To the Sentinel:
I became a Catholic 50 years ago, based on intelligent reason and faith in the Virgin Mary who led this Methodist Sunday School teacher to the Church.
I was in a sacramental marriage with my late husband for 60 years.
Those without reason now condemn, beat and even kill homosexuals because of misinterpretation of the story of Sodom in Genesis.
Homosexuals are made in the image of God; they have committed no crime just by being homosexual. It is no sin to love someone of the same sex. It’s about a commitment to care for one another.
Reason and faith tell us they are loved by God and are protected by God, regardless of how scripture has been misinterpreted through the ages to condemn them to Hell.
The sculptor who made the image of the Crucified Christ that is on the large wooden cross above the altar here at St. Alice in Springfield was moved to tears as he worked on it, and he wondered how anyone could be so cruel to this Jesus who had done no wrong.
The neighbors my husband and I lived near during the last months of his illness were a gay couple.
We could not have asked for more caring, kind and helpful neighbors.
It is time for us to act as the followers of Jesus that we profess to be.

Odrey Chaney Wootan
Springfield