had a blast: sight-seeing around the culturally eclectic and stunningly beautiful bay area; being wined and dined by many of the pastor\u2019s friends; and by simply savoring the invigorating energy of this part of the world.<\/p>\n

Then one morning, a couple of weeks prior to my relocating to the seminary, the pastor (very crestfallen and distraught) shared with me how one of his parishioners, a young gay man, had just ended his life \u2013 and he left a suicide note for the pastor!\u00a0 A long letter filled with deep sadness, anguish, loneliness, and utter despair.\u00a0 This young man felt painfully excluded from his church \u2013 not the parish he attended \u2013 but the institutional \/ hierarchical Church that called the shots . . and considered his \u2018way of life\u2019 as an openly gay man in a committed relationship, to be incompatible with an authentic profession of the Catholic faith.<\/p>\n

Most notably he took deep offense at his gender orientation being referred to as an \u201cobjective disorder\u201d . . . \u201cordered toward an intrinsic moral evil\u201d \u2013 and that any sexual activity<\/i> between a gay couple was \u201ccontrary to the natural law\u201d, was closed to \u201cthe gift of life\u201d and did not \u201cproceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity.\u201d (Chastity and Homosexuality \u2013 Catechism of the Catholic Church <\/i>\u2013 article 6)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>OMG! I was not unfamiliar with the tenets of the Church\u2019s stance on homosexuality; but this was a grim and heartbreaking reminder of what it professed and how \u2018isolated\u2019 many of the gay community felt because of it.\u00a0 And there was me (a liberal-thinking man) on the fast-track to ordination \u2013 too right I had doubts!<\/p>\n

What heartens me<\/b>: Many developments.\u00a0 We no longer live \u2013 for the most part \u2013 in a Draconian age where one\u2019s sexual orientation is criminalized and stigmatized; the institutional Church is now beginning to take a more pastorally sensitive, informed and enlightened stance on LGBT rights, albeit with some way to go!;<\/p>\n

President Obama\u2019s new LGBT nondiscrimination rule (announced July 21, 2014) which protects LGBT employees from discrimination based on gender identity; and most especially the LGBT pride movement that has grown worldwide \u2013 along with many new LGBT youth support organizations, particularly in the U.K.\u00a0 But don\u2019t we all pray for the day when the above list will be unnecessary and obsolete?<\/p>\n

Not a moral quagmire<\/b>: When you consider that every<\/i> person at his\/her core angelic essence is a perfect<\/i> fusion of feminine and masculine energies, then the compelling need to re-integrate<\/i> and harmonize<\/i> these \u2018two halves\u2019 of ourselves is our (all of humanity\u2019s) deepest spiritual and moral quest.\u00a0 Therefore, rather than seeking to discriminate against, stigmatize, dehumanize, or demonize anyone because of their gender identity, a more enlightened human community would respectfully look to those among us who \u2013 in many regards \u2013 exemplify what it means to live a truly human, truly loving, and truly integrated sexuality.<\/p>\n

Until our next yarn<\/b>: Get to know yourself a little better \u2013 then share that beautiful, integrated goodness with a world that dearly needs it.\u00a0 Be free to express who you truly are!<\/p>\n

Peace \u2013 G<\/p>\n

Cover Photo: Pixabay<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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