I have to come clean to the PCU community about something. For the past six months, I have been cramming my after-work schedule with researching, reflecting, and ultimately writing applications for seminary. I would never have imagined myself going down this path five years ago; in fact, I didn't even know what a Master of Divinity degree (or MDiv, for short!) was at the time. Yet working at Progressive Christians Uniting has opened new possibilities in my world.
Growing up, my religious tradition was at the center of my identity. I loved being Catholic and particularly enjoyed attending weekly Mass, finding the liturgy helpful in centering my thoughts on God. Yet as I entered adolescence, I began feeling unwelcome by the Catholic Church. My faith life derailed when I realized I was gay; the fear of being labeled an abomination in God's eyes haunted me. A lifetime of oppressive messaging had seeped into me, saturating my subconscious with heterosexist doctrine. The very space that was meant to be holy for me had become castigating and condemning, sometimes directly, other times implicitly. As the feeling of exclusion from my religious tradition avalanched, my organized faith life quietly faded away.
Enter stage left: being hired at Progressive Christians Uniting in October 2010. Working in a multidenominational setting afforded me with a broader understanding of Christianity, freeing me from my narrow, self-deprecating restraints. My world that was once harbored in top-down Catholicism now demands inclusion and collaboration. I have felt needed, valued, and loved by progressive Christians, which has been the most effective and comforting healing balm for my old wounds. Here, my sexuality is not an abomination but a gift from God, which adds to the bountiful diversity of life.
I'd like to say that PCU helped to pick up the pieces of my faith in God and put them back together; but actually, PCU helped me to realize that it was never broken at all. And so it is with renewed confidence and a sense of self-worth that I now seek to deepen my understanding of Christianity by attending seminary. In applying the real-life lessons I have learned at PCU to my studies, I hope to better comprehend and embody Jesus' way of compassion and justice for our world.
Wandering on,
Sean Patrick Coady
Associate Director