Why I became a Catholic in spite of everything I heard

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

1. Well, I am on the verge of leaving the Catholic Church.

It's difficult. I have invested a lot of my heart and my soul in the Catholic Church over the years. I have seen love in many of my fellow Catholics, love that has sustained me over the years, love that I have needed to keep me going.

I have tried to convince myself that such evils as the institutional sexism and homophobia will be overturned. But the election of Trump with the support of so much of the hierarchy and laity, forces me to take a much harder look at the Church. I see that it is not living up to the ideals it preaches, and this is not likely to change. It makes me ill. Writing this literally makes me nauseous, I am actually glad I am doing so on an empty stomach.

I loved the Church. It is breaking my heart to leave. There will be some who say that my leaving is a failure on my part. But it's not. I have come to the realization that the beautiful lady I love can be a whore. I hate saying that, but an institution that supports Trump, that rejects its LGBT sons and daughters, that relegates women to inferior status and pretends it doesn't, that covers up the sexual abuse of children has failed me. For the good of my own soul, I have to get out.