Fatherless in a Church of Fathers

“Why do you feel the need to bring that up immediately when you first get to know someone?”

“So, something that you should know about me… is that I’m gay… or same-sex-attracted, ummm, whatever you want to call it…”

Father looked at me. We’d been chatting for about twenty minutes in the coffee shop, as a follow-up to my request to explore possibly doing spiritual direction together. He said,

“You don’t need to share that with people as soon as y…