Homeless transgendered woman who was murdered in Rome is honored by Jesuits

I got a little choked up while reading this story. While I am on record as being against same sex marriage, I am very much on record as supporting human dignity, and treating others as we would like to be treated. Andrea Quintero was treated poorly by society, to the point of being beaten to death in an Italian railway station. But she never lost her faith, and in the end, the Catholic Church demonstrated their love for her, treating her with the dignity that she deserved.

I know that there will be those who question how she was treated by the church while she was alive, and whether the charity workers who cared about her after her death missed opportunities to care about her while she was alive, but we don't know those facts, we just know what did happen after her passing.

Months after Andrea's death, her body remained unclaimed in the morgue. Local charity workers decided Andrea needed to be acknowledged with a Catholic funeral. A priest at Chiesa Del Gesu, one of the most prominent Jesuit churches in Rome opened its doors.

"With Pope Francis, we have courage, we have enthusiasm," said Father Giovanni La Manna, who helped organize the funeral. "We have no excuse. We are called to open our hearts."

Charity workers, government officials, even the city's mayor gathered to pay tribute. Andrea's coffin lay amid the church's breathtaking frescos. A Catholic mass was held in her memory.

And then something happened that stunned those inside the church.

Throughout the mass, the priest acknowledged Andrea as a 'She'.

"Up until this point we haven't been acknowledged by the Catholic Church," said Vladimir Luxuria, a transgendered activist who attended the funeral. "It is as if the Catholic Church says 'we see you the way you feel you are.'" (Source)

God bless you, Andrea, may you rest in peace.

reply to post by adjensen


Acknowledging a human being is decent.

But, acknowledging that a man is a man, and a woman is a woman is the way GOD intends.

If someone wants to live in drag, be homosexual, bi sexual, etc.. That is THEIR choice, and THEY have to answer for it.

But, for religious clergy to is an OBVIOUS affront to GOD..

The "parts" God gives a being is what GOD intends them to be. And by calling someone born with man parts a female??

HOW IS THAT NOT GOING AGAINST GOD'S obvious wishes.?

reply to post by adjensen


Great article and OP. Thanks for bringing this to my attention.

Any positive change is good change, if we all judged less, life for everyone would be so much easier.

Cheers.

HanzHenry
reply to post by adjensen

 

HOW IS THAT NOT GOING AGAINST GOD'S obvious wishes.?

I would have thought murdering another person would be much higher on God's pecking order of going against his wishes rather than a priest calling a person a she.

reply to post by HanzHenry


How is what you say loving your neighbour as yourself, according to the book judging individuals is For God and judging spirits is for man.

Grace is a little understood concept in the New Testament, does your belief rely on grace?

reply to post by HanzHenry

HOW IS THAT NOT GOING AGAINST GOD'S obvious wishes.?

Because God's wish is that we love each other, and that begins by being kind, compassionate and respectful to each other. The poor woman was brutalized in life because of attitudes such as "this goes against God's wishes", when it is abundantly clear that God's will was not that she be murdered and left to rot in the morgue.

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. (John 13:34 NIV)

That's what God wants, and that's what the church gave her.

About time the catholic church go beyond this duality. God is testing how the Christian community is following Jesus teachings and many are not listening and coming up tainted.

If you preach hate at the service those words aren't anointed. That holy water that you soak in has been poisoned.

reply to post by HanzHenry

But, acknowledging that a man is a man, and a woman is a woman is the way GOD intends.

So free will is only valid so long as it aligns with God's will. This is an argument some here have been making for a long time, and others continue to argue against it.

But on a more relevant note, death was probably a release for this woman if her identity was consistently out of her control. I would not want to be referred to as something I felt was a lie. To be identified as such would be a living hell. The same goes for persecuted Christians, does it not? And how do you respond to that? So how can you deny her the same dignity you claim for yourself?

reply to post by Treespeaker


Huh?

I am born male because OBVIOUSLY that is what God intended me to be. Proof is clear in that.

Murder is terrible I agree.

But how is insulting God's obvious intention OK? Because the person was murdered?

I can't explain it any clearer.

Had God wished said person to be called a woman or treated as a woman, pretty sure there would be proof of it. Or something would be missing. lol

How can religious leaders go against God's wish.? that this person be acknowledged as a man, whom wished to be a woman?

reply to post by HanzHenry

How can religious leaders go against God's wish.? that this person be acknowledged as a man, whom wished to be a woman?

Because one of the fundamental teachings of the Catholic Church is the preservation of human dignity, and one does not do that by calling a person a liar, because they believed that they were a woman trapped in a man's body. Andrea lived as a woman, and calling her a "she" at her funeral Mass was not an endorsement of anything, but rather an acknowledgement of how she saw herself.

If God has a problem with transgender people, he'll deal with it -- it's not for us to judge.

The Catholic Church proclaims that human life is sacred and that the dignity of the human person is the foundation of a moral vision for society. This belief is the foundation of all the principles of our social teaching.

We believe that every person is precious, that people are more important than things, and that the measure of every institution is whether it threatens or enhances the life and dignity of the human person. (Source)

reply to post by HanzHenry

How can religious leaders go against God's wish.? that this person be acknowledged as a man, whom wished to be a woman?

Let's be clear on this. The right to practice your religion is not an obligation to be a douchebag. Which means these compassionate people who probably know what it's like to lose friends and family are capable of exercising their empathic capacities in order to properly observe the loss of life in a manner most befitting the horrendous results of humiliating a person who was just as human and just as loved and just as precious as you or me. She suffered enough in life just for being herself, it was only appropriate to grant her the dignity she was never afforded by the uncaring creatures who didn't deign to express God's unconditional and everlasting love and kindness. *cough cough* *pointed look*

If you don't consider that reason enough for what they did, I'm glad I don't know you personally. And if you feel that being a representative of whatever religious entity obligates such behavior as disrespecting a person's living identity after they have passed, then perhaps you could stand to take a few notes today.

reply to post by HanzHenry


Galatians 3:28
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave  nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Please don't use religion as an excuse to be against LGBT, considering the translation from the original Hebrew Old Testament to today's bibles translations is hugely different. I can give examples if you wish especially  leviticus which has been translated nearly beyond recognition from the original Hebrew text which is the first part of the Christian Bible.  

reply to post by HanzHenry


So .... what you are telling me here is ..... God decided which one of the millions of sperm was to win the race for the egg? yes? in that case, what is the point in releasing millions of them when only one is required, seems a bit of a waste when the millions that lost the race look up at god and say "thanks for fixing this tournament". Really, REALLY? I call BS on YOUR god theory. People have feelings, if their feelings tell them they were not destined for the body they are in, so be it. Go church, i'm proud of you. Dont go HanzH ........... i have no time for people like you, this is 2014 after all....... who is God anyways?

No disrespect to you or your views but i had to include my thoughts on this

CBG

The claim that 1 Corinthians 6:9 says "homosexuals" will not inherit the kingdom of God is the basis of the condemnation.The word translated homosexual is μαλακός which means soft.This a matter of a religious extrapolation of words into agendaized meanings then propagating it as truth.

The fact is there are people that are born with 2 sexual genitalia(hermaphrodites).It is a Y chromosome that is all the difference of a male or female.To split hairs(and cells) that someone is immoral because of what they are is the height of false judgement.

reply to post by Rex282


I have also heard that "The meek shall inherit the Earth" using your word "Soft" what is your interpretation on this? even though it is all a fairy tale anyway.

Cheers

CBG

HanzHenry
reply to post by adjensen

 

Acknowledging a human being is decent.

compassion is important

But, acknowledging that a man is a man, and a woman is a woman is the way GOD intends.

do you believe you speak for GOD?
do you believe you know the "limit" of gods compassion, do YOU seek to limit his mercy?
do you wish to be judged, as you have judged?

If someone wants to live in drag, be homosexual, bi sexual, etc.. That is THEIR choice, and THEY have to answer for it.

love one another as i have loved you, doesn't include limits,
god sees us as we are, god sees our heart, not our cloths.

But, for religious clergy to is an OBVIOUS affront to GOD..

you fail in your compassion, you fail in your mission, love one another WITHOUT condition!

The "parts" God gives a being is what GOD intends them to be. And by calling someone born with man parts a female??

god intends you to be compassionate, patient and loving.
not judgemental!

HOW IS THAT NOT GOING AGAINST GOD'S obvious wishes.?

you sound like you believe you speak for god about his wishes or intent,
what is obvious is that if god loves ALL equally, and he can have massive mercy,
who the hell are you limit gods grace?
do you think GOD was wrong to allow trans people into his creation?

xp

reply to post by adjensen


In this day and age, it's quite unreal that there is still so much animosity towards what is different.

The tragedy here is not that he/she was transgender. The tragedy here is that she was homeless. While we spend billions on war games, people starve, and die, killed or left out there to die anyway.

The Catholic Church gave her a nice funeral. Well, good for them but I just find it too bad that they didn't do anything before she died.

But that's just me.

reply to post by SonoftheSun

The Catholic Church gave her a nice funeral. Well, good for them but I just find it too bad that they didn't do anything before she died.

Well, as I wrote in the OP, we don't know that -- they may well have. Since she was a devout Catholic, there was undoubtedly a contact point, and she didn't feel negative toward the church, so I'd lean towards saying that they did help her, directly or indirectly. Poverty is a tragedy, and, sadly, one that is played out daily in millions of lives, all over the world.

adjensen
reply to post by SonoftheSun

 

The Catholic Church gave her a nice funeral. Well, good for them but I just find it too bad that they didn't do anything before she died.

Well, as I wrote in the OP, we don't know that -- they may well have. Since she was a devout Catholic, there was undoubtedly a contact point, and she didn't feel negative toward the church, so I'd lean towards saying that they did help her, directly or indirectly. Poverty is a tragedy, and, sadly, one that is played out daily in millions of lives, all over the world.

Perhaps they did and still do, or perhaps not. I do have to apologize. I am not a big Catholic Church fan. Or any church in general for that matter. I just find it sad that religions of the world - with the fortune that they have - do not contribute more to take people off the streets. But that's for another topic all together.

My point, however, was that homelessness was the tragedy here and not the fact that he/she was transgender.

reply to post by SonoftheSun

My point, however, was that homelessness was the tragedy here and not the fact that he/she was transgender.

I agree, my friend, and we all need to do what we can to combat it