The Roman Catholic Church is celebrating the 50th
anniversary of the restoration of the Permanent Diaconate. There are over
17,000 permanent deacons in the United States and over 42,000 worldwide. I have
been proud to be one of them since my ordination in 1992.
After marrying my sweetheart, Wanda, in 1968, and
raising our four children, one of my greatest blessings in life was finding and
joining Our Lady of Mount Carmel parish. At a time in 1984 when I was
disheartened by events around the world, and even within the Catholic Church, I
found this warm and inclusive parish.
Each Carmelite priest, Franciscan sister and Sister
of Saint Joseph I’ve met here has been a living example of God’s love. And you,
the members of our parish community, have consistently reflected the face of
Christ.
Over the years there have been many special moments
when I was filled with gratitude for being here at Mount Carmel. One of those
was the moment I walked into the narthex, the vestibule - as we used to call it
back in the Bronx, and read for the first time the plaque that holds our
welcome statement:
“No matter who you
are, no matter what you’ve done, no matter where you’re from, no matter where
you’re going, no matter how good or bad things seem, you are always welcome.”
The message on that wall is clear: We are all children
of God; we are all brothers and sisters. Everyone is welcome. There are no
exceptions.
But sadly, not every Catholic has heard that
message; not every Catholic has felt welcome in every Catholic Church. I have
friends who are gay or lesbian, and friends who have children who are gay or
lesbian or transgender who have felt unwelcome; who have been hurt; who have
been made to feel unworthy of God’s love.
The idea that anyone is ‘unwelcome’ or ‘unworthy’
because of who they are, is contrary to the Jesus we know in the gospel. In his day the
people of Samaria, the Samaritans, were despised and avoided as unclean by the
majority of the Jewish people. Yet Jesus not only sits down and chats with a
Samaritan woman, and reveals his divinity to her, but he makes the hero of one
of his best-known parables a Samaritan.
In another gospel, Jesus encounters a Roman
centurion, a pagan, someone completely outside of his religion. Jesus speaks
with him, heals his servant, and praises his faith. No strings, no conditions.
And how about Zaccheus, the despised tax collector
who climbed out on a tree limb to see Jesus without being seen by the
townspeople? Jesus not only recognized and acknowledged his goodness in front
of those same townspeople, but he went to his home and broke bread with him. No
strings, no conditions.
So for Jesus, there is no “us” and no “them.” There
is only “us”.
The gratitude and pride I felt in reading that welcome
plaque in our narthex has been intensified in recent years by the outreach and
example of our Church leaders. Pope Francis and our local archbishop, Cardinal
Joseph Tobin, are among many of our pastoral leaders welcoming, embracing and
respecting all God’s children, whoever and wherever they may be. They have been
reaching out with loving inclusiveness to our brothers and sisters in the LGBT
community. And they are role models for us to do likewise.
Here are some examples:
(from the New York
Times 6/13/17)
On May 21 Cardinal
Tobin personally welcomed over 100 gay, lesbian and transgender Catholics and
their families, from the five dioceses of New Jersey and surrounding areas, to
a pilgrimage Mass at Sacred Heart Cathedral Basilica in Newark. They were
seated on folding chairs in the sanctuary in front of the altar. “I am Joseph,
your brother,” he told them. “I am your brother as a disciple of Jesus. I am
your brother as a sinner who finds mercy with the Lord.”
Bishop Manuel
Cruz, rector of the cathedral, and eight priests concelebrated Mass. Bishop
Cruz told the people that the cathedral doors were always open to them “because we are children of God and our
identity is that we all belong to him.”
(from
Time Magazine July 28, 2015)
In 2013, Pope Francis
ushered in a new era of welcoming people who are gay when he asked these two
rhetorical questions: “If someone is gay and searches for the Lord and has
good will, who am I to judge?” and “Tell me, when God looks at a gay
person, does he endorse the existence of this person with love, or reject and
condemn this person?”
(In 2016, Pope Francis wrote these words in his
apostolic exhortation on family life, “Amoris Laetitia” - The Joy of Love)
“ We would like before
all else to reaffirm that every person, regardless of sexual orientation, ought
to be respected in his or her dignity and treated with consideration, while
‘every sign of unjust discrimination‘ is to be carefully avoided.“
(Father James Martin, editor-at-large of the Jesuit
magazine America, was appointed in 2017 by Pope Francis as a
consultant to the Vatican’s Secretariate for Communications. In his 2016 book
“Building A Bridge” Father Martin wrote)
“. . . respecting
L.G.B.T. people means accepting them as beloved children of God. The church has
a special call to proclaim God’s love for a people who are often made to feel
like damaged goods, unworthy of ministry and even subhuman by their families,
neighbors or religious leaders. The church is invited to both proclaim and
demonstrate that L.G.B.T. people are beloved children of God.”
(Father Dan, writing in our parish bulletin, tells
us that)
“both Pope Francis and
Cardinal Tobin have given very clear signals that reaching out to our brothers
and sisters in the LGBT community is the next step we should be taking in the
long and checkered history of our Catholic faith.” He reminds us that: “Our
parish that proclaims as part of our identity and mission the statement that
all are welcome here needs to continually demonstrate it.”
Some might argue that our Holy Father and our
archbishop and other church leaders are too liberal; that they are moving too
quickly, not focusing on or emphasizing the timeless and changeless rules and
regulations of the Church.
Others might say that these gestures are shallow,
condescending and patronizing; too little, too late; that nothing has really
changed in church doctrine; that the LGBT community is welcome only so far.
So, what are we to say?
Sometimes throughout history, and even in our own
lives, there is conflict, there is tension between who we are and the boundaries
of society, and even our Church. But in the final analysis we are called to
follow our conscience and to be true to who we are.
Jesus taught us that to have eternal life we only
have to do two things: love God with our whole heart and love others - all
others - the same way. Everything else is passing.
Life isn’t an either/or
proposition; it’s a both/and reality.
We are called to love and to live within the tension of the both/and as we, and the Church, move
forward in time.
Parish outreach programs to the LGBT community vary
but they have a common thread of welcome, support and the sharing of stories.
As a parish family, let us continue to reach out and welcome all of God’s
children without exception; let us continue to reflect the face of Christ; and
let each of us be a living example of those words on the wall of the narthex:
“No matter who you
are, no matter what you’ve done, no matter where you’re from, no matter where
you’re going, no matter how good or bad things seem, you are always welcome.”
………………………………………………………………………………..
Readers of this blog might enjoy
these books by Deacon Lex. Both are available on Amazon.com:
Just to
Follow My Friend: Experiencing God’s Presence in Everyday Life
The
Gospel of You, The Gospel of Me: Making Christ Present in Everyday Life
Synchronicity
as the Work of the Holy Spirit: Jungian Insights for Spiritual Direction and
Pastoral Ministry
