An Itch Impossible to Ignore

Today’s post is from guest contributor Ruby Almeida, who is involved with advocacy for LGBTQIA Catholics around the world for the past two decades, including as chair of LGBT+ Catholics Westminster and leadership in Quest, Bridge and Embrace India, and the Global Network of Rainbow Catholics. She also helps manage a programme for people wishing to return to their Catholic faith practice. 

In today’s gospel reading, Jesus entreats each and everyone of us to, “Remain in me, as I remain in you.” This yearning has been expressed by many marginalised and estranged people whom I have come across over my several decades of ministry in the LGBTQIA faith community. It is a kind of itch that is impossible to ignore.

I have seen grown adults in tears when they have talked about their faith journey; that outpouring of emotion which has been bottled up for so long is a cathartic and liberating experience for them. To see them grow in self-belief, knowing that they are loved and that they are valued members of the faith community, all of this creates space and opportunity for them to grow closer to Jesus. They are able to become a the branch that bears much fruit in their discipleship with Christ, the vine, to use another of today’s gospel images.

So, it pains me greatly that those who claim to be “good Christians” can dare to be so judgmental. These “good Christians” often find the most unchristian ways to marginalise and ostracise members of our LGBTQIA community by focusing on a feature of identity, not the human being, the person created by God. When Pope Francis was consoling a gay man who felt that the Church condemned him because of his sexuality, the pope said that we need to see the person as a “noun and not as an adjective.” Needless to say, that gay man broke down in tears when he heard those words of affirmation.

I am acutely aware of the challenges and disparities that we face in society and within our Church community when trying to live out our authentic and holistic lives. The scenarios of hostility, dissension, and hurt meted out from a significant few is enough to destroy the notion that we are all God’s children. Perhaps in these scenarios, we start to believe that we are unworthy of a place at the table, or even love.

For some time, I have aided ministries to help welcome estranged people back to the church: the Landings programme, for the past decade and, more recently, the Rites of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA). The Landings programme is about compassionate listening for those baptised Catholics who have become distanced from their faith, those withering on the vine as today’s gospel mentions. In almost every programme that we have run, there has always been at least one person from the LGBTQIA community with a desire to reconnect with their faith. Their stories are just as powerful as those who are not from the community. They all share a common experience of being marginalised and judged, of feeling unworthy of God’s love. This marginalisation is not God’s plan, but rather it is what we do to our fellow human beings. Once the programme is over, the participants discover the absolute joy of being part of a faith community where they are accepted, loved, and respected for who they are.

This move from unchristian judgmentalism to Christian welcome was visible at Mass last Sunday. A homeless person had found refuge in a pew at the back of the church, and throughout the Mass, they slept a much-needed sleep while seated upright. No one in the church tried to evict the person or shame them. As Mass ended, they stretched out and slept a deep sleep. No judgement. Just welcome and love.

The Church—our Church, we are the Church, the vine upon which our branches grow—needs to be nurtured and sustained by the loving compassion of Christ’s words, deeds, and actions. Our Church can never be a place that gives status for the man-made views,  judgments, and condemnations of the few. The marginalised, the outsiders, the outcasts are who Christ chose to side with and to be among. So, we must stay to fight the good fight. The fight for the love, compassion, and dignity that each and every human being deserves.

—Ruby Almeida, April 28, 2024