From Deb Price's syndicated column (via the Washington Blade):
A groundbreaking report by Fortunate Families, based on its survey of 229 Catholic parents with gay children, concludes: "Parents love their (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) children, and they love their church. But they do not see their love, or God's unconditional love, reflected in how the institutional church relates to their LGBT sons and daughters." (Go to: fortunatefamilies.com.)
Catholic parents now learning their child is gay report higher initial levels of comfort than parents who learned five or more years ago. And Catholic parents who know another parent with a gay son or daughter are "significantly more comfortable" with their child's orientation than are isolated parents.
The parents are far more likely to call gay-friendly P-FLAG, New Ways Ministry and Fortunate Families "very helpful" than to say that about their parishes.
One mom with a gay son lamented, "I do not feel the Catholic Church offers any support with our children. I remain a Catholic only because of the Mass and the Eucharist."
At the recent PFLAG national convention, I had the opportunity to chat with the co-founders of Fortunate Families, Casey and Mary Ellen Lopata from Rochester, NY. Mary Ellen wrote a book titled "Fortunate Families," which their organization was spun off from. In the book, she write about their family's nine-year struggle to reconcile their son's gayness with their church.
From the same perspective I've asked the question here how someone could be gay and republican, I asked them how they could have a gay child and still be Catholic. The answer did not come easily, but it was very similar to the mom quoted above. They love their church, they love their son, and instead of losing their relationship with either one, they decided to work toward bringing them together.
The Lopatas also stressed how helpful they found it when they realized they weren't the only family in the church with a gay child. Not feeling isolated was an important step toward accepting their new reality when their son came out to them. That led them to start Fortunate Families and help other Catholic families avoid that type of isolation.
God bless them for their efforts, and I hope they bear fruit.
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Being gay and Republican is not easy, but even harder these days since the Religious Right has hijacked the GOP, it's hard to believe the GOP use to actually stand for things that mattered.
ReplyDeleteFaith and Sexuality, is often very difficult, because the Church often makes it seem as if you can't have both.
It's good to see there are support groups out there for people struggling with this issue.