Quote of the Day

The idea that some random people are debating my life and my love now seems strange and insulting. . . . I am done with the debate on homosexuality and same-sex marriage. It has reached the tipping point.

The same week as the Catholic Church walked back even a modest welcome for gays and lesbians, a poll from Pew came out saying that over 85 percent of young American Catholics accept gay people, and 75 percent of them support gay marriage. Couple that with a survey done on millennials, a third of whom said they had left their religion because of the negative treatment of gays and lesbians. The conversations at Hillsong and the [Catholic bishops' recent] Synod [on the Family] seem more and more divorced from the reality of gay people, who are their family, friends and neighbors.

Many people who closely watched the Synod felt that within all the back and forth there were good signs for the future for gays and lesbians in the Catholic Church. And probably, there is a silver lining in the Hillsong story as well. I wish them well as they work their way through the "issue" of homosexuality. But I will no longer hope for their approval. I know I was beautifully made by God and that my relationship with Brad is blessed. They can call me when the debates are over and they can (finally) see that as well.

– Paul Brandeis Raushenbush

Excerpted from "Debating My Gay Marriage? Don't Do Me Any Favors"
The Huffington Post
October 20, 2014

Related Off-site Links:
We Don't Need Vatican Affirmation, Says Gay Catholic Congregation – Ines Novacic (CBS News, October 20, 2014).
Pope Francis Wins a Battle to Welcome Gays in the Church – Barbie Latza Nadeau (The Daily Beast, October 20, 2014).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• LGBT Catholics Respond to Synod 2014's Final Report
• On the Feast of Sts. Sergius and Bacchus, Thoughts on Marriage Equality in the U.S. and the Vatican's Synod on the Family
• LGBT Catholics Celebrate Being "Wonderfully Made"
• Catholics Make Their Voices Heard on LGBTQ Issues
• Compassion, Christian Community, and Homosexuality
• Trusting God's Generous Invitation
• Celebrating Our Sanctifying Truth
• The Gifts of Homosexuality
• Same-Sex Desires: "Immanent and Essential Traits Transcending Time and Culture"

Image: Paul Brandeis Raushenbush (left) and his partner Brad.