At the Church of St. Francis Xavier Jesuit parish on West 16th Street in Chelsea, all the masses are in English. The church has with a reputation for being left of center.

On the same Wednesday the Vatican announced a new Pope, the church’s pastor, Father Joseph Costantino, asked the organist to stop playing the church’s new Opus 700 Peragallo pipe organ so he could do an interview.

A slight man with silver hair and gray blue eyes, Father Joseph was not wearing the traditional black shirt with white collar but a blue button down shirt, tweed jacket and tie.

Standing on the altar, Costantino points up at the newly restored medallion mural overhead, depicting angels carrying St. Francis Xavier up to heaven. To the side of the alter are two Tiffany stained glass windows, both specially lit to always appear illuminated by the sun. It’s part of the church’s $13 million renovation.

Costantino says people come to the church for its beauty, as well as the Jesuit tradition, which is known for being open to new ideas and not afraid of arguments about them.

“As I often tell people, you have two Jesuits, you’ll get three opinions,” he joked. “Jesuits come in all shapes sizes and theological perspectives.”

And Xavier, the church’s nickname, is open to a range of ministries. There’s a food pantry, a youth group, meetings for gay and lesbian Catholics and even a Zen Meditation Group. There’s also a more active role for women.

Luz Marina Diaz is the director of religious education at the Church St. Francis Xavier. She came to New York from Venezuela 10 years ago to be a professional dancer, but found a vocation in the church. She has a Masters degree and PhD in religious education from Fordham University. At Xavier, she’s more than an administrator. She’ll be preaching at the church’s Good Friday service in two weeks. She’d like to do that more often and that’s where Rome comes in.

“As a woman, I would like a Pope that would accept women to be priests,” Diaz said.

But some people are less concerned with what the Pope says.

“I feel I don’t have to pay attention to Rome,” said Tom Berry, a parishioner there for three years. “I know in my heart what is right.”

Berry grew up going to Catholic school, began playing the organ at his childhood parish in the 5th grade and playing ever since. He searched for a long time to find a church that suited him, and then he found Xavier.

“This is the first parish that addressed my needs. I actually come from New Jersey to go to mass here,” Berry said.

As a gay man, in a church that says homosexuality is a sin, Berry says his faith has been a source of strength. But he also says he knows lots of lapsed Catholics.

“Most people I know,” Berry said. “I even know a priest in the Boston Archdiocese who quit because he said, I can’t take it anymore.”

The “it”, Berry says, is a list of teachings that say people like him are sinners, contraception is wrong, and women can never be priests. But that’s not the core message at Xavier, Berry says, and that’s why he comes here.

Still that can cause controversy. New York Archbishop Cardinal Timothy Dolan ended a long-standing tradition by asking that the church’s gay and lesbian groups not carry the church’s banner when marching in the Annual Gay Pride Parade. The groups no longer carry the church’s banner, but they still march.

And as other churches struggle to fill their pews, Xavier’s congregations has grown by almost 50 percent in the last five years, according to their annual reports.

Some come from far away to attend services, including House Minority Leader, Nancy Pelosi, when she’s in town visiting her daughter. Father Costantino said the church will be packed on Easter Sunday. They’ll put out extra chairs, but expect it to be standing-room only.

While many debate the issue of same-sex marriage as if it is a religious issue, I contend that more than a religious issue, it is a democratic issue.

History has never stayed on the side of oppression and discrimination. Somewhere in the bowels of America, in the foundation upon which this country was built it held that “all men (and women) are created equal with certain inalienable rights.”

Marriage is one of those inalienable rights.

Every religion has their prerogative to discriminate based upon their personal beliefs about who are the children of God and who are not (as many have and do). But this is the very reason why, in the United States, there is a separation between church and state: so religious discrimination cannot find its way into our court rooms, into our legislatures and our executive offices.

Marriage Equality is attempting to cloak itself as a purely religious character. But this is not the case—not when there are certain rights—political, civil and social—that should be afforded to every single freeborn American, regardless to whether they are Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, or Atheist—rights that are democratic and should be afforded to every single American based solely on their citizenship as a contributing member of the republic.

And Yes, LGBTQI persons have made significant contributions to “Our” America. We have fought America’s Wars, provided her labor, gave her music, dance and the arts, kept alive her flickering conscience, preached in her pulpits, defended her constitution, served as senators and representatives in her congress, proved successful business men and women in her labor market, and erected philanthropic and service institutions of social welfare. Throughout its growth, the untiring time, effort and support of persons who identify as LGBTQI have been most significant, without which America would have no history worth writing.

Either the United States will destroy discrimination or discrimination will destroy the United States.

It is not a matter of IF LGBTQI rights will come; it is a matter of WHEN. Proponents of legalized discrimination, triumphant for the present, are fighting both destiny and fate.

Legalized discrimination has never lasted in the United States of America and I predict that it will not last long in this era. This generation of progressive, liberty loving, open minded and intelligent young people will not allow systematic discrimination to win. Justice, humanity and equality shall prevail—it always has and it always will.

It would be a mistake to think that simply because we identify as liberal or progressive that we will not fight.

As Booker T. Washington once said in the fight for civil rights for African Americans, “You should be careful not to assist in lighting a fire which you will have no ability to put out.”

If we must battle, then so be it—if it must intensify, then so be it. We are ready, and have been ready to provide our blood, sweat and tears in service to the declaration of our own humanity. The greatest victories of humanity have never come without a struggle, without casualties, which we have already had far too many; let us be determined that all the losses of life, dignity, respect and profit to the cause of equality, goodness and fairness were not lost in vain.

If some us fall, which history has shown and the future foretells will occur, you can trust that there will be a great many LGBTQI and allied ambassadors of justice running behind to pick up the torch of freedom, for we will not let its flame die on the pavement of injustice, or in the trenches of discrimination, or even in the fields of prejudice.

And we shall call on the name of our God, and think it not blasphemy, to keep our spirits up and our bodies filled with divine energy.

And we will not think it robbery to use every last drop of our heaven endowed gifts in the service of our vision for equality. With heads lifted high, we will thank God for the choir of activists, preachers, congressmen and women, Senators and bold citizens of this great country, few though their voices may be, who have not forgotten the songs of freedom and the melodies of justice; those who have not forgotten that out of one blood God made all flesh to dwell upon the face of the earth and that every contending yell and scream against that vision is a protest against the diversity of God in the world.

But Heaven is on our side!!! It has always been on the side of justice, and always will.

You can have your narrow minded religious thinkers and preachers, and we will meet you with our progressively, open minded theologians and activists. You can present your emotionally charged prejudices and we will return them with unyielding gestures of intelligence, character and strategy.

We are not afraid of your fire and brimstone anymore because we have found the thirst quenching waters of self-acceptance and affirmation: We, too, are the children of God, and we need not defend our heirship to you or anybody else.

What you propose to do under the guise of marriage equality and the denial thereof is not new in the history of America. There have been times before when civilized citizens have sought to adopt a similarly disdainful position in the treatment of its fellow citizens born and bred on this soil.

It’s naked nastiness and outright deplorable dispositions have proven again and again that the consequences to such positions lay pen and ink to our most embarrassing moments of history – shall I remind us of the civil war, reconstruction, women’s suffrage, and the civil rights movement.

How wonderful it is that President Obama now falls into the line of historical leaders of this nation that have sought, without consultation of popularity, economics, or political gain, but by personal conscience, to make this country better by lifting high the country’s proverbial veil, “all men (and women) are created equal with certain inalienable rights.” President Obama recognizes that while civil unions provide some dignity to same gender loving couples, without ALL rights, it is dignity without strength.

To close, I paraphrase what Reverend Reverdy Ransom wrote a few weeks before Christmas regarding civil rights, and I relate it to this current struggle we find ourselves engaged in:

Members of the LGBTQI community will keep those who intend to deny us our rights busy for the next hundred years and throughout the world; we will not give up; we will not back down. The gay singer is coming with his song, the lesbian poet with her dreams, the bisexual sculptor with his conception of some form of beauty and awe, the transgender orators with their burning phrases, and the gender questioning scholar with her truth – in every domain of thought. So, yet another great marathon of justice and equality begins afresh, and this time we are racing for marriage equality, it is the race of the ages, but as the scripture reads and the song echoes, “We will run until we finish!” The fight for Marriage Equality is on its deathbed in America and the only thing uncertain about it is how costly its opponents will make the funeral.

In my work as a faith organizer at Presbyterian Welcome, I am often asked how congregations can be more welcoming of queer people. This question, born of a desire to create safer spaces for queer youth and adults, can never be answered simply. The Church’s history of cavorting with heterosexism is far too complex to be undone with a few easily implemented changes to congregational life.

Visit the Huffington Post for the full article.

But we work for our cause, for our kids.

A 2007 survey found that every night there are 4000 homeless kids in NYC, 1800 identify as LGBTQ. These numbers are no longer accurate, it’s even worse, and we agree that one homeless youth is one too many.

Find your State Assembly Member here.

Find your State Senator here.

Re-Posted from Other Sheep:

A tribute to Gordon I. Herzog who served
as a board member with Other Sheep
from its inception in 1992 until his
passing, January 29, 2013.

By Rev. Stephen Parelli
Other Sheep Executive Director
January 29, 2013
Bronx, New York

We were sitting at a restaurant table, Rev. Thomas Hank and I.

I can’t remember if we were still in St. Louis after the Other Sheep 2012 November annual business meeting, or if we were in Chicago a week or so later, attending the American Academy of Religion and Society of Biblical Literature conference.

Either way, it was what Tom said that struck me: “There would be no Other Sheep without Gordon.”

Other Sheep was the vision of Tom Hanks, American missionary in Argentina. But it took a Gordon Herzog, lawyer and boyhood friend to Tom Hanks, to make the dream a reality.

In 1992, just more than twenty years ago, Other Sheep was born in Argentina. Gordon had come out as a gay man years before Tom. When missionary Tom came out in Argentina in the late 1980s, he wrote a letter back home to his constituency. When Other Sheep was on the drawing board, it was just natural that Gordon, his longtime friend and lawyer, should be asked to write up the legal papers, sit on the board, and help promote Other Sheep at home in the USA. And Gordon did just that, for no less a reason than this: Tom was his friend.

Jose, my husband and Other Sheep Coordinator, and I came on board Other Sheep in 2005, and we’ve never had anyone, anywhere, love us more than Gordon, and in return we loved him, too. It couldn’t be helped!

Missouri River at Gordon’s Home
Every year, during the annual business meeting, we stayed in his grand home on the Missouri River, took trips with his car, worked at Other Sheep business in his “barn” – his lawyer’s office – or at his desk and computer in his room. We spent evenings with him eating out, or visiting with him and his neighbor, or watching TV. We attended his church, met and had good times with his family, and watered his dogs. Gordon’s home was our second home in so many ways. Jose and I relished our visits with Gordon. November’s Other Sheep annual meeting was like going home, a reunion and trip we always were glad to make. We laughed together with Gordon, let him talk politics, borrowed his videos – returning them only to borrow more, raided his refrigerator, and kept a secret we promised to keep. We felt playful and giddy at Gordon’s home, as if we could do no wrong.

Gordon’s Home

Jose and I will miss him dearly. St. Louis is a special place to us because Gordon was there! And, oh yes, because St. Louis is the place where Gordon, and others who are also dear friends of Tom and Gordon, all made Other Sheep happen here in the United States with a focus on helping LGBT people of faith throughout the world.

Other Sheep, in its 20 years of history, has reached out and touched people in Latin America, Asia, Africa and Europe. Gordon shares greatly in that legacy. His life, through his work with Other Sheep, touches gay Christian people today around the world. One gay Christian man in Argentina, asking another gay Christian man in St. Louis to help, together and with the help of others, have ministered to gay and straight people in all parts of the world, affirming them and loving them, through Other Sheep.

Jose and I will miss you Gordon! And on behalf of all the people we’ve had the opportunity to meet, they join me in saying “Thank you for your love and service with Other Sheep.”

“Presbyterian Welcome works for the full participation of individuals in contexts of faith, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity or expression. As followers of Christ, convinced by Scripture, we labor for a world where all persons might live into the calling that God has placed in their hearts. We are a resource, training current and future leaders of church and society. Presbyterian Welcome is based in New York City and supported by member congregations and individuals.”

Tomorrow, January 19th, Presbyterian Welcome is holding the inaugural meeting of a new group for LGBTQ youth, friends and allies. As John Russell Stanger, Organizer of Mission & Advocacy explains:

“Presbyterian Welcome is creating a group for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning youth and their allied peers (ages 13-18). This will be a community for youth that is fundamentally different than anything many have experienced before. It will be a space where discussions about how faith relates to sexual and gender identity are not only invited, but encouraged. It will be a space where youth will discover G-d’s love for LGBTQ people in scripture, find the tools to spread this good news, and learn to advocate for themselves and their LGBTQ friends in communities of faith and the world.

“At our first gathering on January 19, we will spend time getting to know one another, sharing what we hope the group can become, choosing a name for the group, and doing a service project for LGBTQ seniors. This will be the first of six monthly events leading up to the Pride March and culminating in an overnight retreat this summer.”

Please pass this information along to any youth you think might be interested.  For more information on Presbyterian Welcome’s LGBTQ youth programming, please visit their web site.  To RSVP for tomorrow’s event, please visit the event page on Face Book.

YouthCountFlierUpdate

Dr. Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. Day shouldn’t just be a Holiday, but the chance to celebrate his life and legacy. MLK believed that “the bright daylight of peace and brotherhood can become a reality and that there is hope for a brighter tomorrow.” Keeping his spirit alive that can inspire all of us each and everyday.

“We must move past indecision to take action.” MLK

Dr. King lived and witnessed segregation on many levels  in many communities, including racial, political, the poor, the outcast and the homeless.  Today, the number of homeless youth in NYC is at an epidemic level, and of those numbers, 40% of these youth identify as LGBTQ. There are only 255 beds for the 3,800 homeless youth in NewYork, and a fraction of those are in shelters where LGBTQ youth feel safe. The member congregations of Shelter of Peace  have taken great strides to step up and advocate for  our homeless LGBTQ youth. Shelter of Peace is there to address those in need, by demanding government to take responsibility and provide a bed in a safe place for every homeless LGBTQ youth in New York state. Marin Luther King believed in “justice for all  G-d’s children?” and that “all people deserve a better life.” We all at CBST can get involved on some sort of level-taking action in trying to solve the LGBTQ homeless youth problem.  I am reminded of the phrase “reap what you sow.” Shelter of Peace has a place for any or all who want to be the solution of LGBTQ homelessness. As Dr. Reverend Martin Luther King said, “we are all tired, but by doing something, your soul can be at rest.”

Remembering Martin Luther King and his legacy, we add to and build on his life’s work so that his spirit of change though action will never die.