Hi there, Mockingbird. Catholic Lesbian with a minor in Theology from Notre Dame checking in here - talk about your seeming contradictions!
I hadn’t seen this thread but Munch pointed it out to me via e-mail. Big thank yous go to him.
My gut says that perhaps some gay people turn to alcohol or some other form of substance abuse not because they are gay but rather because other people treat them horribly…because they are gay. Being gay isn’t the problem; treatment of gay people may have been.
I went to see a priest when I was a student at ND. You’d almost think I’d know better but I told the priest that I knew I was gay and that I’d always known and I was scared to death of what that might mean to my salvation, etc. He told me to go home and read Matthew, Chapter 25.
I went home and read it. And I came back a few days later and saw him and he asked me to tell him what it said. I retold the story about how Jesus separated a group of people into sheep and goats and told the sheep that they had the kingdom of heaven and told the goats that they did not. When asked why, Jesus said to the sheep, (and I am going from memory here) – ‘when I was hungry, you fed me. When I was thirsty, you gave me drink. When I was cold, you gave me shelter…etc – whatever you do for the least of my brethren, you do for me.’ And Jesus told the goats that they didn’t do this.
After I retold what I had read the priest told me that that passage was the only place in the gospel where judgment is specifically mentioned – and it is based purely upon one thing. It is based upon how you treat people.
That meant the world to me because he showed me that in the end, how I treated people would mean more than if I was gay, straight, black, white, etc.
Being Catholic, I’m not much of a fundamentalist. I tend to read the Bible in the context of the world’s history when portions were written. This brings a richness to the text that really does amaze me.
I’m a bit at a loss and I hope this doesn’t sound poorly - but my gut says that if you try to reconcile a Christian religion/organization/anything that says that being gay is bad/wrong with being gay yourself, it will never work. It’s like asking what happens when a rolling ball that knocks down everything in its path hits a pole that can’t be knocked down. What might be wrong is the understanding of Christianity and how it perceives homosexuality. For me, it was to conclude that the bible itself lends truth to the message that how I treat people will be the final word on the matter of my salvation.
I wish you the best. Please feel free to e-mail me - I don’t know what I can do but lend support and I am very willing to do that.
TibsTanglewood@aol.com
Tibs.
