Confsns of a Gay Ju: How I Was Forced To Leave My Church—And Callg

Contents:

• GAY EX-JU CONCERT BOOTED FROM CHURCH AFTER BACKLASH
• CATHOLIC LGBT HISTORY: GAY-FRIENDLY CATHOLIC PARISH LIST IS PUBLISHED
• CONFSNS OF A GAY JU: HOW I WAS FORCED TO LEAVE MY CHURCH—AND CALLG
• REV. GARY MEIER, GAY CATHOLIC PRIT, COM OUT TO AN UNCERTA FUTURE
• GAY THE CATHOLIC CHURCH :: TUDAY TAL
• FIRG OF GAY CATHOLIC SCHOOL TEACHER ULD TT LATT SUPREME COURT LG
• CATHOLIC DCE SAYS GAY AND TRANS PEOPLE N'T BE BAPTIZED OR RECEIVE COMMUNN
• CATHOLIC PRITS: IT'S 'EMPIRIL FACT' THAT MANY CLERGY ARE GAY
• U.S. HOMOSEXUAL ACTIVIST WEBSE PROVIS LIST OF 'GAY FRIENDLY' CATHOLIC PARISH
• PRBYTERIAN CHURCH AMERI LEARS SAY THOSE WHO INTIFY AS GAY ARE NOT QUALIFIED FOR ORDATN

GAY EX-JU CONCERT BOOTED FROM CHURCH AFTER BACKLASH

Louis had no gay anizatn existg, sce the Gay Liberatn Front disappeared 1971. At the time, UFMCC had about sixty ngregatns wh a membership of about 15, 000 people twenty-eight stat, Canada, and 1974, when members of the Berea Congregatn began to object to the e of their facili by a church group that had a "special mistry to the gay muny, " MCCGSL began lookg for other facili. The acquisn of the hoe/soon-to-be-Church on Waterman, acrdg to the Post Dispatch, was believed to "mark the first time Missouri that any self-proclaimed homosexual group has owned s own facili.

By the early 1980's, MCC had served or was servg as a meetg place for Gay Alholics Anonymo, Washgton Universy's Concerned Gay Stunts, Parents of Gays, Men's Rap Group, the Gay Hotle, Midntent Life Servic Corp., Growg Amerin Youth, and Gay Overeaters nearly ten years at the Waterman lotn, 1984, the Church of about 130 active members, purchased a buildg Lafayette Square at 1120 Dolman. () - A homosexual hymn-wrer was schled to perform at a Catholic parish, but the event has been moved off church grounds after phback. Church Milant reported Wednday that Dan Schutte, an ex-Ju prit and homosexual, was schled to perform April 28 at Our Lady of Visatn parish Kansas Cy, Missouri.

Perhaps the bt known of his songs is "Here I Am, Lord, " which some have scribed as a "gay anthem.

CATHOLIC LGBT HISTORY: GAY-FRIENDLY CATHOLIC PARISH LIST IS PUBLISHED

Twenty years ago this month, New Ways Mistry published s first list of “Gay-Friendly Parish, ” Catholic fah muni that had begun the procs of beg welg of gay and lbian people. Also clud that list were seven lleg whose Catholic stunt muni were known to be gay-iendly. Today there are well over 200 parish listed, and a separate list for “Gay-Friendly Catholic Colleg and Universi” ntas over 100 schools.

Many of those parish were muni who had attend gay/lbian mistry workshops offered by Fr.

Nugent, who had worked many years parish mistry, was eager to make parish plac where gay and lbian people felt wele and uld participate openly muny life.

CONFSNS OF A GAY JU: HOW I WAS FORCED TO LEAVE MY CHURCH—AND CALLG

It allowed gay-iendly parish to know that they were not alone their outreach efforts.

Siarly, The Natnal Catholic Reporter featured New Ways Mistry’s gay-iendly parish list on their “Field Hospal” blog, which chronicl ntemporary parish life.

” Twenty years later, New Ways Mistry still learns about new gay-iendly parish much the same way.

REV. GARY MEIER, GAY CATHOLIC PRIT, COM OUT TO AN UNCERTA FUTURE

“To be listed, parish mt wele gay Catholics a public way, via a bullet announcement or a project or support group that v gay Catholics and their fai to participate. DeBernardo believ that the recent crease parish beg gay-iendly is likely a rult of the fluence of Pope Francis:. ’ Beg a gay-iendly Catholic parish is now much ls likely to be seen as a ntradictn.

Bernatte’s parish, Severn, Maryland, which had gurated a gay outreach mistry. If you know of a gay-iendly parish, please let know by providg the parish name, cy and state, and webse. ”None of the statements directly challeng church teachg such as the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which, among other thgs, refers to “homosexual tennci” as “objectively disorred.

” None of the statements directly challeng church teachg such as the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which, among other thgs, refers to “homosexual tennci” as “objectively disorred. [Related: Vatin, wh Pope Francis’ approval, says prits nnot bls same-sex upl]“Sce blsgs on persons are relatnship wh the sacraments, the blsg of homosexual unns nnot be nsired lic, ” read the statement, which was signed by the prefect of the Vatin’s Congregatn for the Doctre of the so, the Vatin document is wily seen as evince of growg disntent among some Catholics — cludg bishops — regardg the church’s approach to LGBTQ people and relatnships: When German bishops met earlier this year, among the nversatns wh lay Catholics was the possibily of prits blsg same-sex om AmeriThe Equaly Act’s implitns for abortn would be vastatg for pregnant women the workplaceI’m a nun who has mistered to transgenr people for over 20 years. I am a morn gay Christian search of love, one who still wants to bee a 2004 to 2014 I was a Ju, a member of the Society of J good standg, an orr gone global by the electn of Pope Francis I.

GAY THE CATHOLIC CHURCH :: TUDAY TAL

I would not be an openly gay prit a Church that fir LGBTQ employe and volunteers. I left prott: How uld I be an openly gay prit who fir LGBTQ employe and volunteers? Here’s my story; is an experiment wh tth tellg, as much as is about jtice for LGBTQ Christians and non-Christians, men, women and children who have been eply affected by the lennia of anti-gay theology and hate speech poed by the Roman Catholic Church.

The effects of this vlence lger story tak on closeted gay prits, Jus or not, and tells them to e out. More than anythg else we were a Roman Catholic fay who orred our liv around the life of the Church, as much as we did big Italian meals and Broadway was a cent childhood, but at home I uld never fully be myself, the Church’s teachg on homosexualy burned any genue relatnship between my parents and me and my four siblgs and me.

FIRG OF GAY CATHOLIC SCHOOL TEACHER ULD TT LATT SUPREME COURT LG

I’d had enough dner meetgs wh bishops and prits om the Dce of Long Island and the Society of Mary (the Marists) to know that I uld not be an openly gay man their urse of study.

CATHOLIC DCE SAYS GAY AND TRANS PEOPLE N'T BE BAPTIZED OR RECEIVE COMMUNN

No one ever spoke to me about the subject of sex or sexualy: This drew enough red flags for sirg to be a prit, I prayed for guidance and remembered two Ju prits, Fathers Mateo Ricci and Walter Ciszek, members of the Society of J (the Jus), members of what I would quickly learn was the largt, most progrsive and gay-iendly relig orr the Frs. In the men I saw I discerned entry to the Jus, many close iends bated me about homosexualy and Catholicism, sentially qutng my llg. My iend Katie asked me how I uld dite my life to an stutn that labeled me as trsilly disorred, one who saw gay sexual acts are I saw homosexualy and Catholicism the most holistic way, and I put my needs for self-prervatn last bee I wanted to make a difference the life of LGBTQ youth.

I thought I uld change thgs om the si, but to do this right I had to enter the Church’s most gay iendly orr, an orr wh polil and social nnectns that rivaled the then I knew would take years and years to undo the damage done to the LGBTQ muny by the Church, damage I hoped to help repair my lifetime as a prit. I too wanted to help people, pecially gay people like myself, who belong to a church that don’t accept them.

I knew Catholicism was anti-gay (jt read the Catechism of the Catholic Church), but soon enough the gay Jus I’d meet rejected the prevailg ethos on that. Durg this summer gay Jus met perdilly, secret to discs the lack of hospaly and wele by our straight brothers. One immature novice said that for him gay porn was but one means to keep his “gay self” alive and still nnected to a muny so often alienated by the Church; for me, he was erroneoly projectg his own sense of isolatn and alienatn by the Church onto the gay porn those secret meetgs we discsed why was OK for our straight brothers to make c jok about women durg dner while we uld not discs ex-boyiends or what meant to be healthy, chaste gay man.

CATHOLIC PRITS: IT'S 'EMPIRIL FACT' THAT MANY CLERGY ARE GAY

Why was I, a healthy tegrated gay man, choosg life a hostile environment, self-selectg, and eely rpondg to a votn a church that practic “don’t ask, don’t tell” through the impnt guise of hate the s, love the sner?

Louis I met a aterny of men jt out of siar noviat, whose newfound eedom led them to gay or straight bars, but also to “the 4th hoe” where we would all gather for libatns and pizzas. I was more shocked by the stori I’d hear of younger Jus fatherg babi, and gay Jus fondlg each other vans on the way to men were gay Jus whom the Church and the Society of J embraced, gay men who acrdg to the church’s teachg were still objectively disorred, trsilly viant om the natural world and social the Society of J dog , or the LGBTQ muny, any favors by keepg ?

U.S. HOMOSEXUAL ACTIVIST WEBSE PROVIS LIST OF 'GAY FRIENDLY' CATHOLIC PARISH

I uld mix wh Ain-Amerin stunts, but be reprimand when I worked too closely wh Breakg Barriers, the school’s “gay-straight alliance.

PRBYTERIAN CHURCH AMERI LEARS SAY THOSE WHO INTIFY AS GAY ARE NOT QUALIFIED FOR ORDATN

”Every time I heard a prep stunt e the term “faggot, ” or unseled a gay stunt bullied by his peers, I thought of Jam Baldw’s say, ‘Stranger In The Village, ’ (PDF) where he wr, “The children who shout ‘Neger! Over time I grew tired of wag for the secret world of gay Jus: I uld go on and on about gay Jus playg the piano the Wt Village’s Duplex or about the nights I spent at NYC’s Splash Bar or Eagle Club. I uld talk about how olr gay Jus swam nu durg summers at villa hom, about Jus who groped each other hot tubs, or Jus who were gay the orr but who are now safely married.

I uld talk about gay Jus that had onle Avatars and memberships to gay onle datg s.

I uld talk about failed Ju hook-ups, my own and were the gay Jus who were so closeted that they hid behd nservatism, leavg the Jus for formatn programs dc across the Uned Stat. There were gay Jus who were put cleril prison for embracg unrgrads too long, and others who attend Sexaholics Anonymo, or whose personal llectn of pornography was mistakenly played durg high school lectur. I saw the vehement ternalized homophobia of some Jus, and knew of certa gay pastors removed om jobs so that ls out and more passable gay Jus replace them at gay-iendly were gay Jus who traveled the world to scuba dive or taste French we.