“I feared rejection. I believed that love in our community was conditional. It had small print: terms and conditions which might prove unfavorable. If people knew the true me, I’d be labelled, marginalized and rejected.”

“I want to talk about what happens when someone chooses to leave. I would like to share my experiences and the experiences of those close to me and highlight some things that have both helped and hindered this transition…. I do not believe that a shift in belief systems should equate to the breakdown of social connections, but all too often in our community, this has been the case. After watching countless families suffer, and struggle to communicate with each other, I hope these experiences will help us all to bridge the gap.”

“Our role as priests has already commenced. We are a holy priesthood already—not we will be in the future. And so we should follow the example of our leader, our great high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ.”

“I’ve come to a new sense of wonder. I don’t need to have all the answers. It’s ok to say, ‘I don’t know’. I don’t have to be right. The world doesn’t stop revolving if I question or doubt. And I’ve found it so liberating to accept that reality. By locking myself into a religious fortress, I had somehow shrunk God to a size I could contain and comprehend. Trusting in him despite my doubts and wonderings, opens the doors to a better appreciation of the amazingness of his grace.”

“I’m asking you to re-examine your thoughts and feelings about the Jewish community. I’m asking you to be cautious of discussing Jews without defining exactly who you mean. I’m asking you to use respectful and appropriate language but my main plea is that you respond to Jews, and anyone else who is suffering, with compassion.”

Jesus loved the unlovely. He saw the love where we see neediness, he recognised the inner anguish and need for forgiveness where we see an embarrassing lack of protocol and poor behaviour.

"For me, it could well end in a kinder and more empathetic form of Christianity – less judgemental, gentler, more forgiving, more loving and caring. All the things that pervade the whole of the gospel message brought by Jesus.”