“Blessings for All” in Switzerland; And Other News

Here are some items you might find of interest:

The logo translation: (top) Blessings for All; (bottom) All Are Welcome Here.

1. Switzerland’s Alliance for Equal Rights in Catholicism, an organization that works for renewal in the church through more democratic and transparent structures and policies, has provided a list of Swiss parishes and pastoral ministers who will provide blessings for people in same-gender relationships.  The webpage, entitled “Blessings for All,” offers the following explanation for the need for such a list:

“Blessing is a gift. No one has the right to refuse this gift. In many places in Switzerland, it is already a proven practice for pastors to bless unmarried, remarried and queer couples.

“It is not always clear at first glance whether a parish and its employees are open to all couples and ‘queer-friendly.’ For couples who want a blessing, this is a barrier to making contact.”

Cardinal David

2. Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David of Kalookan, Philippines, a newly-installed cardinal, has been appointed by Pope Francis to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican office which has issued most documents on LGBTQ+ topics.  Cardinal David was a delegate to the global assembly of the Synod on Synodality in 2024, and he has a postive record on LGBTQ+ issues.  At the time of the Synod meeting, Bondings 2.0 reported on his record:

As president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, the bishop gave a brief statement affirming Fiducia Supplicans as “clear in its content and intent,” saying it “does not require much explanation.” Previously, in that same role in 2021, David published a letter defending Pope Francis’ support of civil unions for same-gender couples, saying the pope is “not out to destroy our morals and orthodoxy,” but that he “valued being kind and compassionate more than being right and righteous.” In 2019, as vice president of the Philippines’ bishops’ conference, David said the conference supported the since-failed SOGIE (Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity and Expression) Equality Bill, which would have enhanced non-discrimination laws, as a “Christian imperative.” David underscored at the time that the Philippines’ bishops had long supported protections and recognition of LGBTQ+ people in the highly-Catholic nation. David was chosen by the Philippines’ bishops as one of their representatives to the 2023 and 2024 Synod assemblies.

Luce, the Jubilee Year mascot

3. “Luce,” the Vatican’s “mascot” for the 2025 Jubilee Year, has come under fire because of its supposed LGBTQ+ associations, reports Religion News Service. CatholicVote, an archconservative website, criticized the Vatican for commissioning tokidoki, a Japanese anime company which also produces LGBTQ+ Pride merchandise, to create the Jubilee image.  Additionally, conservative Catholic commentator George Weigel complained that the image, which he sees as “a vaguely androgynous, although putatively female, anime character,” will be ineffective in attracting young people to Jubilee events.

4. Bondings 2.0 blog contributor Jeromiah Taylor has penned an in-depth article comparing Catholicism to jazz music, entitled “Catholicism, like jazz, is all about a living tradition.”  You can read the creative essay in the January 2025 print issue of U.S. Catholic, or online by clicking on the title above. Though not about LGBTQ+ issues directly, people in the LGBTQ+ Catholic community will resonate with Taylor’s thesis:

“The spirit and method of jazz offer a spiritual model to Catholics who deeply desire to participate in a vibrant tradition. Jazz is an idiom of resilience, crafted and refined in response to powerful forces of racism and disenfranchisement. Catholicism, likewise, is an idiom of resurrection, incarnated in response to powerful forces of sin and death. Just as the jazz ensemble is a community of persons irreducible to its parts, so too is the Trinity, as well as the church and tradition; tradition has essential elements, upon which different voices through the ages have offered statements. For a time, akin to the jazz soloist, one voice or another may take the lead, but none can live outside the whole.”

–Francis DeBernardo, New Ways Ministry, January 18, 2025