Chapter 61

Neither of us spoke for a long while. I searched for the right words. "I just don't know that I could stick around people who condemned me or my lifestyle. How can you go to a church that says that the most basic part of your life is a sin?"

Had I just pushed my luck with McKayla too far?

She had a thoughtful look and smiled reassuringly at me. "We're all sinners. Every one of us. If not for being a homosexual, then for coveting or stealing or whatever. Our lives are filled with sin, and it is only through the Grace of God that we are saved. I am reminded of that Grace every time that I go to church. I guess I could go to a different church, but there is something..."

Her gaze grew distant for just a second.

"There's something comforting about the rituals and liturgy of the Catholic Church," she continued. "I've been worshiping that way all my life. Some people think that our services are staid and boring and not very contemporary, but I like its regularity. I like that I know when to stand up, sit down and sing. Sometimes ... sometimes, I think that predictability is what has kept me sane..."

I reached out and touched her hand, wondering how much she was going to open up to me today. I wanted to let her know how much I appreciated the trust she was showing in me.

For a second she was silent, as if lost to a memory. Then she blinked and was back in the present. "I go to that church because they're actually pretty friendly towards gays and lesbians. Oh, not openly, Father can't come out directly in opposition to the Pope, but for the most part, that parish is much more open-minded than mainstream America would like you to believe about Catholics."

"So why does the church so vehemently oppose homosexuals?" I asked. "Not that I want you to speak for Catholics everywhere."

McKayla chuckled. "Why does any church oppose homosexuality?"

I shrugged.

"Because every church is one generation away from extinction," she replied. "If you are a church—Catholic, Mormon, Baptist, Muslim, whatever—what's the best way to ensure the world will always have Catholics, Mormons, Baptists or Muslims? You make more. Churches have always relied on raising young people in the faith to serve as the next generation. Conversion will bring a few new members, but for the most part, the way most churches propagate themselves is—pardon the expression—by breeding more."

"Why does that make gay people a threat to civilization?" I asked.