Few days ago I got an email from a dear friend of mine living in Milan. She is now in a committed relationship with her female partner and since the end of last year they have been proud parents of a baby girl. She is now telling me that they would like their daughter to be baptized. I was surprised to hear that, since I thought they had abandoned the Church and christianity long time ago. Nevertheless, I was also very happy to know they had managed to keep their faith alive in spite of the official doctrine of the Church towards gay people.
She wrote me that she was also afraid they might be refused the baptism for their daughter because of their family situation. Reading about her concerns made me feel very sorry and wondering how we got to the point that people actually fear to be turned away by the Church. How can this be possible?
Across the centuries, there has always been a tendency in the Church to act like an exclusive club which determines who is in or who is out and reserve its “services” to people who are deemed to be worthy and deserving. On the other hand, when I think of the Church, it is the image of the yeast that I have in my mind: “The Kingdom of God is like some yeast which a woman took and kneaded into three measures of flour until it all rose”(Lk 13.20-21). This image describes an extensive and radical transformation which starts small and simple but gives rise to something unexpected and beautiful. The Church is not about hierarchy or power but it is the people of God, a place where everyone’s gifts and uniqueness should be considered important, where one should be helped to grow and develop in their relationship with God and in their love to the neighbor.

I dream of a humble Church which doesn’t compromise with the powers of this world but rather trusts in the paradoxical strength of the Gospel, a Church which celebrates diversity in the unity of the eucharist and strives to proclaim the message of a restored communion with God and among all human beings, a Church which leads the way towards a better and brighter future for all of us.
I believe religious life can have the important duty to be a prophetic voice within the Church, to show that inclusiveness, acceptance and humility are at the very heart of the Gospel. Some people already think they can live a Christian life without the Church and in fact it is true that, far from being the cornerstone of God’s dwelling among human beings, the Church has sometimes been a rock that caused people to stumble and fall. But the Church of tomorrow, if it wants to survive, has to turn once again and fully into that community of love and reconciliation the Christ Himself meant and established.