Something which has not drawn a lot of discussion that I have noticed is the last two letters of the LGBT quadrangle. In demanding equal rights, and equal ability to serve, activists throw around 'LGBT' like an indivisible unit. Certainly it is not. In case you do not know, dear Reader, LGBT stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered. Imagine an equal reception, equal ministry for these.
How can we welcome an actively Bisexual priest? Even the most liberal Dioceses have problems with sexually active single, straight priests, ....so, ....openly Bisexual? And active? Doesn't this go against the theology we claim is expressed in committed relationships? Or perhaps we will only accept bisexuals in committed relationships, - certainly discrimination against the single.
And then there are the transgendered. People so ill-at-ease with their born sex that they choose surgical and chemical means to alter themselves. Are these persons of confused and confusing sexuality also fertile ground for the Priesthood? Or are their own issues likely to swamp any call they might receive?
Perhaps they are not AS fertile ground for ministry. Perhaps not. But perhaps we need to be open to them, too.
Some seed will fall on barren ground, some on rock, but some will fall on good earth, and bring forth. -some ten, some twenty, and some a hundred.
May it not be that my church steals away the seed that would have borne fruit.
Peace,
TWS
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I don't know if you have seen it, but Some Issues in Human Sexuality published a couple of years ago by Church House Publishing has chapters on bisexuality, transsexuality and more. It's one of the few recent books I've seen that have addressed the subjects.
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