TESTIMONY: WE ARE A CHURCH WITH NO OUTCAST
By Maria Saladino, Vestry Member



Maria Saladino with husband Vinny and
grandson, Enzo (Photo by Angie Vergara)

Twenty 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 religion. 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 indicate
that the church is inclusive.

Our faith in God who loves unconditionally and our understanding of the church as a community with no outcast, 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”?