Faith Blog

Stan “JR” Zerkowski

When Jesus was asked, “Who is my neighbor?” he told the story of the Good Samaritan. Most of us know it well: the Good Samaritan cared for a man left for dead by the side of the road after a priest and Levite passed him by. Jesus’s message was clear: “You must love your neighbor,” even if they look, act, and believe differently than you. Then he said, “go and do likewise.”

My national ministry through Fortunate Families and local LGBT Ministry in the Diocese of Lexington, Kentucky, has sensitized me to Catholic LGBTQ+ siblings who are looking for someone to see them as a neighbor, stop, and tend to their spiritual wounds. Tragically, many have already died on the side of the road because we as individuals and the church have failed to be a neighbor to them.

Rev. Julie Peepleson

She sat in my office, nervously sharing a story that was both unique and familiar. She
recounted the name-calling, the judgmental looks, the shunning she had endured. But for this
young woman, the bully was not a schoolmate or family member. The bully was her church.
From the pulpit, in Sunday School classes, in youth group gatherings the message was loud
and clear: if she was gay, she was a sinner, an abomination, not welcome. “Why does God hate
me?” she asked me through tears that day as we met.

Rabbi Eric M. Solomon

“Love your neighbor as yourself” is such a beautiful verse. Concise and sweet. It sounds like something Mr. Rogers would say.

That is, until the rubber hits the road.

By Rev. Kim Priddy

I was sitting at a coffee shop with the church women’s director. I explained to her that at the age of 35, I felt called to become a minister. While I had heard this calling since high school, the volume had grown louder with each season of my life. I grew up in the Methodist tradition which acknowledged women clergy; however, there were few for me to imitate.

By Rev. Susan Smith

What else can be said about the immorality of bullying LGBTQ youth that has not already been said before? Bullying anyone for any reason is blatantly wrong in a just society that declares all people have the inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  Even so, some people feel justified in bullying LGBTQ youth because of religion-based bigotry or ignorance. People fear things they don’t understand. As a result, LGBTQ youth experience persecution in school, church, and the community from those who are afraid of people who are different.

By Rodney S. Sadler, Jr.

The encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman is a narrative that speaks well to so many contemporary concerns. It is a powerful story that speaks of the spiritual quality of God, the dislocation of worship from particular buildings and places, even the willingness of Jesus to expand his sphere of influence beyond the Jewish community as the Gospel is presented to the hated enemy, the Samaritans. But for this moment I want to raise a different concern.