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DignityUSA
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RETURN TO > HISTORIC DOCUMENTS > ARCHIVES > WHAT IS DIGNITY? > HOME
Pilgrims and Prophets:
Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered Persons
Baptized and Anointed
We allowed ourselves the luxury in tonight's special liturgy to proclaim a large portion of the gospel narrative from Luke 3 & 4. This narrative starting with Jesus' baptism through his proclamation of Isaiah in his hometown, to his beginning ministry parallels many of our own life's experiences as gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgendered people.
We proclaim this gospel as diverse, gifted men & women; we begin to meditate deeply on this gospel to shape our lives in service of others; and we use this gospel to inspire us with the Spirit of Jesus to give us the words to share with our bishops who are meeting this week in our city—this gospel has meaning for us at this moment in history and this place in the world.
Many of us started our lives praised as full of grace, natural and divine. We were often recognized as gifted. Our families couldn't find the word to describe what we ourselves later might call "gay" or "lesbian." They used words such as "special," "different," "smart," "good," "sensitive," "caring," "loving," "perceptive," "wise before our years."
Many of us were baptized as children and in this ritual were recognized by our parents and our Church as filled with the Spirit of Jesus. Baptized into Christ Jesus, Priest, Prophet and King, meaning that were given the grace to be holy and blameless, to be close to God, to speak in God's name, to have the dignity of God's son or daughter, to expect good care and parenting and leadership, and to take our rightful place at the table of Eucharist and in the work of the Church.
Confusingly though, many of us began to experience neglect and loss, derision, scorn, revilement, hatred, and outright sexual abuse and physical violence, almost in direct proportion as we began to live the truth of our gender identities and sexual desire.
We suffered these abuses at the hands of our parents and Church fathers. These were the same caretakers who welcomed us into the world with delight, who anointed us. As we began to live our truth, and did not or could not conform our desires to their expectations and our expression to their consigned gender roles, we suffered. We also suffered at the hands of strangers, many of whom were formed by this same Church or similar religions in our society.
We set off as pilgrims, often to urban centers. We looked for communities of others like us. Again our Church fathers failed us. We were not given the tools of discernment. We heard many voices in the wilderness. We often did not keep ourselves safe. We sought the solace of inappropriate partners, became addicted, had unprotected sex, became infected. We often were sad and anxious, lonely; sometimes we were abused again. With the voices of our perpetrators in our heads, we became our worst perpetrators, believing the hatred and the shame.
Providentially though, the Spirit of God was upon us, prevailing over all, protecting us, prompting us. We came to our truth, we spoke our truth, we came out, we felt love and encouragement.
To paraphrase the words of Hosea (Chap. 11) "When you were a child,
I loved you, and called my son and my daughter out of danger;
I taught you how to walk; I healed you; I led you with human kindness;
I lifted your burdens, and fed you."
And in the words St. Paul in Romans 8: "You did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of childhood in God. To God we cry, •Abba.' The spirit testifies that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs…."Paul continues in the same chapter: "The Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And God who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will."
Our redemption came from God Himself/Herself. We discovered that there is a distinction between spirituality and religion.
Eventually, those of us who belong to Dignity came back to the Church in this community. This community, appropriately called Dignity, returned us to our graced being. Our baptism gift was recognized and realized. The Spirit of God brought us healing and freedom.
There are some of our Catholic brothers and sisters with whom we grew up, who are not with us in the Church tonight. Some of them have been killed, by the hatred and violence of others or by their own hands. Some of them are lost in self-hatred and loneliness and addictions. Many of our other Catholic brothers and sisters have found other paths to wholeness and redemption, ways to incorporate their sexuality into their spirituality.
Our Church fathers also have failed these sons and daughters of the God, of the Church.
As we found our way, to God, to the Church, to community, to being whole and holy, we fortunately found pastoral priests and religious and other ministers and role models, living saints, and we prayed to and found encouragement in the lives of men and women in our communion of saints who have lived at other times and cultures in this great Church of ours.
The core of our Scripture text tonight is from Isaiah. Jesus echoes the prophet. And we echo Jesus. The gospel at this moment in our history can be proclaimed
The Spirit of God is on us
Because God has anointed us
To preach good news to the outcast
God has sent us to proclaim freedom from the effects of abuse and neglect,
And recovery of our dignity as God's sons and daughters,
To release the victims of repression, sexism and homophobia
To proclaim this time and this people as God's favor.
Tonight this Scripture is fulfilled in our proclamation. Look around at God's love, healing, and gift.
And we can expect the same fate as Jesus for proclaiming this gospel, for owning this truth that the Spirit of God is upon us. Jesus' family and community wanted to push him off the cliff. He was still in his the power of God though; his time had not yet come. We too can expect rejection and even death for proclaiming this gospel. We can expect our families and our Church to not accept us yet again, but this time we believe and are filled with the power of the Spirit of God upon us.
This truth that we have won hard with our lives is dangerous to Church hierarchy. Here's why. What we are saying is the revealed truth of the Church is not true in our experience. God is speaking a different message to us, we who are diverse. To the conservators of our tradition, this is frightening, but it doesn't mean it isn't true. Sadly, prophets and saints are never accepted in their hometowns and in their own times; they become revered as saints after they have been shamed and killed.
We never choose to be prophets. We seek the truth. Prophecy is speaking our truth. Sometimes as we begin, we may fear that we will never have the words to express our personal truth. But the Spirit puts the words in our mouths. Other times we are impelled—we cannot but speak. Once in a while a moment in history comes, an invitation, and in that moment we continue to speak our truth that we have found and believe. This is deemed courage, when in fact it is only truth. The community is important in this process.
We seek unity and spiritual direction from the community, which safeguards against egotism calling itself prophecy. Our truth is thus tested and tried and found true.
I remind us all that prophecy in the biblical sense in not fortune-telling; prophecy is a call back to God. Prophecy can sound like fortune-telling when one warns of danger.
We can expect nothing but disaster if we do not stay close to God.
Our nation's bishops have come together this week to discuss refugees and migrants—bringing all of God's children to the table—and to discuss the gift of life in the unborn and the issue of sexual abuse in our Church.
So a few words of prophecy from this community to our bishops:
What about us as the sons and daughters of God and the Church? What about our refugee status? What about the healing we need as survivors? What about respecting our life? What about our place at the table?
Where in this gospel are any anointed to proclaim the binding up of persons as evil or disordered? Where to preach holding captive with hatred and blame, violence and abuse? Where to empower perpetrators and not take responsibility for our actions? Where to exclude any from community and ministry?
There is irony in the gospel writer's inclusion of the exorcism in the synagogue after Jesus was present in Nazareth. Evil was in the house of God among religious people.
We are called to cast out evil. Knowing the truth and naming truth is the first step in its exorcism.
The first evil that must be named in our Church is the suppression of all sexuality.
The larger context of the sexual abuse crisis is the Church's suppression of all sexual expression outside pro-creative acts within sacramental marriage. The Church is called upon to update its theology on sexuality in general: on marriage, on homosexuality, on women, on celibacy, on pre-marital sex, on masturbation. The truths of theology must be balanced with the truths of healthy, integrated psychology. This theology of sexuality has helped form the psychological immaturity of its clergy perpetrators.
The second evil that must be named is the misuse of power. Clergy have misused their power when they have engaged in sexual relationships with adult members of their congregations. Bishops have misused their power even with their best intentions of compassion and forgiveness. They have not been seekers of their own truth; they have been slow to understand the dynamics of perpetration and victimization; they have not taken responsibility for their actions; they have not been open in their process of investigation and decision making. They have hidden behind public relations and lawyers to protect their privilege and prestige, which many of them have come to expect as their due.
They too are called to the same radical truth of the gospel and healthy psychology as they face God Himself/Herself as we could not avoid on our pilgrimage toward truth and the love of God.
Every one of us in this Church of ours is called to be Christ, priest, prophet and king, which means to be holy, to be truthful and to use our power appropriately.
We are called to join the company of the saints, integrating our sexuality with our spirituality, every one of us, including gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, heterosexual or questioning, celibate or loving, partnered or looking, priest, bishop, or lay person—every baptized and anointed Catholic Christian.
St. Paul says in Corinthians: "There are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord.
There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons.
But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good." (1 Cor. 12: 4-7).
We who are lesbian and gay are daughters and sons of God. Call us "gifted," "graced," "blessed," "saints." We are visionaries, pilgrims, priests and prophets; teachers and preachers; leaders and pastors; healers and exorcists; lovers and friends; ministers of hospitality, comfort and compassion; peacemakers and seekers of justice; wisdom figures and elders.
Again from St. Paul, "In view of our participation in the gospel from the first day until now….We can be confident of this very thing, that God who began the good work in us will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus." (Phil. 1: 5-6).
Pilgrims and prophets: live and speak in this power that is the Spirit of Christ Jesus, in whom we have been baptized and anointed, and by whom we have been healed and are called to serve.
Stephen McDonnell
Washington, D.C.
November 12, 2002
