At 8:30 this morning I opened the Tacoma paper to read a story about Referendum-74 which seeks to repeal the Marriage Equality Act by putting it on the November ballot. Signatures are needed to put the recently passed legislation to the people’s vote.  

Seattle Archbishop J. Peter Sartain has requested that parishes – all 180 of them in Western Washington – offer parishioners an opportunity to sign petitions in support of R-74. Some pastors are just saying “no,” to the archbishop’s request, including the priests at my parish.  

Our pastor consulted the parish staff and our elected parish council, who say they believe the presence of petitions would alienate some of our same-sex families. And as involved in social justice issues as we are at my church, I have never seen a petition for anything.  

At 10:30 I slid into my pew – next to two men, who are domestic partners. They sang and greeted me with handshakes at the sign of peace and we joined hands as we sang our way through the Our Father (Lord’s Prayer) right before we broke bread together.  

Dozens of teens were confirmed into the Catholic faith today at that Mass. They joined a church that claims to be universal (that is what “catholic” means). My parish doesn’t tell us who to love, when I worship there, I hear only how to love better. And today I read about that parish love in the paper. And so did all our same-sex families who worship with me.

(S-R archives photo)

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