A "Gay" Saint??

Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy on us!

I just discovered on the web an organization called Integrity, Inc. that purports to be an organization of and supporting homosexuals within the Episcopal church. They have adopted as their patron saint one St. Aelred of Rievaulx, whom they claim was "gay".

Now, I have never heard of St. Aelred before. I know nothing about him, other than what I have read on the Integrity, Inc. web page. Yet I detect an error in logic that I must point out. That error is a redefinition of terms.

According to modern usage, the perversion of the word "gay" denotes a homosexual who identifies him or herself as such, accepts and approves that lifestyle, and practices it. According to the Integrity, Inc. web page, this does not describe St. Aelred. The site says that he had homoerotic feelings, but did his best to suppress them and never act on them. He even warned a hermitess to avoid sexual defilement with either men or women. This does not sound like someone who was comfortable with his homosexual orientation and acted on it.

This group may decry the situation that caused Aelred to repress his orientation, but in doing that, they complain about the historic doctrine and tradition of Christianity. They want to be Christian and "gay" at the same time, which flies in the face of the teaching of Scripture.

If the members of Integrity, Inc. want to honor St. Aelred, I suggest that they do as he did and remain celibate. It dishonors his memory to identify him as something that he spent his life trying not to be.