The catholic church has been a part of my life since I was born. It can be a very loving place which is probably a shock to a lot of people but this election season has transformed my opinion on the catholic church. I go to church with my family when I have weekends off from work and this weekend I refused to go and my parents don't force or punish me if I do't go. Church is in eight minutes and I am not going and luckily my family will still let me eat dinner with them afterwards. I cannot be a part of it anymore. I love God and I love him so much that I will find a church in my area that accepts me as human and there are no ifs and buts. I am so sick of churches saying oh yeah we don't accept homosexual acts but we still love you no matter what. That is just all bullshit. Oh yes we will let you in as long as you stay celibate and don't get married to the person of the same sex. You can be gay in the catholic church as long as you live a long single happy life basically.
*hug* many people here are struggling with their individual christianity vs their sexuality vs the kind of christianity that's popular
Good on you for doing what's best for you! A lot of people don't realize that you don't have to believe in the church to believe in God (or whatever you want to call him/her/it). Find a church that welcomes you as a whole being, sexuality and all. After all, "Jesus helps those who help themselves". Good luck! Btw, I'm not Christian so I'm not sure if the part in quotation marks is from the bible, but it's a good bit of advice anyway.
I'm a Christian as well. Although I'm not Catholic I know a bit about Catholicism because my gf is Catholic. She found a Catholic church that accepts the LGBT community. The priest even blessed us for marriage. Granted, I don't know how much the Vatican knows about all that. . . Anyway, my point is that I think finding an accepting church is a great idea. If you find an awesome new church, perhaps your family will join you in attending the new church. Even if they don't, it is still important to find a church that you feel comfortable with and shares your values. Good luck!
I get it. I do also know how friendly churches can be. Check out this site. They have a huge listing of gay AFFIRMING churches in your area. Good luck! I found a one around me that looks tempting. I'm not religious, but I grew up Christian and it would be nice to see one church in my lifetime one time that accepts us.
I am gonna get up early sunday morning and attend the UCC church in my hometown which is accepting of gay people and earlier this year the pastor supported gay marriage and went against the hurtful marriage amendment in my state. I hope I will be wearing the appropiate clothing.
I'm going to go ahead and credit lay Catholics for being relatively moderate in comparison to the institution. Almost every Catholic I know who doesn't work directly in the church could give less of a hoot about banning gay marriage.
Awesome. I'm sure you'll fit in, aren't they mostly come as you are? UCC is the one I was thinking of, the one around here has a lesbian pastor who just married her wife. <3 Tell us how it goes?
I told my mom how i felt after she expressed her disappointment in me not coming to church. I basically said I am tired of the church and all the problems they cause. She said you don't have to agree with everything the church says and still be a part of the church. She just does not get it at all.
My mom feels that way about churches, that you just pick the one closest to you. Maybe you can explain to her that the differences in this case are extreme and important to you.
Raised Irish Catholic. It is my religion and my culture, but I do not support the Catholic Church in any way, shape, or form. I believe in God, not the Pope. Beliefs and acceptance vary from church to church, but there's so much corruption and cover-up at the top for me to want to actively practice within a church.
You're right that it is bullshit. That view is complete evil, and I think that you need to find a church that accepts you. You can develop closeness to god outside of that organization. I heard the Episcopals are more accepting. I wish you well on your journey, and I am sorry for the hurt that you've endured.
Unfortunately this was bound to happen. The Catholic Church is just obstinately opposed to the rights and dignity of queer people, and they invest millions of dollars in trying to force that perspective even into the realm of secular public policy. I spent 20 years in Catholic schools. Fortunately the last 8 years were in liberal Jesuit schools (one in the NYC gayborhood of Chelsea, the other in Massachusetts) where they couldn't get away with talking about the "official" church teaching about God hating gays even if they wanted to (and their pews would be empty if they did!). But all these institutions were doing was hiding the true teachings of the church. If one truly believes in the truth of Catholicism, one would accept the teachings from the Vatican. It doesn't make sense to me to call myself a Catholic anymore while rejecting fundamental doctrines of that Church. The Catholic Church is not a democracy, so no matter how many ordinary lay Catholics and even progressive priests and nuns disagree with Rome, it won't make a difference. The Church leadership is deliberately designed to prevent change, with a small bunch of very grey old men in the Vatican, led by the oldest greyest of them all (Ratzinger at present) to dictate the entire universal policy of the Catholic Church worldwide. And I agree with you that the whole "love the sinner, hate the sin" idea they push to claim they are oh-so-compassionate is incredibly offensive and insulting. The idea that heterosexuals, enjoying all their privileges, never having to give a second thought to dating whom they liked, marrying whom they loved, raising as many children as they want, having all the rights and privileges society has to offer, and an entire culture oriented toward catering to their relationships...then turn around and claim they are being "merciful" and "compassionate" by telling gay people they just have to stay alone their whole lives, never be attracted to anyone, never experience dating, never experience falling in love with another human being, never experience normal human sexuality, never get married, never have a companion, never have a family, just die alone with no options or rights or anything...it's just utter absurdity. Total crock of shit. Basically these people are like a bunch of little Mitt Romneys. "Yeah I'm entitled to the mega-fortune I inherited from Daddy and I'm entitled to the White House...but how dare these other people think they are entitled to food and housing and healthcare". These heterosexuals who say gays need to be celibate have a sense of entitlement up the wazoo. They don't realize how good they have it, while they feel entitled to tell others who already have less to give up more and more.
