ArchivesTag : reject
Clerical scandal, clerical isolation
A fresh clerical scandal and the disgrace of a Canadian bishop re-opens the question: is the old vocational model broken? The model in which priests are set apart in radical lives of service – and isolation? Isolation offers fertile ground for all kinds of dysfunctions. In my experience, God calls us out of isolation, not into it.
Full StoryExperience contradicts church teaching
…My early attempts to live in accordance with official teaching on sex led me away from the church and into an entirely inappropriate and destructive marriage; ignoring official teaching has led back in, and into a deeper interaction with spirituality, theology, and church history than I would ever have dreamed possible for me.
Full StoryOf Pearls and Swine
For years I’ve been fascinated and perplexed by the story of the demoniac and the herd of pigs – both of which are unclean, according to the Law, since the demoniac is a pagan who lives among the tombs and pigs are – well – pigs. Jesus restores the demoniac to life and sound mind, while the pigs stampede into the sea.
Maybe it’s my experience as a gay man that resonates obscurely through that story. Despite all the pious cant about “loving the sinner but not the sin”, we’re considered unclean by the mainstream church, by which I mean an awful lot of very well-meaning, nice, polite people.
