A Very Good Place to Start

I don’t expect this blog ever to have much of an audience other than myself and a few friends, and so I thought I’d steal a line from old Aurelius and give these meditations their address as ta eis heauton, “To himself.” And because I need an interlocutor, at least mentally, I’ve conjured up Lord Sebastian Flyte’s teddy bear, Aloysius, as one who might have an interest in the two main themes of this blog, and one who will perhaps go easy on me if I stumble around a bit.

I’ve found that there are many very spiritual people who are enchanted by Catholicism, convinced by it, believe in it, and are willing to talk about it very seriously. I’ve also found that there are very many people (both spiritual and not) who are gay, who are intrigued by homosexuality, who think about what it means and how it has impacted culture, and are willing to talk about it very seriously. I’ve been dismayed that those two groups of people don’t overlap a great deal. There are plenty of Catholics who are homosexuals (whether practicing or not), and plenty of homosexuals who are Catholic (whether practicing or not), but if one decides to speak openly about the one thing, one usually stays very quiet about the other. So, I wanted to be different and talk about both.

I’m basically a traditional Catholic raised in a traditionally Catholic family. I believe in God, that He revealed Himself to mankind in His Son, and that His Son has perpetuated His presence on earth through the Catholic Church. I go to Mass every Sunday, and sometimes during the week. I pray and try to make it to confession. I’m active in my parish. I was also a seminarian for several years, and so I know more theology than the average guy. I’m also gay and really don’t feel any need to apologize for that. In Dear Aloysius, I want to explore how those things might fit together. There are plenty of blogs about churchy politics and how to be a better Catholic. And there are plenty about gay politics and how to affirm one’s sexuality. This will be about things that shed light on the intersection of same-sex orientation and the Catholic tradition.
I’m not interested in arguing about whether I can be heterosexualized. Nor am I interested in being persuaded to leave the Church. So let’s just leave that out from the start. And if you’re still reading by this point, welcome.