It is one of the most taboo topics in the Chaldean community — one that people routinely shun. Homosexuality is commonly misinterpreted, and there’s a whole counterculture of gay Chaldeans lost in a community that rejects them.

To be gay and Chaldean seems like a paradox. While only a few Chaldeans admit to their homosexuality, most choose to stay in the proverbial closet. Men and women alike are looking for acceptance, understanding and respect, which they find difficult to attain in the Chaldean community.

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the Church’s official teaching, “homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex” (2357). Fr. Frank Kalabat, pastor at St. Thomas Chaldean Catholic Church in West Bloomfield, said that homosexuality is recognized as an attraction and is not necessarily wrong.

“It’s not a sin to be gay — it’s a sin to engage in homosexual acts,” said Fr. Frank.

The Catechism further states that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered” (2357), meaning that from their very nature, homosexual relations are immoral because “they close the sexual act to the gift of life [and] do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity” (2357). This means that the sexual act is limited to men and women who are married. All homosexual acts, just like heterosexual acts outside of marriage — including extramarital affairs — are insincere and morally wrong, according to the Catechism.

The Chaldean News spent months researching this article and was unable to find even one Chaldean homosexual willing to have his or her real name used. In fact, despite numerous letters and

e-mails from gay Chaldeans exhorting the Chaldean News to cover this topic, we could only get two gay people to speak to us for this piece, and they insisted on being anonymous.

Awake My Soul, a weekend of spiritually and renewed commitment to Christ, is being offered by the Eastern Catholic Re-Evangelization Center (ECRC) September 26-27.

This is the second time the ECRC is presenting its spirituality conference. The last one, in 2006, was at St. Thomas in West Bloomfield; this year’s event takes place at St. Joseph in Troy. It is sponsored by the Chaldean Diocese in Detroit.

“We felt like we did the West Side but we haven’t done the East Side yet,” explained ECRC Director Neran Karmo about the venue change.

Some 2,700 tickets were sold for the 2006 conference, and organizers hope for at least 3,500 participants this time. The cost is only $10 for both days.

The event kicks off on Friday at 5 p.m. and most activities that day are in English, including a skit by CLC (Chaldeans Loving Christ) and a keynote speech by Bishop Daniel Flores of the Archdiocese of Detroit. “He is a really good speaker both locally and nationally, and he’ll speak about renewing your faith,” said Karmo.

A highlight that night will be a concert by Tony Melendez, who has performed before Pope John Paul II. Born without arms, Melendez plays the guitar with his feet — a profoundly moving sight that Karmo says lifts the heart.� “He preaches the Gospel with his toes,” she said.

New this year is an outdoor Eucharistic Procession led by Msgr. Zouhair Toma (Kejbou) beginning at 10 p.m. Friday. Karmo said as many as 1,000 people will join in the procession along Big Beaver Road. “There will be incense and candles, and it’s really something to be a part of,” she said.