Good evening from in front of the Blessed Sacrament.

For those of you who read my blog yesterday you’ll recall that I got called a ‘fucking faggot’ right after mass by this homeless guy. For those of you who didn’t read my blog yesterday, well after mass a homeless guy called me a ‘fucking faggot’!

With that out of the way I then reflected on the responses I got from my readers!

I got a number of supportive messages from my gay church friends who experience the same thing. Thanks guys!

From gay non-church friends there was no real response and from non-gay church friends there was no real response either except one negative one.

Over the years I’ve learnt that silence speaks volumes and I must admit I was sad at the general indifference even if I’m used to it.

The one negative reaction from a very prayerful lady is worth exploring. Perhaps others share her opinion but just don’t have the courage of their convictions to actually tell me!

In summary she said that it was pretty much my own fault. If I wasn’t so public about being gay then it wouldn’t happen and so I should be more discreet.

While coming from a good heart I was somewhat sickened and saddened at this attitude which I’ve heard many times before and often from priests.

Jesus is calling me to be a light of hope and truth for the gay community who have been terribly mistreated by the church and instead of addressing the problems at the root and supporting me, many pious and well-meaning Catholics advise me to be quiet and go against what Jesus is asking of me!

For centuries gay people have been abused, silenced and mistreated in both the church and the world. The solution isn’t to silence the gays, the solution is to silence and educate the straights.

The church is not God and is not without error in what she teaches. And as she proudly claims to be the ‘spouse of christ’ then one would also expect her to espouse the humility of Christ who gave His life for mercy, truth and justice.

It is not humility to be silent and not to speak out against injustice. This type of silence is evil and sadly our catholic church is rife with this evil.

In the name of humility and preserving the image of the holy Catholic Church how many people who were abused in all sorts of ways (the sexual abuse scandals being just one) were silenced and shamed and the abuse went on.

“Spouse of Christ” or not, the church too must be held accountable to God less she prostitutes herself with the devil which she has done on many occasions.

And so in summary, let’s get off the fence when it comes to abuse and ungodly behaviour in the church. Jesus is calling all of us to be His agents of prayer, transformation and cleansing so that one day our church will shine again and be full of young people of every sort who will discover love, acceptance, belonging and most importantly Jesus.

Thanks for reading and I pray that anyone who goes to church and thinks that it is ok to call someone like me a “fucking faggot” in the church building itself will have a good look in the mirror and ask themselves if that’s how Jesus would behave.

Bless

Michael