About This Blog
Welcome to Deconstructing Cleric, a space for honest theological inquiry, personal reflection, and critical engagement with Catholic tradition. I started this blog to wrestle with big questions about faith, sexuality, morality, vocation, and what it means to live with integrity as a Catholic today.
I write from the perspective of a Catholic priest and theologian. I also write from the perspective of a gay man living within a clerical system in which, officially speaking, I should not exist.
My journey has led me here, to questions I never expected to be asking. While I remain committed to the Church, I believe that faith and sincere inquiry are not opposed. Rather, honest questioning deepens and purifies faith. Theology, after all, is not about static answers but seeking understanding in an ongoing conversation between faith, reason, and tradition.
As St. John Paul II wrote in Veritatis Splendor, 34:
Although each individual has a right to be respected in his own journey in search of the truth, there exists a prior moral obligation, and a grave one at that, to seek the truth and to adhere to it once it is known.
That is the mission of Deconstructing Cleric in a nutshell: to seek the truth, and to adhere to it, wherever that search may lead.
Some Guiding Questions:
Are the Church’s teachings on homosexuality true?
What would it look like to honestly and rigorously evaluate those teachings?
Is it possible that these teachings are based on a fundamental misunderstanding?
If so, what would that mean for queer Catholics?
What forms of life, love, and holiness might be possible for LGBTQ+ people in the Church?
How can we navigate these questions thoughtfully, faithfully, and theologically?
How can we live with integrity as queer Catholics in the Church today?
What You’ll Find Here:
Words on the Word: Short Sunday Gospel reflections written especially for an LGBTQ+ audience.
Borderline Theology: A weekly series exploring theological inquiry, doctrinal development, and moral theology, particularly regarding LGBTQ+ issues within Catholicism.
Longer-form explorations of Scripture, Church teaching, history, and more
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