Radical Reinvention Quotes

“Do we talk about feeling neglected and rejected by the Church? Yes. Do we bash a bishop or two, talk a little trash about the Vatican, moan about a priest who said something dumb about women or gays or both? Sure. But mostly we talk about what faith does for us, how it moves us through life with an awareness of other people's suffering, and drives us to do something about that suffering. It reminds me of a conversation I had with Father Mellow, way back on the first night I spoke to him. "The Church is both sinner and holy," he said. "So are all of us.”
― Kaya Oakes, Radical Reinvention: An Unlikely Return to the Catholic Church

“What matters is that like a rather large proportion of straight Catholics, I think gay people are pretty much the same as everyone else. My belief about sexuality can be summed up in this way: no matter our sexual orientation, we are all acts of divine creation and beloved by God.”
― Kaya Oakes, Radical Reinvention: An Unlikely Return to the Catholic Church

“As we've seen way too many times throughout history, the meaning of the Bible can be twisted and manipulated by anyone with an agenda. When faced with this sort of distortion, it's helpful to recall that there are seven lines in the entire Bible about homosexuality, whereas there are hundreds, maybe thousands, about caring for the poor and outcast. Perspective is key.”
― Kaya Oakes, Radical Reinvention: An Unlikely Return to the Catholic Church

“But one of the rather open secrets about Catholicism is that plenty of Catholics don't toe the line as hard as the Vatican does. Each Catholic examines her conscience, and if her conscience says that an abortion done to save the life of the mother keeps at least one person alive, or if a condom worn by a guy with AIDS keeps AIDS from spreading, or if a cancer-racked body needs to depart the world painlessly, then so be it. The God we believe in, after all, is a God of mercy and compassion.”
― Kaya Oakes, Radical Reinvention: An Unlikely Return to the Catholic Church

“There has been something missing from this experience of Catholicism that I've plunged into to such a surprising depth. It's the women.”
― Kaya Oakes, Radical Reinvention: An Unlikely Return to the Catholic Church

“I hear what they're saying about faith, about the priests at our church and how they relate to women, about the bishops and cardinals above the priests and how they ignore women, about the things they are reading and thinking about. And I realize several things in rapid succession: you can be Catholic and feminist. You can be Catholic and lesbian. You can be Catholic and a straight female and not have kids. You can be Catholic and have children but wonder if they should be Catholic. You can be Catholic and believe in better access to birth control, especially in impoverished and AIDS-ravaged communities. You can be Catholic and female and not be a nun and still be a leader in the church. Women, as it turns out, are part of the priestly class. It's just that they aren't allowed to minister publicly. They do it in places like here, and in hospitals, classrooms, homeless shelters, and in any room, really, where there is someone who needs healing.”
― Kaya Oakes, Radical Reinvention: An Unlikely Return to the Catholic Church

“God,” she writes, “is not two men and a bird.”
― Kaya Oakes, Radical Reinvention: An Unlikely Return to the Catholic Church

“These friends of mine recently went to Canada to get married,” she replies. “They’re two women, and I came home to wrap up their gift and found a copy of the local Catholic newspaper with a headline about gay marriage being a moral failing.” She shakes her head. “I just set it in the recycling bin and thought, Well, you’re dead wrong, and prayed for change. Then I mailed the gift.”
― Kaya Oakes, Radical Reinvention: An Unlikely Return to the Catholic Church

“Every time I hear one of these stories, I take consolation in knowing that my religion is a bit of a historical loony bin.”
― Kaya Oakes, Radical Reinvention: An Unlikely Return to the Catholic Church

“I’ve read the stories of Catholic converts—smart, saintly people like Thomas Merton and Dorothy Day—and many of them swallowed the faith whole, like a Eucharistic host. But if you were born into it and left by choice, faith tends to stick to the back of your throat.”
― Kaya Oakes, Radical Reinvention: An Unlikely Return to the Catholic Church

“When I pray, I know generations of my family who came before me prayed in the very same way.”
― Kaya Oakes, Radical Reinvention: An Unlikely Return to the Catholic Church