FOR RELEASE
August 17, 2013
Jesuit Video Series about Gay Catholics Hits Raw Story’s Nerve
Running time: 3 minutes, 36 seconds.
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“A GAY IDENTITY CAN INSPIRE AND DEEPEN A CHRISTIAN FAITH,” author John Paul Godges told the Ignatian News Network in its new video series on gay Catholics. The quote took on a life of its own, making the headline of a news item about the series in The Raw Story, a progressive news site that reaches five million viewers per month.
“My Christian faith has been a source of strength in my spiritual journey throughout my life as a gay man,” Godges told the Ignatian News Network. “My experience as a gay man has been a source of strength in my Christian journey.”
Ignatian News Network is affiliated with Loyola Productions, a Jesuit-sponsored film production company based in Los Angeles. The network’s series on gay Catholics is called “Who Are We to Judge?”—a reference to a comment made last month by Pope Francis, the Catholic Church’s first-ever Jesuit pope.
“I often tell people that being Catholic is a lot like being American,” Godges said in the video. “And just because some politician prosecutes a misbegotten war, I’m not going to renounce my citizenship and flee to Canada. I’m going to stay and fight and communicate and converse and speak at retreats and do whatever I can to promote the best that’s in the Catholic Church. I’m going to hang onto that. I’m not going to let anyone take that away from me.”
The author of Oh, Beautiful: An American Family in the 20th Century, Godges referred to himself in the video as “a Vatican II baby,” while a photo of him at the age of five filled the screen. “I was raised by some very inspiring nuns. We were reared with the core teaching that we are all created in the image of God.”
Click here to read the article in The Raw Story:
Gay Catholics Reconcile Religious Identity with Sexual Orientation
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