After growing up under the guidance of his uncle, a gay, blue-collar worker from Somerville, Father Paul Bresnahan of St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Salem said he was raised to love all people, regardless of their sexual orientation and called for the religious recognition, acceptance and celebration of homosexuality.
Bresnahan spoke about the Episcopalian Church's views on homosexuality at the Church of St. John the Evangelist on Bowdoin Street Wednesday night.
Bresnahan said he hopes there will be a day when all religions come together and accept homosexuality.
"There has to be a time when folks of the Book and folks of religious traditions all recognize that there's room in God's love for everyone," he said.
Bresnahan said he became a strong proponent of inclusiveness in the church after observing firsthand the relationship between his uncle and his uncle's male partner.
"The only person in my family to have a stable relationship was my gay uncle," he said.
Bresnahan recalled seeing his uncle Al come home after being beaten by people who did not understand Al's sexual orientation.
"When my uncle died, I officiated the funeral," he said. "There was only one person in attendance. It was his partner of 50 years, and it was just a breathtakingly beautiful moment. That was when I became deeply wedded to the idea that the church has to grow up."
Bresnahan said the church focuses on the subject of homosexuality too much, and in doing so ignores more the important issues.
"We are all being distracted from all these other issues, like the environment, by the question of whether people can love each other," he said. "It's daft."
Bresnahan acknowledged that many different religious denominations struggle with acceptance of homosexuality, but he said the struggle was necessary for the church to keep up with the times.
"It's going to be tough, but the world will teach the church," he said. "The world is going way ahead of us, and we need to catch [up] or be left behind."
Bresnahan's gay son, David Bresnahan, introduced his father at the event and spoke of his gratitude for the acceptance his family has given him and called his father his "personal hero."
"I feel very fortunate that it's always been a non-issue," he said. "I definitely consider myself pretty lucky."
David said he is optimistic for the future of the church, and its relationship with its lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender members.
"I really think that we're already moving in a progressive way," David said. "We're moving in a way to purposefully be inclusive of all people, and I think it opens the doors to all sorts of people to use their gifts to help their community."
Elaine Cronin, who attended the event because the topic interested her, said she supported the message of inclusivity in the church.
"No matter what their sexuality, race or religion, we have a moral obligation to include them."
Church leader pushes for gay acceptance
Published: Thursday, October 2, 2008
Updated: Thursday, October 2, 2008
 "Photo: Shannon Young")
Shannon Young
Father Paul Bresnahan addresses the topic of sexual identity and the Anglican Church Wednesday night.
I respect religion to the point where they begin the unhealthy juding of people. If any of you care to prove you're point that it's a choice, you need to argue with the scientific reasearch that has been done to prove differances in genetics and brain chemicals. Regardless of that, have you ever stopped and thought why someone would CHOOSE to be looked down upon and treated badly by people such as yourselves?
Why don't you grow up and look outside of the box.
We're not living in the stone ages anymore
He did offer a way to him by sending his son, Jesus Christ to die on the cross to pay for our sins. But in order to be accepted by him is to repent and turn away from our sins, not accept and glorify it.
He should also read 2 Peter 2
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