Quote of the Day

How will we as a church live with our gay, lesbian and transgender brothers and sisters? We are past the time of "love the sinner" platitudes.

. . . [Greg] Bourke and [Michael] DeLeon [right] are emblematic of this major challenge facing the church today, because they force us to ask not how will we live out a hypothetical situ­ation, but how will we live with Greg and Michael. They give flesh to an abstraction.

The answers [that members of] the church [hierarchy are] giving . . . are con­fused, uneven and often cruel. Greg and Michael – and countless gay, lesbian and transgender Catholics – deserve better.

For their historic roles as plaintiffs in Obergefell v. Hodges [which found same-sex marriage a con­stitutional right] and for their faithful public witness as gay Catholics, we name Greg Bourke and Michael DeLe­on NCR's persons of the year for 2015.

– National Catholic Reporter Editorial Staff
Excerpted from "Our Persons of the Year for 2015
National Catholic Reporter
December 28, 2015

Related Off-site Links:
Catholic Newspaper Names Same-Sex Marriage Plaintiffs "Persons Of The Year" – Amanda Terkel (HuffPost Gay Voices, December 28, 2015).
National Catholic Reporter Editorializes: "How Will We As a Church Live with Our Gay, Lesbian and Transgender Brothers and Sisters?" – William D. Lindsey (Bilgrimage, December 28, 2015).
Married Gay Catholics Chosen as “Persons of the Year” – Bob Shine (Bondings 2.0, December 29, 2015).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• U.S. Supreme Court Legalizes Marriage for Same-Sex Couples Across the Nation
• Progressive Catholic Perspectives on the U.S. Supreme Court's 2015 Marriage Equality Ruling
• Quote of the Day – June 26, 2015
• Something to Celebrate – June 27, 2015
• Questions for Archbishop Kurtz re. the U.S. Bishops' Response to the Supreme Court's Marriage Equality Ruling

Image: Michael DeLeon, left, and Greg Bourke, April 28, 2015, Washington, D.C. (Newscom/UPI/Pete Marovich)