Melinda Selmys

The view from the existential peripheries...Somewhere deep in no-man's land there is a rag-tag bunker where you can watch the shells of the Culture War lighting up the night. The rainbow flag flutters to the West, in the East shines the Sign of the Cross.This book is written from that bunker. It is the fruit of seven years spent trying to formulate a better approach to dialogue between the Catholic Church and the LGBTQ community. Drawing on the material presented at sexualauthenticity.blogspot.com it explores questions like: "How can a gay Catholic be true to her sexual identity while remaining faithful to the Church?" "Is homophobia real, and what should Christians be doing about it?" "What does it mean to be gay, or queer, or trans? Why would a Christian choose to use those terms?" "Why would a gay person want to be Catholic in the first place?" Whether you're an LGBTQ Christian looking for shelter, a straight Christian who loves someone gay, or a gay person looking for a better way to have the conversation about sexuality and faith this is a book that cuts through the politics and the bitterness to arrive at the heart of the queer person, made in the image and likeness of God.

It is impossible to serve both God and Mammon. This is one of those hard sayings in the gospel that often causes people to go away sad. Material wealth seems like such an important part of happiness here on Earth that the cost of giving it up for Christ seems intolerable. Money secures so many basic human goods: freedom, choice, social status, dignity, self-respect, the ability to provide for others, and even life itself. Poverty may be a virtue: but surely it's one of those gruelling, unpleasant virtues which are reserved for people who have made religious vows.Yet there is one thing that is difficult to explain. The people who have embraced the virtue of poverty have freedom, choice, love, dignity, self-respect, generosity and fullness of life. More so, in fact, than the people who have tried to obtain these things with gold.Everybody knows, vaguely, that this is true. The question is, how do we go about proving it from day to day? When Mammon promises us the world, if only we will bow down and worship him, how do we find the faith to trust in God instead?