In my own case,people may say I'm "gay",as a way of labeling me simply because I may have a spirit of rejection among males and females;a lot of times people like me may have traits either good or bad people don't want to deal with,and simply dismiss it by saying,"He's gay!"
It's hard when people simply put "labels" on us just because we're not the same as they are or there are some things that's hard for them to understand.
Great article, but I disagree on one thing: You say, "Many LGBTQ people are lost not because they hate to live chaste lives. They are lost because they don’t know the place they can occupy within the Catholic Church. This is almost the same as the experience of so many lay single people. Single people are neither married nor religious and feel lost for their roles within the Church. Many times, it almost seems like they’re invisible, unheard and unappreciated."
I'm divorced (before I became a Catholic) and am a single woman now. I know the feeling of being "invisible, unheard and unappreciated," but over time I also learned that it is self-made. There are any number of ways you can make yourself useful to the Church and your fellow Catholics/humans. Ministries like bereavement groups setting up funeral luncheons, feeding and sheltering the homeless and poor, the church choir, organizing a coffee hour after Mass, or even starting your own little ministry. If they start attending Daily Mass, they'll meet a small group of "hardcore Catholics" who are quite welcoming when they meet one of their own.
The incredible freedom that LGBTQ people gain from living a chaste life is that for the first time in their life, they don't have to define themselves by their sexual preferences anymore. If you're not having sex, what does it matter whether you're hetero- or homosexual? If you're abstaining from fornication, why even think of yourself in a sexualized way? Therein lies great healing and great humanity... and that's how they will find their place in the Church.
I agree with you, we have so many things to do and to offer to the people around us. I just hope the Church can also support the people and recognize their unique and valuable gift to humanity.
In my own case,people may say I'm "gay",as a way of labeling me simply because I may have a spirit of rejection among males and females;a lot of times people like me may have traits either good or bad people don't want to deal with,and simply dismiss it by saying,"He's gay!"
It's hard when people simply put "labels" on us just because we're not the same as they are or there are some things that's hard for them to understand.
Great article, but I disagree on one thing: You say, "Many LGBTQ people are lost not because they hate to live chaste lives. They are lost because they don’t know the place they can occupy within the Catholic Church. This is almost the same as the experience of so many lay single people. Single people are neither married nor religious and feel lost for their roles within the Church. Many times, it almost seems like they’re invisible, unheard and unappreciated."
I'm divorced (before I became a Catholic) and am a single woman now. I know the feeling of being "invisible, unheard and unappreciated," but over time I also learned that it is self-made. There are any number of ways you can make yourself useful to the Church and your fellow Catholics/humans. Ministries like bereavement groups setting up funeral luncheons, feeding and sheltering the homeless and poor, the church choir, organizing a coffee hour after Mass, or even starting your own little ministry. If they start attending Daily Mass, they'll meet a small group of "hardcore Catholics" who are quite welcoming when they meet one of their own.
The incredible freedom that LGBTQ people gain from living a chaste life is that for the first time in their life, they don't have to define themselves by their sexual preferences anymore. If you're not having sex, what does it matter whether you're hetero- or homosexual? If you're abstaining from fornication, why even think of yourself in a sexualized way? Therein lies great healing and great humanity... and that's how they will find their place in the Church.
I agree with you, we have so many things to do and to offer to the people around us. I just hope the Church can also support the people and recognize their unique and valuable gift to humanity.