Did anyone else get help from somewhere you didn't expect ?

Hey,

I went to a Catholic church school from a young age so I grew up very much in a religion and as a teen I was quite religious. Anyway about the age of 13 I was starting to have really strong feelings towards guys which scared me. Alot of the people there had the attitude that being gay was "wrong" and I had heard of kids getting beaten up for being "gay" , and sadly I suffered the same fate.

Anyway that hit me, and being somewhat religious I ended up in the chapel praying for ages (Er that I would be "normal" , I was in tears and kinda felt safe from the bullies in there. One of the priests saw me in a state and since he was also my teacher asked what was wrong and maintained that I could tell him anything. So I told him that I am having "gay feelings" and I knew he was about to tell me how wrong I was or keep praying or something.

I was completely wrong!! He told me that there is nothing to be ashamed of, stop wanting to change who I am, I am a good kid and the Vatican is "misguided by hypocrites and egos" and suggested I go and see the nurse/councilor about my feelings (who put me in touch with a LGBT teen support group), he also prayed with me that I would "be happy and accept who I am" , I actually got help from the last person I would expect it from and to be honest it did help me alot.

It still took me years to come out after that point, since I didn't want to get bullied and stuff