The American Dream can instill an unequal and unattainable mindset into people of all social classes, education levels, and religions. Just as Jesus offers us a way to hold steady to his truths about wealth in our money-driven world, LGBTQIA+ people and their allies can participate in religious spaces while staying loyal to their queer truth.

October 6, 2024: Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

Wisdom 7:7-11

Psalm 90:12-17

Hebrews 4:12-13

Mark 10:17-30

Working Toward a Different American Dream

"Dreams Don't Work Unless You Do.”

This quote, by pastor and billionaire John Maxwell, embodies the national ethos of America. This country was founded upon the concept that anyone* should have the freedom and opportunity to make their life better. Following the coining of the phrase "American Dream" in 1931, this ethos galvanized popular culture to pursue material wealth. These days, TV advertisements depict ultra wealthy individuals driving $300,000 cars. News articles flood our social media timelines with headlines such as “Personal finance expert and podcast host Farnoosh Torabi shares how a fear of missing out led her down the path to becoming a millionaire;" and “In 2022, I quit my six-figure recruiting job at Amazon to grow my YouTube channel and launch my business, PayBump.”

These narratives inflate the ease of material gain for the average American. Marketing agents want these goals to seem readily attainable so that more people will purchase a subscription for their newsletter or invest in their company's products. However, most Americans cannot quit their job to post YouTube videos. Most Americans cannot convert their fear of missing out into millions of dollars and a large-scale podcast. Inequality under capitalism actively subjugates the non-wealthy. How are everyday citizens supposed to pursue monetary gain when billionaires stack the system against them? Despite these structural barriers, the American Dream of financial wealth reigns strong among people of all socioeconomic levels. People watching the $300,000 car commercials on cable TV and reading the articles about becoming a millionaire may not bemillionaires themselves, but they likely believe that wealth is all about money.

Jesus offers a different mindset. In the gospel reading from this week, Jesus teaches a rich man, and us, that wealth cannot be reduced to money. Despite all the “great possessions” this person has - and all the religious commandments they obey - Jesus tells them that they still lack one thing: altruism. “Go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me,” Jesus says (Mark 10:21). This statement implies that earthly treasures are not the only ones that matter. Altruism and faith are worth more in God’s eyes than heaping piles of gold. Moreover, Jesus condemns the ultra-wealthy. Some versions of the Bible add in a phrase to Jesus's lecture that makes this point very clear: "Children, how difficult it is [for those who trust in riches] to enter the [reign] of God!” (Mark 10:24).

If wealth is not monetary, what is it? Wisdom 7:7-11 provides one interpretation. The unknown author (who the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops identifies as likely a member of the Jewish community in Alexandria, Egypt) writes about the spirit of wisdom: “Neither did I liken to her any priceless gem, because all gold is but a little sand in her sight, and silver will be accounted as clay before her” (Wisdom 7:9). According to the Bible, wisdom is regarded as more valuable than money, as is fear of the Lord (Proverbs 15:16), integrity (Proverbs 28:6), and following your heart (Matthew 6:19-21).

However, just because I acknowledge capitalism and its obsession with material wealth as a root cause of socioeconomic inequality, this does not mean I am going to quit my job in protest. Nor am I going to burn down a billionaire's house or stop using Google. In order to keep myself afloat, I simultaneously participate in this country's economy while keeping the Scriptures’ broader perspectives about wealth close to my heart.

If you also try to bridge the gap between American capitalism and the Gospel’s more humane and generous approach to wealth, I encourage you to apply this mindset to queer spirituality. If Catholics already acknowledge that these two approaches to wealth co-exist, they can do the same with being LGBTQIA+ and religiously affiliated. Some people say that you cannot be both LBGTQIA+ or LGBTQIA+-affirming and Catholic. If that was true, DignityUSA would not exist! Non-affirming religious people love to point to verses of the Bible such as Leviticus 18:22 that decry homosexuality. Well, just like the inset of “those who trust in riches” was added in some versions of Mark 10:24, the word “homosexual” appears in only some versions of the Bible. According to Ed Oxford, a researcher specializing in the history of the Bible, the word “homosexual” did not appear in Bibles until the Revised Standard Version was published in 1946.

If you are struggling with holding both these truths (being LGBTQIA+ or LGBTQIA+-affirming and religiously affiliated), take heart from Hebrews 4:12, “the word of God is living and effective.” To me, the term “living” here means that the Word of God is energizing, creative, and “at work in [those] who believe” (1 Thessalonians 2:13). If all things are possible with God (Mark 10:27), then how could we not work towards an understanding that bridges the gap between Catholicism and LGBTQIA+ affirming faith? How can we not trust in the possibility of acceptance for LGBTQIA+ peoples in religious spaces? … More than material wealth, perhaps this is the dream American Christians (and others) are called by Jesus to pursue.

*The author acknowledges the hypocrisy of early Americans’ concept of freedom as claiming to be accessible to all while marginalizing people of color (especially Black and Native peoples) and women.