Are gays part of the Catholic family? A question for the synod....

There's a big  Roman Catholic synod on the family in Rome, which has ranged from a married couple  discussing the need to include gay children, to a Cardinal saying that teaching boys to clean up after themselves , rather than wait for girls to do it, confuses them as to their appropriate gender role.

At the same time, independent of Synod, out gay priest Fr James Alison is there at a conference, and speaking about LBGT people in Catholicism.  And he has quite a lot to say.

What we have .... is the somewhat amazing realisation that, exactly in the degree to which it has become clear that we are simply the bearers of a not particularly remarkable non-pathological minority variant in the human condition, in that moment, as we find ourselves seeking the Lord, we are found to be bearers of Catholicity on terms of equality with everyone else. .... 

And that all our understanding of good and bad, insider and outsider is going to change because of this. The process is obviously much more painful and difficult, at least initially, for those who had a strong stake in promoting a form of public goodness in which we were bit-players, as necessary examples of what was wrong. And much more joyful for those of us who are finding that after all we have been telling the truth. It is not the case, as we were so often told, that we are simply being particularly self-indulgent, or that our love is harmful to others, or that we are crazy to think that we are normal, or that we have been misled by hedonism and relativism into purely subjective, unrealistic desires that are part of some dehumanising trap.

....No, truthfulness does not wait for the convenience of those wedded to untruth before peeking out. It breaks out, as if from captivity, bearing witness to the One who sent it to run wild among us, and takes us on a giddy, and ultimately joyful ride. The Spirit does bring the peace that comes with truth, but not by following the schedule of those whose fear would hold it back.  

Go read the whole thing!