My past work allowed me to spend an hour or more of one-to-one time with individual clients. Some preferred to remain quiet. But one of them, Dave, an interior designer, was talkative. He knew me to be Catholic, was interested in learning more about the Church, and often asked me questions about it. He was not religious.

He once told me a story about a house owned by a gay man. There was a crucifix in almost every room. Dave said, “I guess that means that he has self-hate.”

He was literal, as though he told me, ‘Teak is the best material for patio furniture.’ Although absurd, it seemed self-evident to Dave that the Catholic Church hates men who participate in homosexual acts, like it is obvious that teak is wood. He wrongly concluded that any man in that group, and who professes the faith confessed by the Church that supposedly hates him, must hate himself.

My reply was wide-ranging. I told Dave that the statement was bigoted and breathtakingly offensive and that he must never repeat it. I said that the Church loves every man and woman as Christ did. I moved on to the Church’s teaching about chastity, after which I affirmed that we are all sinners capable of recognizing our sins. Then I ended by questioning his assumptions. The details would require a separate post.

Some people understand incorrectly that the Church hates people. Sacred images like the one atop this post scare them. They don’t know that the visible Church is the baptismal priesthood of clerics and the laity. Not grasping what they can see, they don’t understand what they can’t see, which is that the invisible Church is Trinitarian. It is the People of God, the Body of Christ, and the Temple of the Holy Spirit. Entirely out of reach is the truth that the Church is Jesus Christ by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

The Catholic Church loves God and people for the love of God. The Church’s teachings pass along what she has received. They can be summed up by simply saying ‘Jesus,’ because he is taught and he alone teaches.

Jesus means ‘God saves.’ His is “the only name by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12)”. He came the first time to save, not to judge, because everyone needs saving.