Toby Johnson: This review was originally published in White Crane Journal (Issue #53). It is reprinted with permission from www.whitecranejournal.com online.
This is a lovely little book, written in the familiar style of gospel meditations: a short Scriptural citation followed by a personal colloquy with God or Jesus. It's traditionally devout, but the issues the author is dealing with in his prayer always relate to experiences of being a gay man, struggling to find in deeply held religious belief the positive, life-affirming, gay-affirming meaning that must be there.
Of course, what is remarkable is that the book is published by a gay Catholic press in Ireland.
The reflections are interesting if just for the sometimes surprising associations with Gospel verses: the story of Martha and Mary to a gay couple
learning to live together, the story of Zacchaeus in the tree to gay activism and HIV/AIDS services, the story of the Prodigal Son to a gay priest on leave of
absence, Peter's denial of Jesus to closeted homosexuals, the Pharisee and the Tax Collector to gay men as outcasts.
The innocence of the Catholic devotionality is actually refreshing and surprisingly sweet.
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