Tag Archives: lgbt inclusion in church

Pastoral Ministry, Sexuality and gender

European Forum – LGBT Youth Conference

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The annual conference of the European Forum of LGBT Christian Groups, held last week outside Rome, featured a strong presence by LGBT youth, in preparation for the Catholic Bishops’ Synod Assembly to be held in Rome later this year. Here follows a press release from the Forum:

“Hopes and expectations of young LGBT people towards the Youth Synod”

The 37th Annual Conference of the European Forum of LGBT Christian Groups, organised by Cammini di Speranza and REFO (Evangelical Network Faith and Homosexuality), took place in Albano Laziale, near Rome, 9 to 13 May 2018. On 12 May, the Conference included an event specifically for young LGBT+ people to provide input to the Youth Synod organised by the Roman Catholic Church, to find possible ways to reach a state of inclusive pastoral care.

An international gathering

LGBT+ young people from over 25 European countries gathered in Albano Laziale (RM) to discuss their wishes and hopes regarding the ability of Christian churches to welcome them and enhance their contributions, at the Annual Conference of the European Forum of LGBT Christian Groups, organised in partnership with Cammini di Speranza and REFO (Evangelical Faith and Homosexuality Network).

A public conference on Saturday 12 May, in the Aula Magna of the Waldensian Faculty of Theology in Rome, provided suggestions for understanding both the mood of young LGBT+ Christians and the possibility of a more open approach to pastoral care.

Fr James Martin addresses conference

Among the keynote speakers, the Jesuit Father James Martin, author of the recent “Building a Bridge” on LGBT Christians, presented by video his vision of inclusive pastoral care:

 

“Many young people tell me how rejected they feel from the church and also how difficult it is for them to enter into a relationship with God. The religious rejection that they feel from their families moves them into the streets sometimes. At least in the US, LGBT youth are five times more likely to consider committing suicide than their straight counterparts. We can say that this is really a life issue for the church.”

He continued with three messages to LGBT young people: “1) God loves you; 2) Jesus cares for you, especially when you feel at the margins; 3) The Church is your home.”

Positive stories of inclusive pastoral care

Other speakers spoke of their own experiences: the path towards inclusion of LGBT+ people proposed by Marco Agricola, of the Italian Evangelical Youth Federation, the story of the experience of a Christian mother of an LGBT boy, offered by Dea Santonico of the base community of  S. Paul of Rome, and the voices of some of the protagonists of the conference: the young LGBT+ Christians themselves. They shared their own experiences of inclusive pastoral care already in place in different communities in Italy, Spain, Germany and France.

In the end they expressed their hopes and expectations for an inclusive church: “We would like to fully affirm our attachment towards our Church founded on the body of Christ. This originates from our Roman Catholic upbringing and later on made decisions of being an active part in our Church’s future in a spirit of growing hope and faith.”

The young LGBT+ Christian people are offering to us a new vision of a Church which gives space to them and their families, developing inclusive pastoral care, challenging LGBTIQ*-phobic attitudes and comments inside and outside the Church, creating reinforcing the dialogue between the Church itself and Christian LGBTIQ* people.

News, Pastoral Ministry, Sexuality and gender

“Towards Welcoming and Affirming Christian Communities”

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European Forum of LGBT Christian Groups: Conference 2019

 

Last week I spent a few days in the Albano hills outside Rome, at the 2018 annual conference of the European Forum of LGBT Christian groups. As always, I found it useful to meet up once again with others to exchange views and news of our activities, but also found the actual content and worship stimulating, inspiring, and spiritually nourishing.  As always, there was much that deserves reporting and comment, but this cannot be done adequately in a single post. For now, I offer just some highlights.

Participants at conference 2018

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Catholic_Church, Marriage / family

Belgian Cardinal: “Respect gay/lesbian sexual expression”.

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Josef De Kesel, cardinal archbishop of Brussels, is reported to have told local LGBT Catholics that the church should respect gay and lesbian sexual expression.

“Respect” for gay and lesbian people is an established part of Catholic teaching (along with “sensitivity and compassion”). Sadly, this element of teaching has too frequently been neglected, and sits alongside the more widely known prohibition on any form of sexual activity outside of marriage, and open to procreation – which includes all same-sex genital activity.  Many gay and lesbian Catholics themselves, as well as many professional moral theologians, see the inherent contradiction in this. However, while an increasing number of prominent bishops and cardinals in recent years have been proclaiming the importance of “respect”, they have been notably reluctant to criticize the prohibition on gay sex,

Until now.  According to a report in a Belgian LGBT website, in a closed meeting with a local LGBT group, Cardinal De Kesel, archbishop of Brussels,  described a “paradigm shift” under way in the church’s teaching on homosexuality, and said that respect for homosexuals must include respect for their sexual expression.

(He also said that the church should be ready to “celebrate” same-sex unions – as long as such celebrations stop short of anything resembling marriage. He would accept a service of thanksgiving, for instance, but not a same-sex blessing or exchange of rings. )

For the first time, a Belgian archbishop indicates that LGBTs are allowed to experience their sexual orientation. Cardinal De Kesel took a very progressive position according to catholic standards during an informal meeting with the Malines LGBT association HLWM.

On April 24 there was a meeting between De Kesel and the Mechelen LGBT-association HLWM . This showed that the top of the Church is now prepared to accept gay relationships. “The Church must respect homosexuals and lesbians more, also in their experience of sexuality,” HLWM noted. The cardinal was genuinely concerned about the well-being of gays and lesbians and he also mentioned his meeting with a trans * woman.

According to De Kesel, the Church needs time to understand homosexuality. He made the comparison with the period in which psychologically disturbed people ended up in prison because they did not understand the phenomenon of mental disturbance. “Until recently, the Church was very dismissive of homosexuals and lesbians. But that was no different from society as a whole. Certainly in Europe much has changed for the better, but the Church in Africa and Asia in particular and in parts of Eastern Europe is not yet included. But we must also respect those opinions. “

Incidentally, the cardinal indicated that he also changed his position: “Twenty years ago I would have spoken differently about it than is the case now. I would then have followed the official teaching of the Church. I now look at it much more ‘comprehensively’. Where respect is central. “

Zizo online

News, Pastoral Ministry

London Bishop Celebrates Mass Welcoming LGBT Catholics.

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On Sunday 11th February, Bishop Nicholas Hudson was the celebrant at a regular Mass “with a particular welcome for LGBT Catholics” at the Mayfair parish of the Immaculate Conception, London – colloquially known as “Farm Street” parish. (These Masses, which have been held regularly twice a month since the end of the Soho so-called LGBT Masses, have an explicitly stated welcome for LGBT Catholics, their families and friends. After Mass, the LGBT community attending host refreshments in the parish hall.)

I had hoped to attend personally, for the Mass and to meet some visitors from a Dublin LGBT pastoral initiative. However, as I had spent the previous day in London at a planning meeting for the 2019 conference of the European Forum of LGBT Catholic Groups, had a lot of work to do result of that meeting, and will be back in London on Friday for a funeral, I reluctantly decided that I could not justify another trip up.

Instead, I offer below a report received by email from the parish LGBT pastoral team:  

During the course of his Parish Visitation to Farm Street Jesuit Church (11 February 2018), Bishop Nicholas Hudson, Auxiliary Bishop of Westminster responsible for the Central & East London areas, presided at the Mass welcoming LGBT+ Catholics. This was particularly appropriate, given the strong themes of inclusion, rather than exclusion, in the Scripture readings for this Sunday  

Bishop Nicholas also led the congregation in applause for the music provided by the Beacon Music Group, including piano, woodwind and violin accompaniment.

Concluding the Mass, Bishop Hudson complimented the parish on its inclusive mission and ministry, not least in its welcome to LGBT Catholics, parents and families. He said: The recently-installed glass doors at the church’s main entrance were a clear statement of being open to the world outside, and of welcome.

During after-Mass refreshments, joining in prayer with those gathered, he met a number of LGBT Catholics, parents, and families in the Parish Hall, including asylum-seeker members of the community, newcomers, and visitors from the All Are Welcome pastoral initiative in Dublin.

Catholic_Church, Pastoral Ministry, Sexuality and gender

Global Rainbow Catholics Condemn LGBT Criminalisation

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Under the biblical motto “Hear a Just Cause” (Psalm 17,1), almost 100 Rainbow Catholics from 35 countries gathered in Munich-Dachau from November 30th to December 3rd, 2017, in order to develop a common agenda for the future.

A special focus of the assembly was on the African region,  where legal criminalisation in some countries and social persecution in others lead to conditions where LGBTIQ people in many African countries are endangered in their everyday lives. One of several working groups convened during the assembly focused specifically on this issue of criminalisation.





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Pastoral Ministry

Cardinal Nichols Endorses Quest’s “Support” for Gay Catholics.

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Lifesite News reports that Cardinal Nichols has recommended to the priests of Westminster diocese that they should “make use” of Quest in ministering to “those with same-sex attraction”.

In a communication a little over a week ago to priests in the Archdiocese of Westminster, Cardinal Vincent Nichols recommended that they make use of the organization Quest to minister to “those who live with a same-sex attraction and are often very anxious about their journey to God and their relationship with the Church.” The letter was leaked to LifeSiteNews.

“Quest, which was founded in 1973, is a national organisation providing support for LGBT Catholics, their friends and families,” Nichols, the Archbishop of Westminster, stated in his letter. The Cardinal is the President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales.




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Catholic_Church, Pastoral Ministry, Sexuality and gender, Testimony

LGBT Catholics, Working for Change

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At the end of this month, I will join LGBT Catholics and their parents in Munich for  conference of the Global Network of Rainbow Catholics. This follows an earlier gathering in Rome, 2015, where we appointed  a steering committee to formally set up the legal and procedural framework for a permanent body.  The forthcoming conference will approve the statutes, and begin the serious work of expanding pastoral care for LGBT Catholics, extending dialogue and advocacy work with Catholic bishops, and countering church support for legal sanctions against LGBT people.

The German theologian Michael Brinkschroder has, for the past two years, been one of the two co-presidents of the steering committee. In this article published on the GNRC website, he discusses his experience of being both gay and Catholic, as well as his hopes for the GNRC.

The Catholic theologian, sociologist (PhD) and religious education teacher Michael Brinkschröder is gay. Instead of turning his back on the church, he is fighting for acceptance and equality for gays and lesbians in the Roman Catholic Church.




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Marriage / family, Other denominations/faiths

Baptist Church Approves Gay Marriage

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A few months ago, a Georgia Baptist church voted overwhelmingly to approve  allowing same-sex marriage ceremonies in the church. That’s right: a Baptist church,in a southern state of the USA.  The Macon Telegraph reported:

Members of First Baptist Church of Christ, one of Macon’s oldest churches, on Sunday overwhelmingly approved allowing same-sex marriage ceremonies in the church.

The Rev. Scott Dickison, the church’s pastor, said the resolution passed with 73 percent voting in favor. About 230 members voted by secret ballot in a conference following the regular Sunday service. Dickison said that was about the typical size of the congregation on Sunday.

“I’m grateful for the congregation traveling together to this point, and it is an important point but it comes with some tenderness,” he said. “We will continue to heal together as we move forward.”

Yet this is not by any means unique. As marriage equality continues to advance around the world, churches everywhere are having to face up to the implications for their own congregations – and many that were once implacably opposed, are finding that they can indeed live with the new reality – or even embrace it.

For the First Baptist Church in Macon, the decision came after a long process of reflection and discernment, which began five years ago, with discussions about the Christian ethics of homosexuality.  Their decision was a strictly local one, which is the way the Baptists operate.  In the same way, somewhat counterintuitively, it was a Baptist congregation that was the first church in the UK to host a gay wedding service.

More importantly, this decision did not come in a vacuum. A year previously, the congregation had undergone an exhaustive process to clarify their essential mission and charism, as followers of Christ. The decision to approve gay marriage, in church, followed logically from their conclusions. From their website:




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Catholic_Church, Pastoral Ministry, Sexuality and gender, video

Fr James Martin, on “Building a Bridge”

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After the publication of his book “Building a Bridge” (between the Catholic Church and LGBT Catholics), Fr James Martin has received some vociferous opposition from certain quarters – leading to the highly publicised cancellation of a few previously scheduled lectures.

Much more important though, is the less well-publicised heavy schedule he has had, addressing well-attended meetings around the country which have not been cancelled, in parishes schools and colleges.  Here’s Fr. Martin on building a bridge,  during a large scale breakout session at the Ignatian Family Teach-In 2017 in Washington D.C.