Tag Archives: World Meeting of Families

A World Meeting of (Queer) Families? | Queering the Church

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In Dublin next year, there is an intriguing opportunity opening up for LGBT Catholics. Are our advocacy groups paying attention?

For the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia, USA based LGBT groups and their allies attempted to secure formal accreditation. Philadelphia however, is the seat of archconservative Archbishop Chaput, and they were deliberately excluded. In spite of this, the coalition established an informal, non-accredited presence, and did some great work making the case for acceptance and inclusion church, of queer families.

For Dublin 2018, circumstances have changed, dramatically.

More at: Queering the Church

Dublin archbishop outlines themes to prepare for World Meeting of Families

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The church must witness within society to what fidelity means and ‘show young people that long-term fidelity leads to a deep fulfilment’

The president of the 2018 World Meeting of Families stressed that “there is no such thing as the ideal family” but that “there is an ideal of family,” which is what the church is seeking to promote through the international gathering of families in Ireland.

In his homily delivered to a packed basilica at Knock Shrine in County Mayo, Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin said while there is no family that is ideal, there are “families who struggle, at times heroically.”

He also asked, “How do we help our young people to encounter the path of faithful love as the only truth path toward human happiness? How do we teach fidelity in a world where everything is disposable?”

Full report:  The Tablet

Equally Blessed pilgrims welcomed despite challenges | National Catholic Reporter

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I had the honor this past week of working with the Equally Blessed pilgrims as they journeyed to Philadelphia for the World Meeting of Families. These LGBT Catholic families bravely bore witness to a vision of church in which all are welcome, loved, and embraced for the experiences and gifts they offer the Catholic community. It is deeply disappointing the larger community gathered in Philadelphia was not afforded the same opportunity to engage and explore with these pilgrims, too. They were dismissed from giving workshops, rejected from having a presence in the exhibit hall, relegated to a Methodist church across the street, and nearly shut out of the one presentation on “same-sex attraction” that was officially allowed at the meeting.

Source: Equally Blessed pilgrims welcomed despite challenges | National Catholic Reporter

Equally Blessed: “We invite our bishops to include us LGBT Catholics” – NCR

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There is an encounter in the Christian scriptures that has the power to take one’s breath away.

Jesus is invited to the home of a religious leader. A woman, an outcast and sinner, shows up too. Safe to say, she is not invited. In the scene, one of the most poignant in the Gospels, the woman positions herself close to Jesus, washes his feet with her tears (her tears!) and dries them with her hair. It is as if all the moments of this outcast’s life, her sufferings and joys and sins and successes, are collected and reconciled in those tears and given to Jesus in the form of love.

But the host is repulsed by this encounter. Jesus, by authority of his own pure love, invites him to honor her dignity and faith (Luke 7:36-50). We’re not told if the leader is changed by the encounter. Over 2,000 years later, we’re still not sure.

Source: Equally Blessed: We invite our bishops to include us LGBT Catholics wholeheartedly in the World Meeting of Families | National Catholic Reporter