Dear friends: Today I received dozens of messages from #LGBTQ people, as well as their friends, families and allies, who told me they were disappointed, discouraged and disheartened by the Vatican’s latest pronouncement on barring the blessings of same-sex marriages...
For many of them, the document was profoundly discouraging, though it was perhaps not surprising, given the CDF’s longstanding position on this topic....
Many people, encouraged by several German bishops, and other priests in the West who have ventured to give such blessings, were hoping that such blessings might represent a small way that the church might recognize what the CDF’s document called the “positive elements...”
....of these couples, even if they could not be married within the church, in a sacramental union. Especially painful for many LGBTQ people who contacted me today was the statement that God “does not and cannot bless sin....”
First, I want to say to my LGBTQ friends that I am with you in prayer.
Second, know that the journey of the church with LGBTQ people is a long one, and Christ is with us--LGBTQ people, families, friends and allies--and will never leave us. But it is a journey....
Second, know that the journey of the church with LGBTQ people is a long one, and Christ is with us--LGBTQ people, families, friends and allies--and will never leave us. But it is a journey....
A few years ago, a young gay man told me that Howard Gray, SJ, a great Jesuit spiritual master, said to him, “God loves you and your church is learning to love you.” So we are pilgrim church, learning, changing and growing, even in the middle of what may seem to many people...
like disappointments and even heartbreaks.
Third, remember that, as Psalmist says, “The Lord is near to the broken-hearted” (34:18). Don’t hesitate to pour yourself out to God in prayer and ask for God's presence....
Third, remember that, as Psalmist says, “The Lord is near to the broken-hearted” (34:18). Don’t hesitate to pour yourself out to God in prayer and ask for God's presence....
Most of all, never despair. That voice is not coming from God. The voice of hope is. After all, what are the dark 40 days of Lent other than a preparation for a light-filled Easter? On Easter Christ upended all expectations and reminded us that nothing is impossible with God...
Besides, what is the alternative? To lock ourselves behind closed doors like the disciples on Good Friday and Holy Saturday? To live in fear of the future that God has in store for us? To shrink in terror from the hard work that all disciples are called to do?...
To doubt that Jesus is on the side of those who feel in any way marginalized? To leave the community into which Christ himself called us at our baptism?...
As Christians we live in hope and in the trust that Easter is always before us, not matter how cold the winter or how difficult the Lent.
Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Blessed be the name of the Lord.
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