"If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?" -Pope Francis

"If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?"

Last week pope Francis uttered those words to the press while aboard the papal airplane bound to Rome from Brazil. Many have praised the pope’s use of the word “gay” and his promise of not judging as a tectonic “breakthrough” and as being a “game-changer” within catholicism.

Last week something else also happened, Ken Bencomo a beloved English teacher at St. Lucy’s Priory High School, an all-girl school in Glendora, California was fired. Why? Ken Bencomo went down to the County Clerk’s Office in San Bernadino and purchased a Civil Marriage License from the state of California. He married his partner Christopher Persky.

Evidently the catholic archbishop of Los Angeles, Jose H. Gomez, wasn’t watching the news the day that pope Francis made his “who am I to judge” statement.

What can you do?

Don’t just leave, tell the church why you’re leaving. Write a letter to pope Francis, mail a copy to archbishop Gomez and finally, cut and paste a copy of your letter to the change.org petition demanding that Ken Bencomo be reinstated immediately as a teacher at St. Lucy’s.


Here is a sample of a letter, feel free to use/modify it:




His Holiness
Pope Francis
The Apostolic Palace
00120 Vatican City
Europe



Your Holiness,


Last week your holiness made the statement: "If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?"

Yet, archbishop Jose H. Gomez, fired Ken Bencomo a beloved English teacher at St. Lucy’s Priory High School, an all-girl school in Glendora, California. The bishop did this simply because Mr. Bencomo is gay and entered into a Civil Marriage under California state law.

There are many heterosexual teachers working in Catholic schools who have been divorced and remarried. These teachers, although technically “adulterers” according to church teaching, have not been fired. It is clear that Mr. Bencomo was targeted for special treatment, simply because he is gay.

Tragically this is not an isolated incident but part of an aggressive national and international campaign by bishops, which includes misuse of donated funds, to deny LGBT people of their human dignity and civil rights.

This forces me to conclude that your words are false and empty promises and merely congenial non-substantive rhetoric, your inaction and the actions of the bishops demonstrate a persistent and unjust persecution gay people. I do not wish to be an accomplice to this continuing injustice.

I therefore am informing you of my decision to formally leave the catholic church. I was baptized at (insert name of the church where you were baptized) in (insert year of baptism). Please have them make notation of my decision in the baptismal register.



Most Sincerely,
(your signature)


CC: Jose H. Gomez and Change.org


Jose H. Gomez
Archbishop of Los Angeles
3424 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90010




Help this go viral. If enough people speak-up and take action, it will be noticed by the bishops and the pope. This is the one thing they most fear, because the true wealth (and power) of the bishops are the people. This will cause bishops to think twice about inflicting similar injustices again. It also calls on pope Francis to back his words with real substance.