20 years ago, as I look back, I was wearing my "rose colored glasses." I had a wonderful husband, beautiful healthy children and we had just bought our home. Life couldn't get any better. But then, again, as I look back, it was time to remove my glasses.

"Mommy, Mommy," my youngest daughter called out. "Paul keeps telling me that he's gay. Tell him to stop." To make a long story short, our son came out to us to say that he was gay.  In all honesty, I cannot say that I was clueless, because who knows their children better than parents. We just chose to ignore what is true, and that's what we did.

Reality set in and it hurt: emotionally, mentally and spiritually. What will our family and friends think of us, were we to blame, what did we do wrong? How can he live freely when church and society have deemed him an "outcast?" These were a few of the many questions we asked of ourselves and of God.

Our family was raised as Catholics. We were never very religious, yes, we went to church for the major holidays, but other than that, we just instilled in our children to be honest and loving. After all, isn’t this what God wants us to be?

Before he came out to us, our son had gone to our church for guidance. The priest told him to leave the church, as he was an abomination and didn’t belong in "His" house. Our hearts broke, as he recounted to us how alone and abandoned he felt. Our church failed us. We were angry with God. How can our son be an "outcast" in his eyes, after all, wasn’t he made in his image?

As years passed, our daughter came out to say that she was a Lesbian. Oh God! Once wasn’t enough? Questioning Him again. As we looked in her scared and tearful eyes, we knew what we had to do … we embraced her strongly. We realized the true meaning of "unconditional love" that day. We made our peace with God, but never went to church unless there was a funeral.

Until … our grandson was born. We wanted to have him baptized in church. We wanted him to be Christian. Since he came from two divorced parents, the church would not allow him to be baptized in the Catholic Church. "That was the last straw."

We realized that it was time to find ourselves a new place. We found it in the Episcopal Church.

Our son was the first to have chosen this particular church. He explained to us that the church never refuses anyone in their home and they preach love and acceptance of all people. "Look, they accepted me" he said, as he laughed.

We found this small Episcopal Church in Seaford, New York --- St. Michael and All Angels. I loved it at first sight. I saw the simplicity of it and felt that "I had come Home."  We went to Mass the following Sunday, not knowing what to do or what to expect.

We were greatly surprised as to how we were so warmly welcomed by its parishioners. The solemn worship, the inspirational preaching, the loving fellowship and the missionary outreach all indicated that the church is inclusive.

Our faith in God who loves unconditionally and our understanding of the church as a community with no outcasts has been restored. Looking back, God didn’t abandon us, as we thought. He was guiding us to a greater path. We questioned, "Why?"  He answered, "why not?"

www.stmichaelseaford.org