Stories That Matter: An Inspiring Man of Faith and Love
It was on a drizzly afternoon that Michee and I met RJ. He's a kind looking fellow with a warm smile to match. From the moment we said our hellos, the three of us easily fell into a friendly and fun conversation. We did not know then that RJ was a priest. We learned that fact I think after 2 hours of talking with him. I was surprised, to say the least.
Here was a priest preaching love and acceptance for the LGBTQ community. It’s quite rare to hear such a thing from a religious person let alone a Catholic priest. But there we were talking to one who actually does.
RJ is gay. I know many people are baffled as to how a priest can be gay. But nobody questions how a priest can be straight. RJ just recently came out to his family. He told us that at first he kept denying that he was gay when his family would ask him. But a few months ago, RJ’s dad once again asked him the same question. He didn't want to hide anymore and so while in the car with his dad, he told the truth. He held his breath as he waited for his dad’s reaction. And what his dad said really moved us.
He told RJ not to worry and assured him that more people are now treating gays better than in the past years. His dad added that if someone’s giving him trouble because he’s gay, to let him know and with this the father and son shared a laugh. It’s a simple statement but one that speaks of acceptance and love.
We kept in touch with RJ.
Just a few weeks ago, we read a blog post about him. Sadly, it was a negative attack on him written by a person belonging to the Catholic faith. As expected, some are not happy with RJ’s stance on accepting and loving the LGBTQ people as we are, seeing us as equals - deserving of the same basic human rights everyone else is enjoying - and treating us, the lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgenders and queers with the same respect and kindness as one would automatically bestow to any heterosexual person.
I reached out to RJ to give him my support. Here’s how our conversation went:
It’s funny how even with my lack of faith in a god and RJ being a priest, we can set aside our differences, carry out a really good conversation, stand side by side, have mutual respect for each other and be supportive of one another.
I remember this part I wrote last July (from Sadly We Want to Be Right Rather Than Be Compassionate).
We Can Be Friends
Maybe, just maybe, if we give others as much importance as we give ourselves, things would be a lot better. When each of us start refusing to inflict to the other the very thing that can cause our hearts pain, then perhaps our differences will no longer matter. Maybe we can stand side by side, live in harmony and even become friends.
And yes, RJ and I have become friends.
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