His Holiness, Pope
Francis, PP
00120 Via del
Pellegrino
Citta del Vaticano
Dear Pope Francis,
This letter is being
written in response to the recent Synod in Rome. I pray that you
receive it and that is does not fall into a discarded pile of correspondence in
some remote corner of the Vatican.
I don’t believe that
Jesus asked for permission to bring love and tolerance to the world. I do
not believe he waited until the Romans or the Pharisees caught up
with his teachings. I believe he took action, instead, and welcomed
all to his table. For this he was tortured and hung on a cross.
Jesus was an
activist—a fearless voice in the midst of staid minds and misguided
hearts. He stood against the Romans. He did not hesitate.
When is the Catholic
Church going to re-embrace the gospel of Jesus? “Love one another as
your Father in heaven loves you.”
If the Catholic Church
turned its energies and its frustrations toward poverty, inequality, war, greed
and disenfranchisement, instead of whether a loving couple is heterosexual or
gay, perhaps the world would change faster. Move faster toward the
light and away from the darkness.
The recent meeting of
Cardinals in Rome is admirable. It is a step forward. But
it is too little, too late, for those who want only to be loved as they are.
If not now,
when? If not you, Pope Francis, who?
Democratic process is
noble. Being an American, I understand it completely. But
the tortured process of majority rule too often tramples the minority who are
crying from the desert of their hearts to set us free.
A Church that denies
communion to divorced people; who chooses to love the sinner and despise the
sin, as if the two can be separated; and who sees birth control as an evil
tool, does not understand the world in which we live.
Jesus did not found a
church, he exemplified a lifestyle. He welcomed all, loved all,
forgave all, and cherished all. If he were here today, gay people,
transgender people, divorced people, struggling families, and those who make unwise
choices sexually would not be excluded, or even singled out.
We are all prodigal
sons and daughters. Judge not lest you be judged. One
cannot preach love with one breath and then layer that love with
caveats. Love is all or nothing.
The great masses of humanity
are waiting for a new voice. A new heart. A world that
embraces all, so that all can heal.
Can you be that
person? Can you take that step? Those who are not ready
for such courage will perhaps be left behind. Not all followed
Jesus. But those who did, lived, and died, not for him, but for his
heart. His courage. His willingness to lay it all on the
line. To Jesus, death was not too great a price to
pay. It was a short life. But, 2,000 years later
his teachings have not been forgotten, nor the depth of his love
forsaken. Sadly, many of the churches of this world have lost their
way.
I was baptized
Catholic. I no longer practice. I cannot be part of any
organization that says they follow Jesus and yet cast aside half of humanity
because they “judge” them to be unworthy of a place at the Table. Most
heartbreaking of all, you ask those of us on the outside looking in, to
wait. But you see, Holy Father, I cannot wait for acceptance one
second longer. Jesus has already accepted me, and he did it without
a church or a synod. He did it because it is the only way love
works.
In the end, perhaps Jesus did not found a church simply because he knew that, once your formalize love it dissolves in your hands.
