Introduction
please note that this is a side blog and all interactions will be from my main, @/sallywagalicious
☦️🏳️🌈About Me☦️🏳️⚧️
Confirmation name: Sebastian
Confirmed on April 4, 2021
Age: 26
Transgender queer male
Survivor of relationship abuse and domestic abuse
Blog topics: religion (Catholicism and others), philosophy, general thoughts and feelings, sometimes vents about religious trauma, sometimes crass Catholic jokes, personal Bible study (I use NASB, but want to eventually switch to an Orthodox Bible or Duoay-Rheims).
BIG Mary fan, lover of lesser-known Saints (especially pre-Church saints), and philosophy
In love with the Orthodox cross -- I will be filling my house with them thank u very much.
Grew up Pentecostal, but converted to Roman Catholicism at age 20
I believe strongly in interfaith dialogue across all religions, monotheistic/polytheistic/atheistic/etc. If I am to believe God is found everywhere, then I will believe that God can be found in any set of religious beliefs. I simply find God in Catholicism.
Intense hierophobia, irregular church-goer as a result
GOING TO CHURCH IS NOT A COMPETITIVE SPORT, DO NOT MAKE IT ONE.
I am anti-war and anti-draft, including the invisible draft created by poverty. When a society ensures that the military is a homeless or low-income person's only escape route, enlistment isn't a choice... it’s economic conscription.
DNI:
- pedos/MAPs - radqueers - TERFs/SWERFs - zionists - antisemites/islamophobes - religious zealots (conversionists NOT welcome) - zoophiles - people who think the OG Templars and Crusaders were somehow good guys - anti-theists - anti-science, anti-vax, anti-therapy, etc - people who will pearl-clutch at swearing but not a starving child - slippery slope fallacy adherents - unironic T.M.A./T.M.E. users
Welcome to Interact:
- Orthodox Christians of all kinds - Christians of all kinds (YES including Protestants and Lutherans) - Priests, nuns, monks, and others dedicated to religious life (idk if y'all are allowed to have internet access outside of TikToks and YouTube channels I've seen??) - People curious about life as a queer Catholic - Any and all religious individuals - Republicans and Democrats are both welcome to interact, but keep your heads level when interacting with me please. I am a religious blogger--I am pro separation of church and state. Let your religion sway your politics, but don't let politics become your religion. Donald Trump was not sent by God, nor was Joe Biden--they were elected by human beings, not divinely appointed. Argue with ya mama, not me because I am NOT the one. - Good-faith debaters (people who use ad-hominem will be blocked)
Will add more to my DNI/WTI lists as time goes on and as I see fit.
content warnings: Religion, religious trauma, candid doubt and skepticism (seems to be a big trigger for a lot of Catholics for some reason), sex (not porn, not horniness, just talking about sex sometimes through a religious lens), sexual and bodily autonomy
Please note that while I do not have minors in my DNI, I would like to ask anyone 17 and under to please treat this blog as if it was a new friend's house--do not come in here trying to act cool and grown up. I want to be a POSITIVE influence on everyone and set a good example, but if you act a fool, I will block you. If my trust is violated enough (or if I get an angry parent in my DMs accusing me of trying to convert their child), I will add minors to my DNI. This is your only warning.
BIG believer in learning who you are without God and religion due to my own identity attachment issues. Sort of like this:
Extras:
Does God exist?
I don't know. In my many years of being a Protestant (and later converting to Catholicism at age 20), having come face-to-face with horrendous abuses of all kinds, I find that my faith might be weaker than others because I frequently struggle with the thought "if God were there, why would He let that happen to me?" I do believe in a comforting and all-knowing God and His Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, but my relationship with Them and the Trinity in general is very complicated.
Do you believe that God tested you by letting you endure those things?
No, I do not. As a person who believes in the age of accountability in religious contexts (age 12-14), where you should know right and wrong, I do not hold the belief that God would test someone by giving them abusive parents, let them endure abuse of any kind, etc before the age of accountability and even after. Some things are just nature doing its thing, and sometimes nature is--for the lack of a better word--shitty, and sometimes nature/external forces perpetuate the cycle of abuse.
That said, age of accountability and age of consent are two different things. Age of consent, in my opinion, is between the ages of 18-21 (depending on the situation). Just because a person is the age of accountability does not mean they are also ready to consent to things like sex, relationships of any kind, and marriage.
What are your thoughts on Heaven/Hell/Purgatory?
I believe all three exist, at least in some capacity.
Do you believe you are destined for Hell as a queer individual?
Solely on the grounds of being a queer transgender man, I do not believe that I am Hell-bound; however, I will add that I can only hope and pray to be worthy to achieve Heaven upon death. God has created arguably unnatural/impossible things that clash directly with biological reality (a donkey who talked to Balaam, Jonah being swallowed by the giant fish and somehow not being partially digested, a virgin impregnation and birth, raising Lazarus from the dead when he was likely decomposing, Jesus turning water into wine, healing a man permanently of blindness and another from paralysis, not to mention confirmed Marian apparitions and miracles attributed to hundreds, if not thousands of Saints/Blessed figures, etc). God has bigger fish to fry than a man with a vagina or a man who kisses other men.
Truth be told, no one--not even you--knows where we go when we die. I must reiterate that even I don't know with 100% certainty where I will go. To assume such things, in my opinion, errs on the edge of poisonous pride and even hubris.
What are your thoughts on infant baptisms and christenings?
I think its wonderful, but vehemently disagree with the idea that God sends unbaptised babies and infants to Hell/Purgatory as I feel it is cruel. The God I know is not cruel.
Why do Catholics/Orthodox Christians pray to and venerate Saints?
As someone who didn't grow up Catholic, take this with a grain of salt, but here’s the breakdown!
Praying to Saints is not the same thing as praying to God. Catholics and Orthodox Christians pray to God and Jesus first and foremost. The Saints aren't the ones who save us. Instead, praying to them is literally just like asking a friend from church to pray for you, or asking them for wisdom on something you need guidance on. It’s like having extra best friends in high places who are adding their voices to your prayers, like how we used to all hold hands and pray together about something at my family's Pentecostal church.
We venerate Saints because we believe they are alive in Heaven with Christ. Think of a home shrine less like a mini-cemetery, and more like that little collection of framed pictures you might keep of a late grandparent or aunt. Sometimes you look at those pictures when you're lonely, talk to them, or wish you could ask for their advice. It’s exactly like that... keeping photos of our older spiritual siblings around the house to honor them and stay connected to our family history.
What are your thoughts on conversion therapy for LGBTQ+ individuals? (Forced detransitioning, forced change of sexual orientation, etc)
It is a harmful, pseudoscientific practice that has led to thousands upon thousands of suicides in children (ages 7-12), teens (13-19), young adults (19+), and even older adults and elders. CT, at its worst, employs practices such as corrective rape, chemical restraint, etc which, in my opinion, are in direct violation of even pre-Vat. II Catholic doctrine and are in direct opposition of everything Christ stood for. I do not condone the practice at all on any person, especially with how harmful the end results can be. If a person wants to undergo conversion therapy when they are above the age of 25 and are able to freely and enthusiastically give consent without pressure from outside sources, they are absolutely free to because that's their prerogative. However, I do not condone CT across the board for any age bracket due to harmful effects it has on the human psyche (destruction of self-image/self-worth, encouraging self-harm/self-mutilation, destruction of inner identity that creates disordered identity attachment, suicide, and more).
What are your thoughts on birth control, divorce, annulments, etc?
I believe whatever happens with your body is your decision alone. You wanna use condoms or the pill or an IUD? Whatever, not my circus not my monkeys. Your use of BC bears no weight on my salvation (and in my opinion, bears no weight on yours either. We have 8B+ people on this planet, I think "bear fruit and multiply" is optional at this point since we're quite fruitful as a species).
As far as divorce and annulments go, I feel that it is almost always a last-resort option for unhealthy/unhappy marriages. Also, ALL types of abuse (physical, emotional, financial, spiritual, etc) should be grounds for a perfectly safe, sound, and fast separation and termination of the marriage. Furthermore, if you have children with that person (or from a previous relationship) and those children are actively being harmed by that relationship, you should be free to leave without stigma or judgment. I am firm in my belief that one should not have to sin (adultery, abuse, etc) in order to escape the bonds of a toxic marriage.
While I do believe marriage is life-long and divorce shouldn't happen at all, I also quite like the marital murder rate to be low! Men and women alike should not have to feel like killing their spouse, cheating, or abusing their spouse is the only way out. Let no man cast asunder what God has put together, but I do believe some matches are made in Hell and should be treated accordingly.
If you have any other questions, please feel free to slide into my ask box but please be mindful that a real-life flesh and blood person runs this blog, and disrespect/discrimination/denigration of any kind (whether to myself or others) will not be tolerated and will swiftly be ignored.
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Saint Sebastian, Pray For Us!
St. Sebastian (<- Source)
Feast Day - January 20 (Catholic and Oriental Orthodox), December 18 (Eastern Orthodox), February 14/15 (Ethiopian Orthodox)
Attributes - Tied to a post, pillar or a tree, shot by arrows.
Patronage - Soldiers, the plague-stricken, archers, disabled people, athletes, cyclists, LGBTQ people; Negombo, Moratuwa Sri Lanka; Archdiocese of Lipa, Diocese of Tarlac, Diocese of Bacolod, Chiapa de Corzo, Mixtlan, Mexico; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Qormi, Malta; Laguna, Philippines; Pinagbuhatan, Pasig City, Borbon, Cebu, Philippines; Pucalipa, Peru; Taquaritinga, Brazil; Porto Ferreira, Brazil; Reibeirao Preto, Brazil; Gyor, Hungary; Cusco, Peru; Loja, Ecuador; Rome, Italy.
-- information on St. Sebastian courtesy of Wikipedia --
