{"id":3388,"date":"2007-11-07T12:08:00","date_gmt":"2007-11-07T12:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2007\/11\/let-me-sow-love-a-catholic-mothers-outreach-to-gays.html"},"modified":"2007-11-07T12:08:00","modified_gmt":"2007-11-07T12:08:00","slug":"let-me-sow-love-a-catholic-mothers-outreach-to-gays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2007\/11\/let-me-sow-love-a-catholic-mothers-outreach-to-gays.html","title":{"rendered":"“Let Me Sow Love”: a Catholic mother’s outreach to gays"},"content":{"rendered":"

From Illinois comes this surprising story<\/a> of a mother who is struggling to live the gospel by reaching society’s outcasts — in this case, young men and women who are gay: <\/p>\n

Jackie Frett of Notre Dame Parish has taken a shocking moment in her motherhood and now she is using it to reach out to others in similar situations by starting a gay and lesbian ministry at her parish in Clarendon Hills.<\/p>\n

During a recent telephone conversation with the Catholic Explorer, she listed her qualifications for the ministry. Frett said, \u201cI\u2019m just a mom.\u201d The mother of two adult children and grandmother of two children added, \u201cI\u2019m trying to prevent young people from suicide, self-loathing and abandonment.\u201d The research chemist claimed that 40 percent of young people that share their homosexuality with their parents are abandoned. She added, \u201cOne-third of suicides are because of this.\u201d<\/p>\n

While her ministry typically applies to adults and families, Frett said she is eventually trying to create a better environment for the teenagers who are dealing with this dilemma. She asked, \u201cIf adults are struggling with this, can you imagine what a 16 year old has to go through?\u201d<\/p>\n

Frett is one of the coordinators of a Dec. 1 conference called, \u201cLet Me Sow Love.\u201d The event at Notre Dame Parish is expected to include a panel discussion with members of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays as well as a discussion with gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender young adults. She stated, \u201cThe purpose of the conference is to enhance the awareness of the social and emotional issues faced by gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons and their families with the knowledge that acceptance is built on understanding.\u201d<\/p>\n

Frett recalled the instance in 2004 when her 22-year-old son, Sean, shared with her that he is gay. She said she wasn\u2019t upset because of his sexual orientation, but rather because he had endured an internal struggle and he was afraid to share it with her.<\/p>\n

Frett was also concerned about the potential conflict between her Catholic faith and loving her son, a homosexual. The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines homosexuality and states, \u201cBasing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that \u2018homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.\u2019 \u201d It also clearly points out, \u201cUnder no circumstances can they be approved.\u201d<\/p>\n

After further investigation, she realized there wasn\u2019t a conflict of interest and she is now working toward clearing up misperceptions. The catechism is just as strong in stating, \u201cThey must be accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God\u2019s will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord\u2019s Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.\u201d<\/p>\n

About a year ago, she started the gay and lesbian ministry with a committee of parents and clergymen at Notre Dame Parish. It is designed to assist families in similar situations and spread awareness within the community. She said, \u201cAs Christians, this is our responsibility. Christ told us to love one another; he didn\u2019t say it was going to be easy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ministry submits monthly messages for the parish bulletins. Mostly, they consist of excerpts from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops\u2019 pastoral letter entitled, \u201cAlways Our Children: A Pastoral Message to Parents of Homosexual Children and Suggestions for Pastoral Ministers.\u201d By enlightening the greater community on the struggles of homosexuals and their families, Frett envisions the parish as a refuge and a resource of support to those in this particular need.<\/p>\n

However, she has found that the ministry extends much further than the printed word through the phone calls she receives from concerned parents seeking resources and fellow parishioners thankful that she is spreading awareness and decreasing fear among fellow community members. She said she reminds parents: \u201cYou just have to remember this adult child is the same child he was before he told you he was gay.\u201d<\/p>\n

Discussing the ministry, Father Robert Schuler, pastor, told the Explorer, \u201cThe teachings (of the Catholic Church) are pretty clear.\u201d Scripture calls Christians to love one another, even outcasts, added Father Schuler. He noted, \u201cSadly, we are losing a lot of people because they don\u2019t feel that love.\u201d<\/p>\n

He acknowledged, \u201cIt\u2019s probably something we don\u2019t recognize as a big problem.\u201d Father Schuler clarified that the ministry \u201cis not an endorsement,\u201d yet an extension of love to those who are suffering. He said, \u201cEverybody is a creation of God\u201d and should be respected as such.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There’s more about this outreach at the link<\/a>. I can think of a lot of parents — and children — who would benefit from this very special minsitry. The parish where Jackie Frett’s ministry is based can be found right here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From Illinois comes this surprising story of a mother who is struggling to live the gospel by reaching society’s outcasts — in this case, young men and women who are gay: Jackie Frett of Notre Dame Parish has taken a shocking moment in her motherhood and now she is using it to reach out to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":204,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-inspiration"],"yoast_head":"\n"Let Me Sow Love": a Catholic mother's outreach to gays - The Deacon's Bench<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2007\/11\/let-me-sow-love-a-catholic-mothers-outreach-to-gays.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""Let Me Sow Love": a Catholic mother's outreach to gays - 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Prior to that, Deacon Greg worked for 26 years as a writer and producer for CBS News, where he contributed to \"The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric,\" \"60 Minutes II,\" \"48 Hours,\" (Emmy Award, Writers Guild of America Award) and \"Sunday Morning.\" He was co-writer for the acclaimed documentary \"9\/11,\" hosted by Robert DeNiro. (Emmy Award, Christopher Award, Peabody Award, Writers Guild of America Award.) His radio essays were featured in the bestselling book \"Deadlines and Datelines\" by Dan Rather. He's also a two-time winner of the Catholic Press Association Award. Other places you may find him: AMERICA, U.S. CATHOLIC, CATHOLIC DIGEST, REALITY (Redemptorist Communications) and THE BROOKLYN TABLET. He also contributes homiletic reflections to the parish resource CONNECT!, published by Liturgical Publications. In November 2009, he began serving a three-year term as a consultant to the Communications Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Deacon Greg grew up in Maryland (Go Terps!) but he and his wife today live in the beautiful borough of Queens, New York. You can contact Deacon Greg at dcngreg@gmail.com.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/author\/gkandra"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/204"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3388\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}