Alternate to Doom, Gloom
and Damnation

Moral Maxim
By Fr. Richard R. Mickley, OSAe., Ph.D.

I have been working with and for the LGBT people in the Philippines since President Corazon C. Aquino was in office, founding the Metropolitan Church Community (MCC) Manila on September 7, 1991.

People invited me here because there was no voice speaking out publicly in our behalf.  I came to this country, not knowing even one person, having nothing but a few old clothes, but with a firm mission to assure LGBT people that there is an alternative to doom and gloom and damnation.

We served as pastor until international church rules required our retirement on June 30, 1995.  Then on July 1, 1995, in order to continue the ministry, we began The Order of St. Aelred, not a "parish, but an "order," in order not to compete with the parish, MCC, and we have continued over the years to refer to MCC those who are seeking an LGBT-friendly parish church.

There (have been changes in the status of the community since then), and we have gone through phases.

Recently, we celebrated our 13th anniversary with a simple Mass in our new chapel on Masikap.  I sang the Pater Noster in Latin to emphasize our motto, Sicut in Caelo et in Terra, which we have before us as a constant reminder that Jesus came to earth in the incarnation to show us that the flesh is good, to show what  God is like, to show us what love is, so that we may be mindful that the integration of heaven and earth, spirituality and sexuality, is a big part of the solution for the personal  peace that  we and our LGBT friends are searching for.

Going into our 14th year, we are busy with LGBT ministry on many fronts.  For one thing, we provide the George de Carlo-Ryan Reyes LGBT Library of the Philippines for the use of the LGBT community and scholars and university students.  We also serve as a resource for organizations and counselor for individuals in various situations where sex-negative religion (and even sex-negative law) places a heavy burden of shame on our LGBT friends, and we assure them, indeed, of God's unconditional love, even where God's representatives would misrepresent God.  As St. Paul says, nobody can ever separate us from the love of God.

We continue to be available for those who feel motivated to make vows of love and commitment to one another.  We are not yet (and never will be) in California where, along with other states and countries that are recognizing the basic human right of all people to choose an adult love partner according to their love and nature, but we do make love-weddings available to those who request them.

In early July, we joined 300 lesbians in a ceremony in which women who love women affirmed their wedding vows to one another.   This is in addition to other weddings in Tagaytay, Manila, Cavite, Subic, Pangasinan, and elsewhere, as we prepare for a loving wedding in Cagayan de Oro City.

For 17, years I have been telling a sex-positive story. It contradicts the sex is bad story, the no condoms story, and the story that sex is only for heterosexually married couples to make babies.  And most of all it contradicts the moral slavery of "No sex ever, in any way, at any time, in your whole life, if you are brought into this world with a same-sex attraction."

Hundreds of couples have come to me for same-sex weddings, and now I see a general change in the outlook of same-sex couples in this country.  Before, it was: “I know it is a sin, but I can't keep from it.”  Now they see their love as a good and beautiful thing, and I help them understand that it is a gift from God, and God is smiling on their love.  Through my television appearances, magazines, newspapers, I have been able to let a significant number of our LGBTI friends know we do have this wonderful alternative to doom and gloom.

Just as five countries, two states in the US, and some other jurisdictions have recognized the right of LGBTI people to equal marriage, I firmly believe more and more people are coming to see the inherent right of LGBTI to bask in the sunshine of God's love like everybody else (I have a powerful 90 minute movie on that subject and I wish I could show it to the whole country).

In the meantime, I am happy to share my thoughts, and, yes, some of the wisdom that comes with old age, with you here online.

Yes, LGBTI people do have the right to worship God in the religion of their choice.  Human rules may reject people. But, for us who are Christians, we can be sure that there is not one word, one verse, one story in our entire Bible that condemns our love.  And we take it from there.

Fr. Richard R. Mickley, OSAe., Ph.D. is the founder and abbot of the Order of St. Alread, active in the LGBTI advocacy movement in the Philippines. He is a Korean war veteran, and enjoys the war against sex-negative theology, and promotes the peace and joy of sex-positive theology.  With a doctorate in psychology, he combines psychology and religion to bring insights into human nature as God brought it into being.   
He has been guest speaker on these subjects in many conventions, universities, and organizations. His hobby is writing. His special interest, aside from the study of St. Aelred, is studying the life and ideals and principles of his idol, Jose Rizal.
For more information, contact The Order of St. Aelred at the St. Aelred Friendship Society in 82-D Masikap Street, Barangay Central, Quezon City; call (+632) 9218273, or 9209034909; email saintaelred@gmail.com; join http://groups.yahoo.com/group/saeffriends; or visit geocities.com/staelredmonasterymanila, http://richardrmickley.blogspot.com, or the Catholic Diocese of One Spirit (CDOS) Web site onespiritcatholic.org.