A Long Life in the Land: For Nex Benedict
Nex Benedict, we say your name. We honor your memory. We will never stop fighting for the long life you deserved.
Allison Connelly-Vetter (she/her) earned a Master of Divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary with a concentration in disability theology. She currently serves as the Interim Director for Children, Youth, & Family Ministries at a large congregation in Minneapolis, MN. She is on the Executive Team of the United Church of Christ Disabilities Ministries Board and is the Board Secretary for Benincasa Community. Allison's writing can be found in US Catholic, the Canadian Journal of Theology, Mental Health, and Disability, and Catholic Women Preach: Raising Voices, Renewing the Church Cycle B (Orbis Books, 2023).
Nex Benedict, we say your name. We honor your memory. We will never stop fighting for the long life you deserved.
Today, the last Sunday of the liturgical year, is designated as the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. This title rubs me the wrong way, as it often has.
If the Ascension isn’t “absurdity” and “exaggeration” I don’t know what it is! Jesus is talking to his disciples, then suddenly raised up physically above them, then hidden behind a cloud, and then two strangers show up out of nowhere and start lecturing his friends? I’ve seen drag shows with less drama.
This Advent, when faced with so much anti-LGBTQ+ violence and loss, I’m staking everything on the belief that another world is possible.
The phrase that comes to mind for me when I read this story is “shady solidarity.”
“Will you do it for their sake? Will you minister to these people, these queer and trans people, these abortion patients and providers, these parents and children who are now and who are yet to be, these created beings threatened by climate catastrophe? Will you do it for them?”
A third definition of “prodigal” in the dictionary surprised me: “yielding abundantly: LUXURIANT.” With this definition, my understanding of the parable of the Prodigal Son shifted.
If my sexuality brings me so much meaning and connection, how could it be my “cross”?
When I was in the earliest stages of coming out and was sorting through my feelings about my sexuality, I felt as though there was a stormy ocean inside my mind, heart, and body.
“What then is my role in living a moral life as an LGBTQ Catholic? How am I called to announce God’s justice?”
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