I was very disappointed to read Cardinal Vincent Nichols saying that a fuller and more balanced appreciation of same-sex orientation “fell outside the scope of the [Synod on the Family]” (“Elation, but compromise too”, 31 October). We usually find time for the things that matter to us. Cardinal Nichols’ words, and those of the final report on the subject, offer little encouragement or comfort for those of us seeking little more than a glance of parental affirmation. Rather than that of Holy Mother Church, the face presented to gay Catholics was that of a stern father who really would rather we were neither seen nor heard.When asked by friends why I stay a practising Catholic, I ask as Simon Peter did, “To whom shall I go?” I’m stuck with the