Smelling Like the Flock

Behind the Collar Series #36

When other queer people first learned I was seeking ordination as a priest, I got a lot of questions, several angry diatribes about the Church’s hypocrisy, but most of all, poignant stories of disillusionment and heartbreak. What struck me, in particular, were the gay men I met in bars and at social gatherings who lamented the paucity of clergy who were like them. Some gay men would tell me how relatable I was and how, if I had a parish, they would come and worship there. Others would express regret that they had felt compelled to give up, not only going to church, but their faith in God entirely. “I wish I would’ve met you sooner,” I’d invariably say, “because I think I might’ve been able to help you find a way forward with your faith.”

Having been called to ordination out of the LGBTQIA+ community, I wanted to do right by it and respond to its feelings of rejection, stigmatization and trauma. It was important for me to show queer people that ordination wouldn’t require me to compromise my gay identity and integrity to be accepted by the Church.