Play delves into a ‘Communion’ broken when a gay teacher marries | Faith Matters

After I went to "Communion," I joined the choir and learned the hymn "Somebody's knocking at your door." The lyrics are simple and repetitive:

"Somebody's knocking at your door. Somebody's knocking at your door. Oh, sinner, why don't you answer? Somebody's knocking at your door."

But this was no ordinary choir, and the "Communion" was not in a church but in an off-Broadway theater in Manhattan where Matthew LaBanca, a talented actor and musician, has turned his heartbreak into a drama to raise consciousness about LGBTQ discrimination in the Catholic school system throughout the U.S.

LaBanca used to work as a music teacher at St. Joseph Catholic Academy in Queens and as the music director of nearby Corpus Christi Church. But on Oct 13, 2021, he was fired from both positions simultaneously because an anonymous person complained to the Diocese of Brooklyn about his wedding to his husband, Rowan, on Aug. 1, 2021. The reason was that same-sex marriage violates church teaching.

The play reenacts the impersonal phone call between the pastor of the parish and a nun from the diocesan schools' office informing LaBanca of his possible dismissal. Technically, Catholic schools consider all employees as ministers of the faith and have dismissed faculty on those grounds and courts uphold the firing.

In his defense, LaBanca states in the play: "You have called me a minister, but I am not ordained. I don't write homilies. I don't teach religion. I simply teach people music."

He goes on to say marrying his partner enabled them to legally take care of each other. Further, God created him this way so "I appeal to you, in turn, using the words of Pope (Francis), 'If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?'"

Monsignor Jonas, the pastor, dismisses Francis' words.

"But that is not a church teaching," he says. "It's an opinion."

LaBanca's retort that, "But he's the Pope" goes nowhere.

LaBanca's firing made headlines at the time and at one point in the play, various visual screens play local news reports — most prominently Michelle Charlesworth from WABC-TV Eyewitness News.

In an interview before I attended the first preview of the play, LaBanca told me that since everyone knew he was gay for years, he did not expect to be fired.

"To be honest, I felt relatively immune since we live in New York City and there's such a progressive mindset here."

After several years, he said, he decided "to turn my pain into a story of hope and healing for others. It's why I wrote 'Communion.'"

I first met LaBanca at our Pride Mass in Hoboken last June and soon learned what happened to him. I was unaware of his long show business credits. He has appeared in other Off-Broadway shows, regional theater and on television. He plays several musical instruments. And all of this talent is abundantly clear in his 65-minute solo performance.

His theater classroom has an overhead projector and a blackboard — dinosaur equipment compared to whiteboards and laptops today. And he creatively converts the audience into his church choir. The patrons happily oblige.

You go from the joy he gets from teaching and directing choir to the depression he went through for the six weeks until the now retired Brooklyn Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio — who was once pastor of Holy Rosary Church, Jersey City – signs off on his termination.

Then you see LaBanca's hurt and anger, especially at the church.

He cites their hypocrisy in singling him out: "The laws that all ministers must abide by church teachings? What about the laws that say no one should use birth control? That no one should support abortion or the death penalty? That everyone should go to church on Sunday? Every employee meets these standards?"

David Harvie, an Edison resident who once lived in Jersey City, was in the audience. In 2017, he organized a historic LGBTQ pilgrimage to Sacred Heart Cathedral in Newark.

"'Communion' was deeply moving for those of us who have experienced firsthand the sin of homophobia within the church," he said. "The church is human and too often inflicts spiritual violence on its members again and again. We expect the church to be moral and ethical but we, like Matthew, see that it often falls far short."

LaBanca is offering complimentary tickets to any bishop who would like to see the show hoping they will see the personal trauma this policy inflicts on those fired.

"The Mass so beautifully begins with the Confiteor, where we atone for our sins," he said. "The Catholic church is allowed to say, 'We were wrong, and we are sorry.'"

LaBanca is now employed in a public school near the church and school he was fired from. He refused to sign a non-disclosure agreement with a settlement fee and did not sue. But he's undeterred.

"You can't go wrong," he said, "when you prioritize love."

If you go ...