Religion

People get WAY too hung up on religion. I am a Roman Catholic. My friends are Methodist, Lutheran, Baptist, etc. (the etc. is for the friend who keeps looking for a religion that suits her beliefs and has a congregation that will believe what SHE wants them to believe—I think it’s a control issue. She’s still looking.).

My Protestant friends have told me that they were taught that Catholicism is a cult. Who knew? Being taught religion in grade school, going to Mass every day (except Saturdays), and being reminded on a daily basis what right and wrong is might be a form of brain washing. I believe it made me a caring person who treats people fairly and goes out of his way to help friends, family, and sometimes strangers.

I love the rituals of the Catholic faith. The nuns who taught me in grade school were tough but fair (except for one nun who had issues about boys and would occasionally physically abuse them when they got out of line). I also had the utmost respect for the priests that I met while I was growing up. They were devoted, devout, and caring. I was an altar boy, a member of the choir, and I occasionally helped clean the church when asked. I was never abused by any priest or nun (oh, except for the above-mentioned nun who gave me an unexpected slap in the forehead for turning in my homework in less-than-pristine condition).

Being a Gay man, it was hard making the Catholic faith work for me. It seemed that everywhere I looked, when I started to mature and started having sexual feelings, I was made to feel like the very essence of my being was wrong. Catholicism, like many religions, is a heterosexual religion. There is no room in the Catholic thinking for Gay anybody. Oh, there are some clerics that “tolerate” us (condemn the sin, not the sinner), but most priests feel it’s okay to be Gay as long as you don’t act on the feelings. Wonder how many straight people are given that advice? 

I still proudly state that I am Catholic. My parents were loving and caring people that felt it was important for me and my eight siblings to have some understanding of God and the teachings of the Bible. I am grateful to have had parents that cared enough about me to teach me the difference between right and wrong and that there is a spiritual life.

I do get frustrated and angry sometimes at the clerics who claim that homosexuality is the cause of pedophile priests (sometimes I think these clerics protest too much). Perhaps these people should educate themselves to learn that most pedophiles are heterosexual (according to the American Psychological Association)? I have almost walked out on a couple of sermons where the priest, in a very self-righteous tone, pontificated on the fact (in his mind) that homosexuality is the cause of child abuse by priests (this same priest said in an earlier sermon that one of the people he most admired was Dr. Laura—are you kidding me?). 

I chalk these kinds of things up to ignorance and that a priest is just another human being and therefore subject to making mistakes. The fact that a couple of priests are uneducated about homosexuality cannot make me lose the core of my beliefs. 

I have had to pick and choose what parts of the Catholic faith work for me. However, I will always profess my faith as being Catholic. I will have to say, though, that I do have to “edit” the religious teachings of the church at times. However, I do believe in treating people right, forgiving people that do things that piss me off (I struggle with that one), attending Mass every Sunday, and loving God the best that I can. After all, God made me Gay.

As a footnote, I have a brother who is a Catholic priest. He is a loving, caring, devoted, and devout individual. He and I have discussed my being Gay. I was always tentative about discussing that with him. I was pretty sure he would be accepting of me no matter what. As it turns out, I was right. He told me not too long ago that if I ever met a man that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with that he was completely okay with that and would support me 100%. He’s a good guy, a great priest, and a wonderful brother.