
A NOTE FROM THE CREATOR

When my best friend was a senior in high school, she came out to me and immediately started crying. When I asked her what was wrong, she told me she was afraid that she was going to offend me because of my faith as a practicing Catholic.
It devastated me that she viewed my faith as a reason I wouldn't accept her and, furthermore, that it would be offensive to me. I couldn't believe she would think someone who loves her like family would be offended that she loves another person. My understanding of Catholic teaching is that God loves the whole person as they were created and meant to be. After all, God created everyone to be the perfect version of themselves. I also believe that at the core of the LGBTQ+ community is this same love of the whole person. In both communities, it is unconditional, supportive, and infinite.
However, the Catholic Church paints homosexuality as an offense. Homosexual acts are, according to the catechism, “intrinsically disordered” and “contrary to natural law.” By extension, any orientation other than heterosexuality is seen as “objectively disordered.”
It became clear to me that the LGBTQ+ Catholic community did not have a voice representing it to break through the negative language surrounding these issues. Furthermore, any individual identifying as part of either community was being pitted against the other, seeing the opposing side as closed-minded and hateful. I decided to write a story showing my friend and everyone struggling with the Catholic Church's teaching on homosexuality that the two are not exclusive and, in fact, are working together to create a world of love and community.
The goal of Nun Habits is to create a dialogue between these communities. Hopefully, from this dialogue, we can generate some progressive, positive change where the LGBTQ+ Community and the Catholic Church work together, celebrating their shared values.
-Monica Arsenault, Nun Habits Creator