Most of my days are spent busily working - at my job, as a Catechist, as a sponsor in my 12 step program and at various positions in the Parish. I am a busy woman. I am a Lector. I am on the Military Support Ministry Committee. I am on the Parish Council.
My life is a bit of a whirlwind.
Today, the day before Ash Wednesday, I am taking a moment to pause and reflect and ask myself, "How do I want to live?".
The answer is better explained, I supposed, by listing what I how I do not want to live.
I do not want to live drunk.
I do not want to live obese.
I do not want to live in a constant state of anger.
I do not want to live as a liar.
However, there has to be a 'pro active' list as well, right? I mean, just for balance:
I want people to know I am a woman of my word.
I do not lie or otherwise intentionally mislead anyone. If I make a statement and it is wrong, I will take responsibility for it.
I want people to know I will not be bullied. If I make a statement, or take a stand, threats of withdrawing love, friendship or legal action will hurt me but not deter me from stating my opinion or the subjective truth (you all know that truth: what's good for you, is good for you but not necessarily good for me so back off baby).
I want to live as a woman of Faith - that does not mean I will please everyone or be perfect (though I will try to be perfect, as my Heavenly father is perfect). The fact that I am not living the way YOU might want me to live in order to make YOUR life easier will be something YOU will need to come to terms with on your own.
Any changes I make will be made after I weigh the need for that change. If I don't see a need, or if I cannot see where what I am doing is displeasing to God, then I will leave well enough alone. I have a spiritual director and a sponsor for that reason - to make sure I am being hard on myself and not on those around me.
My hope is, as I stumble towards heaven, that my attempts at earthly perfection will pay off with eternal perfection.
The good part? TRYING makes me a better person NOW.
Have a fabulous Lenten Season, people...and enjoy Fat Tuesday!
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Saturday, March 1, 2014
Oh For Heaven's Sakes - Letting Go of Past Feuds
Recently I posted that I had been reviewing my past blogs, in particular a time (over two years ago) where I was harassed by two men at the now defunct Modesto Bee blog site, The Hive.
To my absolutely surprise, one of those men has now posted on that blog post of over two years ago stating I need to stop my online slander.
When I pointed out to him that this was over two years ago his response was that he would 'never do' what I had written but that he could not speak for the other man.
I almost fell into the trap of engaging this person again. I will not, because my perception of what happened during that time has not changed. My perception, or the subjective truth regarding the past, has not changed.
The man involved insists what I wrote was slander. It does not meet the legal definition of that term; rather, it becomes a he-said-she-said online feud and I will not engage in this type of thing any more.
Let me state this: during a period of time, every and anything I would post would be followed by nasty, mean, brutal replies by two men. One of those men now denies it happens. Fine. If that makes him feel better, so be it.
I have never lied about me: my past sins, my former pagan life style, my sinful and ugly past. Those people who wish to somehow impugn my integrity or my attack my character by pointing out that I am a drunk, a postabortive woman and a former slut - have at it.
One of the best things about being a Catholic is that coming home to the Church means being forgiven for my horrible sins. I have, through the Sacrament of Reconciliation and through many penances been cleansed of my sins. Jesus not only loves me, He has welcomed me Home to His Church. Today, despite the horrible person I once was, I get to be a writer, a Catechist, a teacher, a speaker, a sober woman. Today, despite what anyone says, I get to be a woman of grace and dignity.
I have only removed one blog post - at my sister in law's request - despite the fact that I believe that particular post was misunderstood. I did that because she asked me to do it because she said it hurt her children.
All I can do this time is state, with honesty, that I am more than willing to not interact with either of these men ever again.
And I will keep them both in prayer.
To my absolutely surprise, one of those men has now posted on that blog post of over two years ago stating I need to stop my online slander.
When I pointed out to him that this was over two years ago his response was that he would 'never do' what I had written but that he could not speak for the other man.
I almost fell into the trap of engaging this person again. I will not, because my perception of what happened during that time has not changed. My perception, or the subjective truth regarding the past, has not changed.
The man involved insists what I wrote was slander. It does not meet the legal definition of that term; rather, it becomes a he-said-she-said online feud and I will not engage in this type of thing any more.
Let me state this: during a period of time, every and anything I would post would be followed by nasty, mean, brutal replies by two men. One of those men now denies it happens. Fine. If that makes him feel better, so be it.
I have never lied about me: my past sins, my former pagan life style, my sinful and ugly past. Those people who wish to somehow impugn my integrity or my attack my character by pointing out that I am a drunk, a postabortive woman and a former slut - have at it.
One of the best things about being a Catholic is that coming home to the Church means being forgiven for my horrible sins. I have, through the Sacrament of Reconciliation and through many penances been cleansed of my sins. Jesus not only loves me, He has welcomed me Home to His Church. Today, despite the horrible person I once was, I get to be a writer, a Catechist, a teacher, a speaker, a sober woman. Today, despite what anyone says, I get to be a woman of grace and dignity.
I have only removed one blog post - at my sister in law's request - despite the fact that I believe that particular post was misunderstood. I did that because she asked me to do it because she said it hurt her children.
All I can do this time is state, with honesty, that I am more than willing to not interact with either of these men ever again.
And I will keep them both in prayer.
Friday, February 28, 2014
I am a Witness
God has blessed me with some remarkable people to watch.
Two of them are young, professional women who honored me with a request to sponsor them in our 12 Step program.
Those who follow my blog know that I have the utmost respect for the program which gave me the strength to recover from a seemingly hopeless life AND allowed me to cooperate with the grace that eventually lead me home to The Catholic Church. I honor the Traditions of that fellowship by only saying that it was the appropriate 12 step program that gave me a life that is, today, second to none. Even with its trials, its tribulations and the occasional bout of self pity, I believe my life is fabulous and is a tremendous testimony to the Love of God.
The best part of my life is that I get to share it with others today and the two women I am working with now are examples of how I receive the blessings normally bestowed only upon women who have given birth. For me, to be able to watch them grow and gain insight into their own reactions to life and how to align their will with the Will of the Creator is proof positive that one does not have to have given birth to someone to be their Mom.
One of them has done this HUGE LEAP towards emotional maturity that has me amazed. Seriously amazed. She has come to some conclusions and taken some action in the last 24 hours that can only mean she is cooperating with the Grace of a Loving God. She is starting to clean house, firmly and lovingly, and I am astonished because this kind of courage did not come to ME until I had been sober for about 5 years.
And I am so grateful! You see, a parent wants a child to do better than they have in their life. No good parent is ever jealous of their own child, or holds their child back or in any way inhibits their child's growth.
Shoot, if we do that we miss the opportunity to see our family move up in the world. And we also miss out on chances to embarrass them later in large social gatherings when we show up and they have to explain us to their sophisticated friends (Yes, that's Leslie. I know she is 84 and wearing a Ramones T shirt and holding a Go Niners sign but I really love her so shut up).
I have had such a great week. The soldier is home (I know because I saw him for 10 minutes and then all his stuff arrived and is in my garage). It is raining. I got to go see BB King on Tuesday night and he rocked the house down. It is raining. I went to confession. It is raining. tonight I get to do something for my Mom and tomorrow I get to go speak to young adult Catholics on the importance of Lent.
Maybe I will wear my Ramones T shirt.
Two of them are young, professional women who honored me with a request to sponsor them in our 12 Step program.
Those who follow my blog know that I have the utmost respect for the program which gave me the strength to recover from a seemingly hopeless life AND allowed me to cooperate with the grace that eventually lead me home to The Catholic Church. I honor the Traditions of that fellowship by only saying that it was the appropriate 12 step program that gave me a life that is, today, second to none. Even with its trials, its tribulations and the occasional bout of self pity, I believe my life is fabulous and is a tremendous testimony to the Love of God.
The best part of my life is that I get to share it with others today and the two women I am working with now are examples of how I receive the blessings normally bestowed only upon women who have given birth. For me, to be able to watch them grow and gain insight into their own reactions to life and how to align their will with the Will of the Creator is proof positive that one does not have to have given birth to someone to be their Mom.
One of them has done this HUGE LEAP towards emotional maturity that has me amazed. Seriously amazed. She has come to some conclusions and taken some action in the last 24 hours that can only mean she is cooperating with the Grace of a Loving God. She is starting to clean house, firmly and lovingly, and I am astonished because this kind of courage did not come to ME until I had been sober for about 5 years.
And I am so grateful! You see, a parent wants a child to do better than they have in their life. No good parent is ever jealous of their own child, or holds their child back or in any way inhibits their child's growth.
Shoot, if we do that we miss the opportunity to see our family move up in the world. And we also miss out on chances to embarrass them later in large social gatherings when we show up and they have to explain us to their sophisticated friends (Yes, that's Leslie. I know she is 84 and wearing a Ramones T shirt and holding a Go Niners sign but I really love her so shut up).
I have had such a great week. The soldier is home (I know because I saw him for 10 minutes and then all his stuff arrived and is in my garage). It is raining. I got to go see BB King on Tuesday night and he rocked the house down. It is raining. I went to confession. It is raining. tonight I get to do something for my Mom and tomorrow I get to go speak to young adult Catholics on the importance of Lent.
Maybe I will wear my Ramones T shirt.
Friday, February 21, 2014
Dignity and The Journey
St. Catherine of Sienna, good Dominican that she was, wrote:
"What made you establish man in so great a dignity? Certainly the incalculable love by which you have looked on your creature in yourself! You are taken with love for her; for by love indeed you created her, by love you have given her a being capable of tasting your eternal Good."
So often we think loving someone is putting a rubber stamp to their beliefs. To my way of thinking, that is one of the most hateful things we can ever do: allow someone to overwhelm Truth with emotion, with feelings, with fear of the future. When someone says to me, "If this happens, I will suffer this...." am I doing them a favor by saying, "Oh yes, you are so right. Quick, run to the shelter and hide you head"?. I don't think so.
I have watched a lot of good people get overrun by fear over the past twenty years. I listened as good Catholics predicted the end of civilization as we know it and I have listened to good intentioned left wing types insist they are merely liberal in their thinking and that all the ills of the world are because of white, male republicans. Both sides of the aisle make me tired because neither recognize the necessity to subjugate our lives, our minds, our emotions to our Creator.
Well meaning people tell me that the Catholic Church refusing to change Her teachings on artificial birth control means She hates women. In other words, the refusal to condone handing women death in a package means we are unloved. They do not want to address the physical damage that poison does to our bodies. These same women who will spend HOURS at a Farmer Market making sure their peaches are organic will demand that medicine linked to stroke, blood clots, high blood pressure, unnecessary weight gain, infertility, endrometriosis, pulmonary heart disease, deep vein thrombosis and a host of other wonderful ailments is necessary for our HEALTH. And if you dare to ask them if we should be concerned about this, you will be either shouted down as somehow a female traitor or you will be dismissed as a hysterical right wing religious nut job.
I am sure the parents of the little girl from Durango, Colorado who died as a result of using artificial birth control would agree.
Well meaning people will ignore the past statements by people such as JPII regarding the sinful behavior of Catholics and our public atonement for those sins. They will bring up stuff that happened 1000 years ago as proof of how horrible we are - but mention that the founder of Planned Parenthood hated Blacks, Jews, Catholics, Hispanics and all those she deemed 'human weeds' or 'garbage' and they will choke on their own vitriol. When will they demand that PP acknowledge their past sins and publicly distance themselves from the evil that was Margaret Sanger? How come she gets a free pass but the Crusaders don't?
My walk becomes stronger as I age. Because I was a believer of the great lie for so long, the scales falling from my eyes made the world as it could be bright and beautiful. I am so grateful that Jesus never said to me, "Sorry..you had your chance back in 1980 and that horror you lived means you are lost forever". I am so grateful I was welcomed home to The Church He founded, lovingly and with great mercy. I am so grateful I learned that stating Truth is not the same as the 1970's style "telling my truth" while holding a talking stick. I am just so grateful that sobriety has meant seeing life for what it is, and acknowledging what it could be and making a conscious decision to walk to it no matter the cost.
And listen, the cost has been high. I have been vilified, I have been lied to and about, I have been ostracized. I have been called a bigot and a hater.
Yet I have to also tell you that the gain has been pretty fabulous as well. I have been embraced, I have been loved, I have been given a family that is immense and powerful. I can look at myself in the mirror, even if I am physically alone, and know I am united with my brothers and sisters in Christ - especially my Dominican Family.
I have found a courage I never had before - a courage to face my past and look towards my future and stop thinking only about how things are going to be for me as I age. Instead, I find myself becoming more and more excited about getting older. It looks like fun...it looks exciting...it looks like true freedom.
Recently I was reading over some of my older blog posts. I was looking specifically at the time in my life when two men who posted on the now defunct Modesto Bee blog site made it there purpose in life to hound me and harass me. They threatenned to call my boss (and then stated they knew where I worked and of course it was the wrong city). They called my house and threatened me with bodily harm and was roundly laughed at and taken to task by my mother. They tried to run me out of a local 12 step fellowship and the members at that fellowship rallied around me and told them to go jump in the creek, which is mostly dry.
At the time I remember thinking, "What have I done to deserve this? Been against abortion? Been against phony Vietnam Veterans? Spoken out about my own past as a way to warn others? What has been so awful about what I have done?".
Now I see that I was not doing anything awful. Now I see that Jesus was holding me close, allowing me to experience a small share of what He had suffered while He opened the gates of heaven to all humanity.
I am humbled by that time. I now am so grateful for that time.
I hope, as I age, I do not lose my ability to laugh at the absurdities that come with being human. I know without a doubt I am not perfect and I still manage to get disappointed by people - especially those who claim to love me - but I am so grateful that I can keep going forward with a smile on my face.
Thank you, Lord, for my life today exactly as it is...I wouldn't change a thing...even if I could.
"What made you establish man in so great a dignity? Certainly the incalculable love by which you have looked on your creature in yourself! You are taken with love for her; for by love indeed you created her, by love you have given her a being capable of tasting your eternal Good."
So often we think loving someone is putting a rubber stamp to their beliefs. To my way of thinking, that is one of the most hateful things we can ever do: allow someone to overwhelm Truth with emotion, with feelings, with fear of the future. When someone says to me, "If this happens, I will suffer this...." am I doing them a favor by saying, "Oh yes, you are so right. Quick, run to the shelter and hide you head"?. I don't think so.
I have watched a lot of good people get overrun by fear over the past twenty years. I listened as good Catholics predicted the end of civilization as we know it and I have listened to good intentioned left wing types insist they are merely liberal in their thinking and that all the ills of the world are because of white, male republicans. Both sides of the aisle make me tired because neither recognize the necessity to subjugate our lives, our minds, our emotions to our Creator.
Well meaning people tell me that the Catholic Church refusing to change Her teachings on artificial birth control means She hates women. In other words, the refusal to condone handing women death in a package means we are unloved. They do not want to address the physical damage that poison does to our bodies. These same women who will spend HOURS at a Farmer Market making sure their peaches are organic will demand that medicine linked to stroke, blood clots, high blood pressure, unnecessary weight gain, infertility, endrometriosis, pulmonary heart disease, deep vein thrombosis and a host of other wonderful ailments is necessary for our HEALTH. And if you dare to ask them if we should be concerned about this, you will be either shouted down as somehow a female traitor or you will be dismissed as a hysterical right wing religious nut job.
I am sure the parents of the little girl from Durango, Colorado who died as a result of using artificial birth control would agree.
Well meaning people will ignore the past statements by people such as JPII regarding the sinful behavior of Catholics and our public atonement for those sins. They will bring up stuff that happened 1000 years ago as proof of how horrible we are - but mention that the founder of Planned Parenthood hated Blacks, Jews, Catholics, Hispanics and all those she deemed 'human weeds' or 'garbage' and they will choke on their own vitriol. When will they demand that PP acknowledge their past sins and publicly distance themselves from the evil that was Margaret Sanger? How come she gets a free pass but the Crusaders don't?
My walk becomes stronger as I age. Because I was a believer of the great lie for so long, the scales falling from my eyes made the world as it could be bright and beautiful. I am so grateful that Jesus never said to me, "Sorry..you had your chance back in 1980 and that horror you lived means you are lost forever". I am so grateful I was welcomed home to The Church He founded, lovingly and with great mercy. I am so grateful I learned that stating Truth is not the same as the 1970's style "telling my truth" while holding a talking stick. I am just so grateful that sobriety has meant seeing life for what it is, and acknowledging what it could be and making a conscious decision to walk to it no matter the cost.
And listen, the cost has been high. I have been vilified, I have been lied to and about, I have been ostracized. I have been called a bigot and a hater.
Yet I have to also tell you that the gain has been pretty fabulous as well. I have been embraced, I have been loved, I have been given a family that is immense and powerful. I can look at myself in the mirror, even if I am physically alone, and know I am united with my brothers and sisters in Christ - especially my Dominican Family.
I have found a courage I never had before - a courage to face my past and look towards my future and stop thinking only about how things are going to be for me as I age. Instead, I find myself becoming more and more excited about getting older. It looks like fun...it looks exciting...it looks like true freedom.
Recently I was reading over some of my older blog posts. I was looking specifically at the time in my life when two men who posted on the now defunct Modesto Bee blog site made it there purpose in life to hound me and harass me. They threatenned to call my boss (and then stated they knew where I worked and of course it was the wrong city). They called my house and threatened me with bodily harm and was roundly laughed at and taken to task by my mother. They tried to run me out of a local 12 step fellowship and the members at that fellowship rallied around me and told them to go jump in the creek, which is mostly dry.
At the time I remember thinking, "What have I done to deserve this? Been against abortion? Been against phony Vietnam Veterans? Spoken out about my own past as a way to warn others? What has been so awful about what I have done?".
Now I see that I was not doing anything awful. Now I see that Jesus was holding me close, allowing me to experience a small share of what He had suffered while He opened the gates of heaven to all humanity.
I am humbled by that time. I now am so grateful for that time.
I hope, as I age, I do not lose my ability to laugh at the absurdities that come with being human. I know without a doubt I am not perfect and I still manage to get disappointed by people - especially those who claim to love me - but I am so grateful that I can keep going forward with a smile on my face.
Thank you, Lord, for my life today exactly as it is...I wouldn't change a thing...even if I could.
Monday, February 17, 2014
What a MORNING!
There are times in my life when I begin my prayers with, "Lord, are you kidding me?".
Today is one of those mornings.
My God has such a sense of humor. He continually hands me opportunities to either put my money where my mouth is (something tough to do as a Genovese) or see myself as I was 20 or 30 years ago.
This morning, before the lights were turned on in my room, I had the opportunity to do both and, believe it or not, it made me a very grateful woman.
I have someone in my life who is convinced of their own inherent worthlessness. Not surprising when you consider how they were raised and the theology that permeated their life, even if it was not articulated. As a child of John Calvin, there is a kind of self-hatred that tells people they are kind of icky, kind of yucky - the entire double predestination thing that basically says, "You are saved when you say you are saved but only some of you are going to heaven anyway".
When I was out in the world, living like a pagan, I was convinced that no one would ever like me if they got to know me. That has been bolstered over the years by my being rejected outright by people who love me if I can give them stuff, or have money or whatever, and because I have made some really stupid choices. My choices are always made in the name of personal freedom, or because of the way I FEEL, but most of the time my choices went against God and went against morality or natural law at is most fundamental level. I killed my own children. I am sorry but no one can ever say that is a good thing to do - it is not. Then, when I lost the child that was meant to save my soul, my reaction was to conclude that Jesus hated me, His mother had rejected me and The Church would NEVER welcome me back.
When I started reading the Catechism as a way to decide whether or not I should continue to be a Catholic, I found this:
364 The human body shares in the dignity of "the image of God": it is a human body precisely because it is animated by a spiritual soul, and it is the whole human person that is intended to become, in the body of Christ, a temple of the Spirit:
As I read through the document, and expanded my learning by reading through the lives of many of the saints as well as the Church documents written over 2000 plus years, I came to see that what Jesus taught is that I am actually inherently wonderful, meant for perfection but scarred by concupiscence and that if I make the decision, willfully and intentionally, to walk towards God every day He will give me the strength to resist the temptations I will encounter. The temptation to live an unchaste life, disguised as loneliness. The temptation to rely only upon myself disguised as hard work and independence. The temptation to be unforgiving of others and myself disguised, very cleverly , as either fear or justifiable righteous anger.
Comforting another by letting them know that they are not as bad as they think they are allows me to remember what that is like - to really be so frightened of letting anyone get close because if they do they are going to start to gag at the smell that is the dung heap of me.
However, I am more than just a Catholic in the pew - I am a Dominican. My life is lived by Veritas. So when I saw someone post about homosexuality, claiming as they did to be Catholic, and completely misrepresent Catholic teaching, I had to correct them. They cannot post on FB that Catholics teach that homosexuals themselves are intrinsically evil. We do not. That is not true.
Here is what The Church teaches:
Now, please - let me know where it states we teach that any person intrinsically evil?
We do NOT.
Because, however, I had to be Catholic Out Loud, I will be (of course) vilified on FB. I will probably lose a fiend and a sponsee. I will no doubt be told how horrible I am and how horrible my Church is because we are not jumping on the bandwagon of what is politically correct.
I do believe, however, that if I had not spoke up I would have been committing a sin. I would have been falling down on my part of the deal. To be Catholic means I stand on the shoulders of giants - people who were willing to die to protect The Truth from being torn asunder or taught incoherently and incorrectly and I cannot do that today.
So pray for me, people. It has started out to be an interesting day. I think it will continue to be just that and I am so grateful that God has given me the opportunity to be more than I think I can be, one day at a time.
Today is one of those mornings.
My God has such a sense of humor. He continually hands me opportunities to either put my money where my mouth is (something tough to do as a Genovese) or see myself as I was 20 or 30 years ago.
This morning, before the lights were turned on in my room, I had the opportunity to do both and, believe it or not, it made me a very grateful woman.
I have someone in my life who is convinced of their own inherent worthlessness. Not surprising when you consider how they were raised and the theology that permeated their life, even if it was not articulated. As a child of John Calvin, there is a kind of self-hatred that tells people they are kind of icky, kind of yucky - the entire double predestination thing that basically says, "You are saved when you say you are saved but only some of you are going to heaven anyway".
When I was out in the world, living like a pagan, I was convinced that no one would ever like me if they got to know me. That has been bolstered over the years by my being rejected outright by people who love me if I can give them stuff, or have money or whatever, and because I have made some really stupid choices. My choices are always made in the name of personal freedom, or because of the way I FEEL, but most of the time my choices went against God and went against morality or natural law at is most fundamental level. I killed my own children. I am sorry but no one can ever say that is a good thing to do - it is not. Then, when I lost the child that was meant to save my soul, my reaction was to conclude that Jesus hated me, His mother had rejected me and The Church would NEVER welcome me back.
When I started reading the Catechism as a way to decide whether or not I should continue to be a Catholic, I found this:
364 The human body shares in the dignity of "the image of God": it is a human body precisely because it is animated by a spiritual soul, and it is the whole human person that is intended to become, in the body of Christ, a temple of the Spirit:
- Man, though made of body and soul, is a unity. Through his very bodily condition he sums up in himself the elements of the material world. Through him they are thus brought to their highest perfection and can raise their voice in praise freely given to the Creator. For this reason man may not despise his bodily life. Rather he is obliged to regard his body as good and to hold it in honor since God has created it and will raise it up on the last day.
As I read through the document, and expanded my learning by reading through the lives of many of the saints as well as the Church documents written over 2000 plus years, I came to see that what Jesus taught is that I am actually inherently wonderful, meant for perfection but scarred by concupiscence and that if I make the decision, willfully and intentionally, to walk towards God every day He will give me the strength to resist the temptations I will encounter. The temptation to live an unchaste life, disguised as loneliness. The temptation to rely only upon myself disguised as hard work and independence. The temptation to be unforgiving of others and myself disguised, very cleverly , as either fear or justifiable righteous anger.
Comforting another by letting them know that they are not as bad as they think they are allows me to remember what that is like - to really be so frightened of letting anyone get close because if they do they are going to start to gag at the smell that is the dung heap of me.
However, I am more than just a Catholic in the pew - I am a Dominican. My life is lived by Veritas. So when I saw someone post about homosexuality, claiming as they did to be Catholic, and completely misrepresent Catholic teaching, I had to correct them. They cannot post on FB that Catholics teach that homosexuals themselves are intrinsically evil. We do not. That is not true.
Here is what The Church teaches:
2357 Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity,141 tradition has always declared that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered."142 They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.
2358 The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God's will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.
2359 Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.
Now, please - let me know where it states we teach that any person intrinsically evil?
We do NOT.
Because, however, I had to be Catholic Out Loud, I will be (of course) vilified on FB. I will probably lose a fiend and a sponsee. I will no doubt be told how horrible I am and how horrible my Church is because we are not jumping on the bandwagon of what is politically correct.
I do believe, however, that if I had not spoke up I would have been committing a sin. I would have been falling down on my part of the deal. To be Catholic means I stand on the shoulders of giants - people who were willing to die to protect The Truth from being torn asunder or taught incoherently and incorrectly and I cannot do that today.
So pray for me, people. It has started out to be an interesting day. I think it will continue to be just that and I am so grateful that God has given me the opportunity to be more than I think I can be, one day at a time.
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