[SATIRE ALERT]

Guest blogger Fr Andrew Grabber SJNW is a priest in The New Catholic Church. A former Jesuit, he is the founder of the Society of Jesus of the New Way. He is the well known author of The Rainbow Bridge –A New Way Forward. He once appeared on The Muppet Show with actor Robert De Niro and he has many friends in New York City, Washington DC and Rome, Italy.

Hello Friends. Today I write with sadness at the continued persecution of Sam Brinton. Sam is a vulnerable young person who is alleged to have picked the wrong suitcase from the carousel at the airport. Now Sam is being prosecuted for theft and their enemies in the right wing media have clearly picked on them just because they happen to be a transgendered person.

Friends, I ask you to think this through. Even if Samantha is guilty of theft, do people go around persecuting everybody who happens to take something that doesn’t belong to them by mistake? No. Plenty of shoplifters at Walmart, Walgreens and other stores are not prosecuted. Why should Samantha be singled out? Is it because they are a trans activist? Is it because they enjoy doggie leather bondage sex games? Are these past times really anybody else’s business? No.

It saddens me to find that some of my fellow Catholics are similarly condemnatory of Sam’s activities. It just so happens that Sam likes wearing women’s clothes and is involved in the homosexual subculture. Do my fellow Catholics similarly condemn other so called “sinners” just because their personal choices happen to be different from the opinions and choices of Catholics? Do you hear them castigating people who use contraception or people who cheat on their income tax? Do you hear them scold and condemn people who left the oven on when they went out? What about people who drive big gas guzzling SUVs that are destroying the climate? Are they condemned and excluded from church? No, but let a person who identifies as a woman mistakenly pick up the wrong bag at the airport and suddenly the self righteous people step up to condemn.

We need to find a new way friends! We need to build a bridge to the communities that people like Samantha belong to–a way of acceptance, inclusion and welcome.

This is why I founded the Society of the Jesus of the New Way as the first religious order in the New Catholic Church. The New Way is a New Wave. It is a virtual tsunami of love, acceptance and welcome. I say to Samantha Brinton and others like they, “You are welcome in our New Catholic Church. All are welcome. We know you may not be Catholic and that you might hate the Christian religion, but why should that matter? You will find many people of the same opinion in our New Catholic Church. Please come. We love you. We need you! You are welcome!”