BIG TEASE WOW, PART 1: FRANK DEBERNARDO ON THE SYNOD AND THE POPE

"People should have the courage of their convictions. If they really believe something, they should be able to say these things publicly. This is where deceit comes in, deceit and hatred."

Happy Black Friday weekend!

A bunch of years ago a comic creator named Geoff Johns did a reboot of Justice Society of America which ended with an unexpected page of art teasing all kinds of wild twists to come. Sort of like a post-episode preview, but for a whole year.

I loved it so much.

I thought this weekend I would offer a couple short teases of my own from some interviews that I’ll be publishing here in the coming weeks and months. I’m pretty excited about them, and I hope you will be, too.

These are all free for everybody. If you haven’t subscribed yet, maybe this will convince you. Monthly and yearly rates will stay at the current rates until the end of Black Friday weekend!

For everybody out in the crazy today, I wish you short lines, friendly fellow customers and plentiful supplies of whatever you’re searching for!

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Frank DeBernardo, director of New Ways Ministry, which supports and advocates for queer Catholics within the Church.

Frank and I talked about the month he spent in Rome reporting on the Synod, getting to meet the Pope, and his own take on the Vatican document about transgender baptisms.  

In discussing the Synod, Frank talked about the Vatican’s request that Synod delegates not talk to the press or reveal anything that had been happening inside the meetings. Frank had a lot to say about that decision, which was not revealed to the press until after they arrived.

Why do you think the Vatican did that?

I think they felt that people would speak more candidly that way. But to me it’s part of a major problem in the church of keeping things behind closed doors, and making decisions and having discussions that people should be involved with behind closed doors. If you’re a member of this assembly, and you’re afraid of speaking honestly, then you shouldn’t be speaking. If you’re afraid of what other people are going to think of you, you shouldn’t be speaking in the assembly.

I think people should have the courage of their convictions. If they really believe something, they should be able to say these things publicly and openly. This is where deceit comes in, deceit and hatred. People are allowed to maintain ignorant positions, because these positions are not open to the public and to critical exposure.

Especially in the LGBTQ issue, which is what I’m so familiar with, we get a lot of people, a lot of bishops who publicly will say we love gay people, and we want to bring them to the truth. But then they don’t explain it, they don’t go into it. If they’re questioned by others, how are they going to respond?

It’s true of the issue of women and women’s ordination, too. Granted that there were women there, but what were some of the people saying? Were they saying things that were from like, 1940s, 1950s definitions of womanhood? We should know that. And if they believe that, they shouldn’t be allowed to hide those opinions. If they can’t say those things publicly, then I think they have to face up to why they can’t say them publicly.

And here’s a bit of our conversation about meeting the Pope.

We were in the parlor room and a priest came in, an American priest from the Secretariat who was going to be our translator. We had been told that the Pope understands English if you speak it slowly, but he’s not comfortable in speaking English, so a translator was going to be needed.

So we were chatting with him, and then all of a sudden in comes the pope. I was surprised. I think in my mind I half-expected there would be like, trumpets or something announcing him. And he just walks in, on his walker, and he came and shook all our hands and told us to sit down.

And then I felt totally relaxed. It felt like an afternoon visit with your grandpa. He was very very unassuming. Mostly he listened. He really wanted to hear from us. He was very funny. At one point Jeanine [Gramick, co-founder of New Ways] said to him “I think you should know that you are the face of God to so many people.” And he pointed to his face and he said, “God’s face is not this ugly.”

Coming Soon in the Wow!