“As followers of Jesus, we have the authority and responsibility to pursue what is right in the world, to work for justice in light of the harsh reality in which we live, where vast systems of oppression keep our communities disinvested and disempowered. We must be vigilant, for the ‘powers that be’ will challenge us as they strive to keep those systems of domination intact.” (Joanna Arellano-Gonzales, Give Us This Day).
The words of Arellano-Gonzales inspire me today to make sure I am doing my part to bring justice to the world I live in.
I have children and grandchildren in the LGBTQ community. It has been a difficult few months to be a Catholic person, holding in my outstretched hands the tension of the love and care I have for my family in one hand and the faith I grew up with in the other.
I find that “the powers that be” in the church are offering no support to families like mine. I know that God has asked me to care for and love the people he has put in my life. This is my first commission. It is what Jesus would have me do.
The church and I are at odds and I am standing at door, trying to decide if I am welcome to stay or not.
It is not my faith in God that is wavering, but my faith in the institutional church, whose fear of the LGBTQ community is driving them to behave like children, ignorant of the wide scale harm they are causing.
What is a Catholic mother to do?
The Last Lap (and what comes next) 