Dignity Canada DignitéRecently Published Books of Interest to LGBT Faithful
Four recently published titles are posted here, which
should be very worthwhile reading for us LGBT believers. During the past two or
three decades, volumes of positive, inspirational and scriptural studies have
been written that are definitely relevant to our spiritual journeys, whether or
not we are regular church goers. Such reading materials, including the three
listed below, are not likely to be available in any Catholic bookstore. These,
plus all the others in my personal collection were discovered in gay bookstores
in various cities I have visited. They are also available from online stores
such as amazon.com. By recommending the books listed here, I am also inviting
others to submit your titles you have found meaningful. At this point in time,
may I suggest not submitting titles of gay novels. The examples listed here
should indicate how to list the titles, etc. with a brief review of each book.
Please submit them to me at my personal e-mail address:
president@dignitycanada.org. On the
website, the books should be listed as follows: title, author, a few chapter
headings or topics the author is attempting to address, then your brief review.
Scott Pomfret is a lawyer who in his spare time writes erotic short stories which have appeared in PlayGuy, Honcho and similar publications, and has also written a half dozen novels such as Hot Sauce and Spare Parts. In Since My Last Confession he reflects on his experiences with the church in which he was raised. We meet personalities with colourful names such as Father Bear-Daddy, Father Kick-Me and Mama Bear. I’d like to give two excerpts from Scott’s book to give you a flavour of his witty style. In the introductory author’s note, he writes: “I am the wrong person to write this book. I’ve met hundreds of Catholics far better suited to the task. They walk old ladies across the street, and visit the sick, and clothe the naked, and bury abandoned babies, and adopt ailing children with birth defects from Cambodian crack houses, and experience rainbow stigmata. Me? Not so much. I am not pretty enough for prime time, a bad godfather, a worse boyfriend, and … a really poor sugar daddy. Worst of all, I am impious, irreverent, and a shade profane. … This is not an attack on the Church. It’s an invitation to laugh.” Visiting Dignity for the first time: “Boston gave me a choice among gay Catholic groups: one was called Dignity and the other was called Courage. While the groups’ differences, theological and otherwise, are legion, they may be fairly summed up as follows: Dignity members get to engage in the sin that cries out to heaven for vengeance; Courage members opt for celibacy. I struggled with this difficult choice for three long milliseconds, then opted for Dignity. … At the exchange of peace, I extended my hand to my immediate neighbor. Dagger glances shot from every corner of the room. Is my fly down? Did I not wash my hands? Do they know I’m not 99 percent good? Someone muscled my offending hand aside, and a series of strangers quickly moved in for full-body contact. The dyke sitting next to me gave me a kiss on the mouth. Everyone in the room had to be hugged – some of them twice. An average friar at the Shrine could have crammed two Masses into the span of time it took the Dignitarians to exchange peace.” Scott attends St. Anthony Shrine, an the inner-city parish in Boston run by Franciscan friars who really mean “All are welcome.” He became a lector and also a member of its GLBT Spirituality Group. The parish is attended by many poor and homeless, as well as neighbourhood GLBT persons. He was certainly aware of the Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger’s 1986 Halloween letter and similar, subsequent letters from J2P2. In Boston during the sexual abuse scandal, which included those in the hierarchy at the highest levels, friends and co-workers challenged him: “How can you support a church that did this?!” “Where is your pope now?!” Life was tough for any Catholic in Boston during this tumultuous time and for a gay Catholic it was especially trying in also being attacked by the Vatican. In this book, Scott Pomfret relates his ways of handling his love-hate struggle with the institution – and the directive of Jesus to love one’s enemies. He maintained his right as a baptized Catholic to remain in the organization despite its spiritual abuses. He also symbolically adopted the new Cardinal Sean O’Malley. Scott’s faith, humour, adaptability and other coping mechanisms served him reasonably well, … until he faced the gay marriage issue in Massachusetts. In 2007, the Cardinal urged Catholics to contact their legislators to support a petition to put to popular vote an amendment to its constitution to ban gay (equal) marriage. 50 votes out of 200 were required in the second constitutional convention, after it passed the first. The Cardinal applied all of the forces at his disposal to convince legislators to vote in support of the petition. For example, the Cardinal personally called all Catholic legislators, he prepared articles for inclusion in church bulletins, and petitions were made available for signing at church entrances. The final vote on June 14, 2007 was: 151-45, with support (against the ban) coming from some surprising sources. Were the actions of the archdiocese on
the political front the last straw for Scott? Did he finally turn walk away
from the abusive organization? Find out in Since My Last Confession – a
worthwhile read.
Submitted by Frank Testin
The
Transcended Christian Submitted by Dennis Benoit
Submitted by Dennis Benoit
Submitted by
Dennis Benoit |
Since My Last Confession: A Gay
Catholic Memoir
The
Man Jesus Loved 
Courage
To Love