“Wisdom means knowing how to make room for silence, so as to be capable of listening to ourselves and to others. It means knowing how to give up some of the time passed in front of the telephone screen to look at the light in the eyes of others, in one’s own heart, in God’s gaze upon us.” Pope Francis

Peace and Love

thelaypope.com

“I may speak in tongues of men or of angels but if I am without Love I am a sounding gong or a clanging cymbal. I may have the gift of prophesy and know every hidden truth; I may have Faith strong enough to move mountains but if I have no Love I am nothing. I may dole out all I possess or even give my body to be burnt but if I have no Love I am none the better. Love is patient; Love is kind and envies no one. Love is never boastful nor conceited nor rude; never selfish, not quick to take offence. Love takes no score of wrongs; does not gloat over others men’s sins but delights in the Truth. There is nothing Love cannot face; there is no limit to its Faith, its Hope and its Endurance.”
1 Corinthians 13: 1-7

”Breathe in me, O Holy Spirit, That my thoughts may all be holy.
Act in me, O Holy Spirit, That my work, too, may be holy.
Draw my heart, O Holy Spirit, That I love but what is holy.
Strengthen me, O Holy Spirit, To defend all that is holy.
Guard me, then, O Holy Spirit, That I always may be holy.” St Augustine

‘The fruit of the spirit is Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, goodness, Faithfulness, gentleness and self -control ‘ ( Galatians 5:22-23)

I believe in the Holy Spirit. Not as a concept . I believe in the Holy Spirit in reality…. active in our lives even as you read this. If you have experienced the actual intervention of the Holy Spirit, as I have , you will know that the experience is not always a gentle ‘dove like ‘ encounter. The Apostles experienced the Holy Spirit’s revelation ”like the rush of a mighty wind” (Cor 2:2 ) . For me the revelation of the Spirit comes with a disturbing sense of unease , often a surprising sense that something is not quite right … something just feels out of place. As Pope Francis has said there is something of the ‘Odour of the Devil’ lingering . Almost as if the Holy Spirit was saying ” you need to take a look at this “

I have learned over the years to stop and listen when this happens because I know that ”When the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak and will declare to you the things that are to come” (John16:13)

I have to admit however that despite my confidence in recognising when the Holy Spirit is active in my life revealing the Truth that John talks of I was shocked when the source of the ‘Odour of the Devil ‘ was the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) hosting of the 2024 National Eucharistic Congress as part of its three year-long Eucharistic Revival, meant to “restore devotion and understanding to this great mystery.” Why in God’s name would the Holy Spirit instill deep within me a sense of unease regarding an initiative whose mission statement is : ”To renew the Church by enkindling a living relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist”.

The project was prompted by a study conducted by the  Pew Research Center, in which only 31% of Catholics responded that they believe in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.  Ostensibly the multi million dollar event is aimed at restoring lay Catholics’ devotion to the Eucharist, and according to Bishop Andrew Cozzens the organisers are “hoping to have 80,000 to 100,000 people go to Indianapolis, July 17 to 21, 2024, a gathering of the American church. We want the whole church to be there. This idea that we would come together with our many cultures, with our many ages and generations, and that we would celebrate unity, we would experience a transforming encounter, and then we would be sent on mission—that’s going to be the focus of this event. We need to become like the early church and become missionaries again.”

So why the unease, why the sense that something is just not right, why the ‘odour of the Devil’.

It began with comment that Catholic Traditionalist and veteran Pope Francis critic Taylor Marshall made in relation to Bishop Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, founder of Word on Fire Catholic Ministries and the driving force behind the Eucharistic Revival project. Marshall said the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops had let Barron in so they : ” …can use his persona and his reach and his platform to baptise their own agenda. “

When Pope Francis underwent colon surgery and said that : ” There were those who wanted me dead” he was widely understood to be referring to a small but powerful number of Bishops within the USCCBs ranks who had become increasingly vocal and vicious in their criticism of his Papacy. If they are using Bishop Barron to baptise their own agenda then you can guarantee that the main objective of the Eucharistic Revival is not : ”To renew the Church by enkindling a living relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist”. Their Mission statement should more accurately read ” To empower an elite group within the USCCB to seize control of the agenda of the Church , wipe away the current Popes reforms and any memory of him and return it to a pre Vatican 2 state controlled by an unassailable power hungry clerical elite ”

Bishop Barron may well be an unwitting accomplice in the real mission but the strings of his formidable media empire ( Word on Fire ) are already being pulled by those reeking of the ‘Odour of the Devil’ who are intent on making receipt of the Eucharist by the faithful “a prize for the perfect” in direct contradiction to Pope Francis.

According to Bishop Barron:

”The Eucharist is the source and summit of Christian life, its the centre..the beginning and the end of Christian life…its the real presence of Jesus Body Blood Soul and Divinity… there is nothing more important .. there is nothing more important than the Eucharist”

The problem is, according to the Pew Research Centre , ”nearly’ seven-in-ten Catholics (69%) say they personally believe that during Catholic Mass, the bread and wine used in Communion “are symbols of the body and blood of Jesus Christ.” Just one-third of U.S. Catholics (31%) say they believe that “during Catholic Mass, the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Jesus.”

This means that 69% of Catholics in the survey don’t agree with Bishop Barron that the Eucharist is the real presence of Jesus Body Blood Soul and Divinity. I agree with the 69%. I believe that the Eucharist is a beautiful gift from my Saviour, ”a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak.”, the means by which I am able to come together to share a sacred meal with my Brothers and Sisters , regardless if they are perfect or not. The Eucharist is sacred to me not because it is the real flesh and blood of my Saviour Jesus Christ but because at the Last Supper Jesus asked me to take part in this sacred meal in memory of Him and in doing so He gave me the greatest gift of all, He gave me the Mass. It does not matter if I am part of the 31% of Catholics who believe that the Eucharist is the ”the real presence of Jesus Body Blood Soul and Divinity…” or I am one of the 69% who dont believe that the Eucharist actually becomes the body and blood of Christ . What matters is that when we attend mass together we are in the ”real presence of Jesus Body Blood Soul and Divinity” as soon as we walk through the door : ”For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” Matthew 18:20. If at Mass we partake of this sacred meal or not, believing in Transubstantiation or not Jesus is still in our midst, in communion with the faithful gathered together , comforting us, healing us, nourishing us , allowing us to experience His Love, Peace and Joy , a lived experience of Heaven on Earth in His Divine presence.

I believe Bishop Barron, though well meaning, is mistaken when he says that ”The Eucharist is the source and summit of Christian life, its the centre..the beginning and the end of Christian life”

The source and summit of Christian life, its centre…the beginning and the end of Christian life is not the Eucharist …. It is …………………… Love.

” if Holy Scripture proclaims that God is love, and that love is of God, and works this in us that we abide in God and He in us, and that hereby we know this, because He has given us of His Spirit, then the Spirit Himself is God, who is love. Next, if there be among the gifts of God none greater than love, and there” is no greater gift of God than the Holy Spirit, what follows more naturally than that He is Himself love, who is called both God and of God? And if the love by which the Father loves the Son, and the Son loves the Father, ineffably demonstrates the communion of both, what is more suitable than that He should be specially called love, who is the Spirit common to both? For this is the sounder thing both to believe and to understand, that the Holy Spirit is not alone love in that Trinity, yet is not specially called love to no purpose.” (St Augustine)

The ‘odour of the devil’ permeates the Eucharistic Revival because it will weaponise the Eucharist to exclude those deemed by a clerical elite to be ‘unworthy’ of receiving it. Bishop Andrew Cozzens tells us that ” missionary conversion is what we’re seeking through the eucharistic revival. The last year [of the revival], we want to just help facilitate that. We want to give lots of resources to people to help teach them how to be missionaries in their daily life as they experience this fire. “this encounter with Jesus in the Eucharist” will move Catholics who have been part of this experience to be missionary disciples who would in turn lead others to the faith.”

And who is this ‘missionary conversion ‘ aimed at if not the 69% of Catholics who do not believe in Transubstantiation. What happens to those who, despite the fire of Bishop Barrons formidable media empire and the likes of EWTN and the influence of various Hollywood mega stars, nevertheless remain steadfast in their faithful respect of the Eucharist as symbolic rather than Transubstantive. What is to be done with the 69% of Catholics who refuse to be consumed by this missionary zeal, who receive the Eucharist in good faith but are considered by the missionaries to continue to receive the Eucharist ‘unworthily’ because they do not believe they are receiving the actual flesh and blood of Christ. This is where the ‘Odour of the Devil’ becomes pretty overwhelming. This is when the clerical elite who have defined that the only way to receive the Eucharist ‘worthily’ is to do so in the belief that the Eucharist is the real flesh and blood of Christ start to decide who can and who cannot take part in this sacred meal and ultimately who is allowed at Mass.

If, through the eye watering resources and finances pouring into the Eucharistic Revival a small number of Clerics are allowed to weaponise the Eucharist and they decide who of the faithful are properly disposed to receive the Eucharist then all of Pope Francis’s efforts to combat clericalism will have been to no avail. Much of his Papacy has been dedicated to addressing Clericalism. He has said that:

” Clericalism is a whip, it is a scourge, it is a form of wordliness that defiles and damages the face of the Lord’s bride….it enslaves God’s holy and faithful people”

and described the faithful people of God as “patiently and humbly enduring the scorn, mistreatment, and marginalization of institutionalized clericalism.”

Given the world wide clerical abuse horrors that engulfed and almost destroyed our Catholic Communion there is grave danger in enabling clerics to establish any foundation of unassailable power within Mother Church. For those small but powerful group of clerics in the USCCB the route to unassailable power lies in The Eucharistic Revival . If we allow them to define the nature of the Eucharist and who and who is not worthy to receive it ; if we capitulate to their tyrannical rule and insistence on subservience to them we are complicit in all of the horrors that will ensue as a result.

This is why the so called Eucharistic revival is so dangerous. Let us be Truthful here. We must be honest . The multi million dollar extravaganza of the so called Eucharistic revival is not a mission to celebrate the wonder and centrality of the Eucharist at the Heart of the Catholic faith . It is a synically calculated plan to weaponise the sacrament and tear apart the reforms of Pope Francis in order to re assert the power and centrality of elite and exclusive clericalism within the Catholic Church. It is not the Sacrament that those manipulating Bishop Barron’s deep faith and the Eucharistic revival seek to exalt it is the unassailable elitism of those who perform the Sacrament… it is themselves . Bishop Franz-Josef Overbeck of Essen, Germany once said :

“Sexual abuse has only one origin, [and it is] in the wrong use of power in our church,”

The logic of those weaponising the Holy Eucharist is painfully simple . If you exalt the Eucharist above all else , even above Love , and only clerics can define the nature of our sacramental participation then their elite and privileged power base becomes unassailable. Empowering an elite hungry for power and unaccountable hierarchy would plunge Catholicism back into the horror of the darkest days of our Faith when the power base of Clericalism was so unassailable and unaccountable that a sinister minority of global predatory clerics felt it their privilege to sexually prey upon children at will and in doing so almost cast Mother Church into the Fires of Hell.

“Just as the hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees became fossilised into an unbending set of codes that oppressed the people, so within the Church has the ascendancy of clergy over laity hardened into a separation of roles which has too often manifested itself as a tyranny” ( , Catholic Scholar , Cecilia A. Hatt , August 20, 2022)

In the Eucharist, the Pope said, “everyone can experience this loving and concrete attention of the Lord.”

Those manipulating Bishop Barron and the Eucharistic Revival would make our Church a fortress to repel those who most need her Love and protection. In their control the Eucharist would only be allowed for those that they , not Christ , deem worthy to receive it. They would make the Church into what Pope Francis warned against ”a bureaucratic customs house, constantly inspecting and questioning, hindering the working of the Holy Spirit and the growth of God’s people.” To consolidate their power and control all masses would soon revert to Latin contrary to the guidance of Vatican 2 and in direct contradiction of Pope Francis’ Divinely guided instructions. Then they will come for the LGTBQ+ community, those who are divorced and remarried, the 69% of Catholics who do not agree with their interpretation of the nature of the Eucharist would soon find themselves excluded. Catholics across the world would be forced to kneel not before the Eucharist, but in powerless subservience to their elite self promoting institutional power, that very same institutional power that plunged the Church into a child sexual abuse abyss from which it still has not fully emerged. They will purge the Church of anyone who does not capitulate to what they dictate. Theirs will be a much smaller, hollow and Christless Church but that will not matter because they will be the powerful unassailable elite that they long to be. God help their flock if we stand by and let this happen.

So I appeal to my Brother, Bishop Robert Barron, in the name of the Holy Spirit, to seize the Eucharistic Revival back from that small group who reek of the‘ Odour of the Devil’ in the USCCB , from those who would weaponise the Eucharist and to wrestle control from those who seek: ” To empower an elite group within the USCCB to seize control of the agenda of the Church , wipe away the current Popes reforms and any memory of him and return it to a pre Vatican 2 halcyon state controlled by an unassailable power hungry clerical elite ” I appeal to him in the name of the Holy Spirit to make the missionary goal of those he ‘sets on fire’ to be about offering the World an encounter with the living Christ through Love and not a debate about the nature of the sacred meal that Christ has gifted his beloved Church. I appeal to him to acknowledge the guidance of the Holy Spirit that ”a loving relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist” is a reality if you believe in transubstantiation or not . I ask him to announce and proclaim throughout his formidable empire that all are welcome to receive the Love of God during the sacred communion of mass when Christ Himself is in our midst regardless of how they perceive the constitution of the Eucharist. I appeal to him to proclaim that ”Love is the source and summit of Christian life, its the centre..the beginning and the end of Christian life”

Most importantly of all I appeal to all of my Brothers and Sisters in Christ to wake up and to recognise the ‘Odour of the Devil’ permeating the so called American Eucharistic Revival. Be attentive to the intervention of the Holy Spirit calling you to take an active role in combatting the scourge of those seeking to weaponise the Eucharist and those who demand that you kneel before them and not God. Join Pope Francis in combatting the scourge of Clericalism. Please share this post with your family and friends

If you would like to be kept in touch with this issue please e mail me and I will make sure you receive updates. My e mail is thelaypope@yahoo.com

God Bless you and yours

Peace and Love

A Call for Repentance: An Open Letter from Palestinian Christians to Western Church Leaders and Theologians

“Learn to do right; seek justice; defend the oppressed” (Isa 1:17).

We, at the undersigned Palestinian Christian institutions and grassroots movements, grieve and lament the renewed cycle of violence in our land. As we were about to publish this open letter, some of us lost dear friends and family members in the atrocious Israeli bombardment of innocent civilians on October 19, 2023, Christians included, who were taking refuge in the historical Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrius in Gaza. Words fail to express our shock and horror with regard to the on-going war in our land. We deeply mourn the death and suffering of all people because it is our firm conviction that all humans are made in God’s image. We are also profoundly troubled when the name of God is invoked to promote violence and religious national ideologies.

Further, we watch with horror the way many western Christians are offering unwavering support to Israel’s war against the people of Palestine. While we recognize the numerous voices that have spoken and continue to speak for the cause of truth and justice in our land, we write to challenge western theologians and church leaders who have voiced uncritical support for Israel and to call them to repent and change. Sadly, the actions and double standards of some Christian leaders have gravely hurt their Christian witness and have severely distorted their moral judgment with regards to the situation in our land.

We come alongside fellow Christians in condemning all attacks on civilians, especially defenseless families and children. Yet, we are disturbed by the silence of many church leaders and theologians when it is Palestinian civilians who are killed. We are also horrified by the refusal of some western Christians to condemn the ongoing Israeli occupation of Palestine, and, in some instances, their justification of and support for the occupation. Further, we are appalled by how some Christians have legitimized Israel’s ongoing indiscriminate attacks on Gaza, which have, so far, claimed the lives of more than 3,700 Palestinians, the majority of whom are women and children. These attacks have resulted in the wholesale destruction of entire neighborhoods and the forced displacement of over one million Palestinians. The Israeli military has utilized tactics that target civilians such as the use of white phosphorus, the cutting off of water, fuel, and electricity, and the bombardment of schools, hospitals, and places of worship —including the heinous massacre at Al-Ahli Anglican-Baptist Hospital and the bombardment of the Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrius which wiped out entire Palestinian Christian families.

Moreover, we categorically reject the myopic and distorted Christian responses that ignore the wider context and the root causes of this war: Israel’s systemic oppression of the Palestinians over the last 75 years since the Nakba, the ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestine, and the oppressive and racist military occupation that constitutes the crime of apartheid. This is precisely the horrific context of oppression that many western Christian theologians and leaders have persistently ignored, and even worse, have occasionally legitimized using a wide range of Zionist theologies and interpretations. Moreover, Israel’s cruel blockade of Gaza for the last 17 years has turned the 365-square-kilometer Strip into an open-air prison for more than two million Palestinians—70% of whom belong to families displaced during the Nakba—who are denied their basic human rights. The brutal and hopeless living conditions in Gaza under Israel’s iron fist have regrettably emboldened extreme voices of some Palestinian groups to resort to militancy and violence as a response to oppression and despair. Sadly, Palestinian non-violent resistance, which we remain wholeheartedly committed to, is met with rejection, with some western Christian leaders even prohibiting the discussion of Israeli apartheid as reported by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and B’Tselem, and as long asserted by both Palestinians and South Africans.

Time and again, we are reminded that western attitudes towards Palestine-Israel suffer from a glaring double standard that humanizes Israeli Jews while insisting on dehumanizing Palestinians and whitewashing their suffering. This is evident in general attitudes towards the recent Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip that killed thousands of Palestinians, the apathy towards the murder of the Palestinian-American Christian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in 2022, and the killing of more than 300 Palestinians including 38 children in the West Bank this year before this recent escalation.

It seems to us that this double standard reflects an entrenched colonial discourse that has weaponized the Bible to justify the ethnic cleansing of indigenous peoples in the Americas, Oceania, and elsewhere, the slavery of Africans and the transatlantic slave trade, and decades of apartheid in South Africa. Colonial theologies are not passé; they continue in wide-ranging Zionist theologies and interpretations that have legitimized the ethnic cleansing of Palestine and the vilification and dehumanization of Palestinians—Christians included—living under systemic settler-colonial apartheid. Further, we are aware of the western Christian legacy of Just War Theory that was used to justify dropping atomic bombs over innocent civilians in Japan during World War II, the destruction of Iraq and the decimation of its Christian population during the latest American war on Iraq, as well as the unwavering and uncritical support for Israel against the Palestinians in the name of moral-supremacy and “self-defense.” Regrettably, many western Christians across wide denominational and theological spectra adopt Zionist theologies and interpretations that justify war, making them complicit in Israel’s violence and oppression. Some are also complicit in the rise of the anti-Palestinian hate speech, which we are witnessing in numerous western countries and media outlets today.

Although many Christians in the West do not have a problem with the theological legitimization of war, the vast majority of Palestinian Christians do not condone violence—not even by the powerless and occupied. Instead, Palestinian Christians are fully committed to the way of Jesus in creative nonviolent resistance (Kairos Palestine, §4.2.3), which uses “the logic of love and draw[s] on all energies to make peace” (§4.2.5). Crucially, we reject all theologies and interpretations that legitimize the wars of the powerful. We strongly urge western Christians to come alongside us in this. We also remind ourselves and fellow Christians that God is the God of the downtrodden and the oppressed, and that Jesus rebuked the powerful and lifted up the marginalized. This is at the heart of God’s conception of justice. Therefore, we are deeply troubled by the failure of some western Christian leaders and theologians to acknowledge the biblical tradition of justice and mercy, as first proclaimed by Moses (Deut 10:18; 16:18–20; 32:4) and the prophets (Isa 1:17; 61:8; Mic 2:1–3, 6:8; Amos 5:10–24), and as exemplified and embodied in Christ (Matt 25:34–46; Luke 1:51–53; 4:16–21).

Finally, and we say it with a broken heart, we hold western church leaders and theologians who rally behind Israel’s wars accountable for their theological and political complicity in the Israeli crimes against the Palestinians, which have been committed over the last 75 years. We call upon them to reexamine their positions and to change their direction, remembering that God “will judge the world in justice” (Acts 17:31). We also remind ourselves and our Palestinian people that our sumud (“steadfastness”) is anchored in our just cause and our historical rootedness in this land. As Palestinian Christians, we also continue to find our courage and consolation in the God who dwells with those of a contrite and humble spirit (Isa 57:15). We find courage in the solidarity we receive from the crucified Christ, and we find hope in the empty tomb. We are also encouraged and empowered by the costly solidarity and support of many churches and grassroots faith movements around the world, challenging the dominance of ideologies of power and supremacy. We refuse to give in, even when our siblings abandon us. We are steadfast in our hope, resilient in our witness, and continue to be committed to the Gospel of faith, hope, and love, in the face of tyranny and darkness. “In the absence of all hope, we cry out our cry of hope. We believe in God, good and just. We believe that God’s goodness will finally triumph over the evil of hate and of death that still persist in our land. We will see here ‘a new land’ and ‘a new human being’, capable of rising up in the spirit to love each one of his or her brothers and sisters” (Kairos Palestine, §10).

Your Kingdom come!

Signed Organizations and Institutions

Kairos Palestine

Christ at the Checkpoint

Bethlehem Bible College

Sabeel Ecumenical Center for Liberation Theology

Dar al-Kalima University

Al-Liqa Center for Religious, Heritage and Cultural Studies in the Holy Land

The East Jerusalem YMCA

The YWCA of Palestine 

Arab Orthodox Society, Jerusalem      

Arab Orthodox Club, Jerusalem

The Department of Service to Palestinian Refugees of the Middle East Council of Churches

Arab Education Institute Pax Christi, Bethlehem ( letter ends )

“I may speak in tongues of men or of angels but if I am without Love I am a sounding gong or a clanging cymbal. I may have the gift of prophesy and know every hidden truth; I may have Faith strong enough to move mountains but if I have no Love I am nothing. I may dole out all I possess or even give my body to be burnt but if I have no Love I am none the better. Love is patient; Love is kind and envies no one. Love is never boastful nor conceited nor rude; never selfish, not quick to take offence. Love takes no score of wrongs; does not gloat over others men’s sins but delights in the Truth. There is nothing Love cannot face; there is no limit to its Faith, its Hope and its Endurance.”
1 Corinthians 13: 1-7

In the name of the Holy Spirit

Did you know that Catholic canon law states that any adult male baptised Catholic can be elected Pope. The next Bishop of Rome doesn’t need to have priest, bishop or Cardinal on his cv. I have been a Catholic my whole life so in Catholic Canon law I have the legitimacy to put my name forward to succeed my beloved Pope Francis and become the next head of the Catholic Church on Earth. I write under the influence of the Holy Spirit and through the guidance of the Holy Spirit I will build my election address, my ‘Manifesto for a Lay Pope‘, on these pages. I will deliver my Manifesto to every Cardinal who is eligible to vote for the next Bishop of Rome in the hope that they will be inspired by the Holy Spirit to consider my candidacy. More importantly I will share my Manifesto for all of my beloved Sisters and Brothers in Christ’s family in the sincere Hope that it will bring us all closer to our Saviour Jesus Christ.

I have been trying to follow Jesus my whole life, sometimes shoulder to shoulder but to my shame mostly some way behind him trying desperately to keep up and not lose sight of which way he wanted me to go. Sometimes I have failed spectacularly. Sometimes I have almost touched the hem of his garment.

I am a Catholic by birth but over the past few years my faith in the Catholic Church has become increasingly fragile. I am not alone in this. Christians are leaving the Catholic Church like locusts fleeing a barren field. The scale of clerical abuse against minors,  the corruption of wealth and power within the Church, the systemic misogyny within the Church which denies women their right to proclaim Christ’s unconditional Love from the Altar, the denial of the LGBTQ+ community to be allowed to fully participate in Christ’s sacred Communion and the refusal to accept our married Brothers into the priesthood has motivated me to put myself forward as a successor to Saint Peter.

I already know that much of what I have to write will be challenging and controversial for you … mainly because I find it so myself. At times I am compelled by the Holy Spirit to write about issues that I would prefer not to engage with such as the scale of clerical abuse of minors , about pornography, hate, addiction , mysogyny and I find the research process at times painful, heartbreaking and disturbing. Then, thank God, there are times when I am guided to write about Truth, Simplicity ,Beauty, Grace, Compassion, Wisdom, Humility , Joy and most wonderful of all , Love.

No doubt I will be accused of attacking the Catholic Church. I am not. I Love our Church and I seek to defend it but I have been inspired by the Holy Spirit to question why we so often fall short of what Jesus wants His Church to be.

I hope that what I write inspires you , refuses to allow you to be indifferent, empowers you to withstand any assault on your Faith but most of all I Pray that what I write renews your Love for humanity , for God, and for the teachings of His Blessed Son, Our Saviour Jesus Christ.

If ‘Manifesto for a lay Pope ‘ brings you closer to Jesus please share with family and friends. God Bless you and yours. Peace and Love!

my e mail is : the laypope@yahoo.com

“Many of us wept when we heard of that young woman who committed suicide because she was bisexual and did not feel welcomed. I wept,” Dominican Fr. Timothy Radcliffe told the Synod of Bishops assembly on Oct. 18. “I hope it changed us.”

On December 8th, 2019, Alana Faith Chen died by suicide at 24 years old after years of conversion therapy and sexual oppression.

( the following is an extract from the Alana Faith Chen Foundation)

Committed to serve God and her church, Alana confessed to a trusted priest at 14 years old that she thought she was attracted to women.

That priest responded by telling Alana that being gay, having “impure thoughts”, and acting out on those desires was a “mortal sin” and that she would go to hell if she were ever to have a lesbian relationship.

He also convinced her not to tell her family because if they accepted her as a lesbian she would not change and go to hell. As a devoted, impressionable girl, Alana listened to that priest.

Alana endured 7 traumatic years of this miseducation, “pastoral counseling,” conversion therapy, and religious abuse, which resulted in years of severe depression, self-harming and extreme suicidal ideation.

When Alana’s parents discovered her great suffering, they got her the help she needed through inpatient and outpatient therapies, and several specialized therapies.

Alana began a new healing journey, and even applied to get her Master’s in Counseling so she could become a therapist herself one day.

Even while Alana was getting legitimate professional help, the traumatic religious abuse and psychological torture that Alana experienced for many years was still too much to bear.

On December 8th, 2019 we lost Alana to suicide.

(End of extract )

The history of the Catholic Church is filled with accounts of the faithful who went on to become Saints after they gave up their lives for their faith . Alana Faith Chen gave up her life for her faith when she was told that her Divine Father could never Love her for who she was. This unbearable claim was not revealed to her by God but by clerics within the Catholic Church who tortured her pure and beautiful soul. There are many horrifying accounts of how the Catholic saints were brutally tortured and killed by those who abhorred their commitment to Our Heavenly Father. The horror and brutality of what Alana went through at the hands of these Catholic clerics and the ultimate sacrifice that she paid more than qualifies her cause to be considered for Sainthood. These Saints died because they refused to deny their Love for God. Alana Faith Chen died because Catholic clerics told her she was not worthy of His Love . Unable to live without Gods Love she , like those Saints before her, gave the ultimate sacrifice of her life. It is time to progress the cause of sainthood for Alana Faith Chen, Patron Saint of the LGBTQ+ Community.

Canonising Alana would send a very clear message that never again should a child of God feel that they had no option but to take their own life because they felt that they were not welcome in the Catholic Church. As Pope Francis has said: “The church is a mother and calls together all her children. Take for example the parable of those invited to the feast: “the just, the sinners, the rich and the poor, etc.” [Matthew 22:1-15; Luke 14:15-24]. A “selective” church, one of “pure blood,” is not Holy Mother Church, but rather a sect.”

Father James Martin a Jesuit priest, LGBTQ advocate and best-selling author said “The Catholic Church needs to listen to LGBTQ people, not give them more reasons to distance themselves from the church.“

There are those within the Catholic Church, often in positions of authority, who are unable to accept that God Loves all of his children . Our Heavenly Father is concerned foremost with what is in the hearts of the faithful not their sexuality. However those unable to accept the LGBTQ+ community will vigorously object to the canonisation of Alana. I say let the people of God and especially the Holy Spirit decide. To all of those who believe, as I fervently do , that God Loved Alana Faith Chen unconditionally because of her Love for Him I ask you to pray to her when you feel unwanted or rejected by our Church. Pray to her for the courage, resilience and wisdom to realise that as Pope Francis has said it is “people in the church” and not “the Church” itself which is the problem. Pray to her for the strength to forgive these misguided people as Christ forgave those who persecuted and Crucified Him. Pray to Alana for the strength to respond to their hate with compassion and Love as Christ would have it.

Alana is now seated at Christ’s table in Paradise . She is the ultimate advocate in Heaven of Christ’s Sisters and Brothers who belong to the LGBTQ+ community and your prayers to her will not go unanswered . Join those calling out for her canonisation . Share that call far and wide so that one day her beautiful soul will forever be remembered as Saint Alana Faith Chen , patron saint of Christ’s LGBTQ+ beloved flock .

Peace and Love

e mail : thelaypope@yahoo.com

“I may speak in tongues of men or of angels but if I am without Love I am a sounding gong or a clanging cymbal. I may have the gift of prophesy and know every hidden truth; I may have Faith strong enough to move mountains but if I have no Love I am nothing. I may dole out all I possess or even give my body to be burnt but if I have no Love I am none the better. Love is patient; Love is kind and envies no one. Love is never boastful nor conceited nor rude; never selfish, not quick to take offence. Love takes no score of wrongs; does not gloat over others men’s sins but delights in the Truth. There is nothing Love cannot face; there is no limit to its Faith, its Hope and its Endurance.”
1 Corinthians 13: 1-7