Same-sex marriage case study: ‘I can’t continue attending a church that doesn’t want me

By SCOTT MACNAB
Published on 27/08/2012 00:37

STiofan McFadden, 24, is both gay and Catholic. He moved to Edinburgh from his native Donegal to study, but feels he can no longer attend Catholic Church here because of its stance on gay marriage and instead now worships at Old St Paul’s Anglican Church in the capital.

“I can’t continue attending a church that really doesn’t want me to be there,” he said yesterday.

“I don’t feel safe, I don’t feel comfortable, I don’t feel like I can have a relationship with God in a church that is constantly hounding who I am.” The Catholic hierarchy in Scotland contrasts with Ireland, where it has been “humbled” after the abuse revelations of recent years, he added.

“I think Cardinal O’Brien wants to be more of a politician than he does a priest. He’s being a beacon for divisiveness. I understand the Catholic Church having its own religious teachings, but I don’t understand trying to force those teachings on the rest of Scotland, which is, let’s face it, what he’s trying to do. That breaks
my heart, because I find it fundamentally un-Christian.”

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