Voices from the LGBTQ+ Jubilee Year Pilgrimage, Part 2

There have been a number of news accounts about the LGBTQ+ Pilgrimage of Hope for the Holy Year over the last few days. Since many of the articles repeat similar information, this post will offer tidbits of what was distinct in each article, mainly the thoughts and reflections of individual pilgrims. Yesterday’s post contained additional voices.

from The New York Times:

(for full article, click here)

LGBTQ+ pilgrims pass through the Holy Door at St. Peter’s Basilica. (Guglielmo Mangiapane/Reuters)

“ ‘It was a very special moment’ for such Catholics to feel embraced, said Tyrone Grima, of Malta, who attended the event. For too long, they had ‘to hide, living in shame and guilt, said Nathalie de Williencourt, whose son is gay. Participating in the festival, known as a Jubilee pilgrimage, signaled greater public visibility and welcome, she said.” . . .

“Francis DeBernardo, who runs New Ways Ministry, a Maryland-based group that promotes inclusion in the church, contrasted this Jubilee pilgrimage with the last one he took in 2000, when the Roman Catholic Church had spent months lobbying unsuccessfully to cancel the first WorldPride, which had been organized to take place in Rome that summer.

“Speaking from a balcony overlooking St. Peter’s Square on the Sunday after the pride parade, Pope John Paul II had expressed “bitterness,” saying WorldPride was an affront to the church and the ‘Christian values’ of the Italian capital.

“ ‘And here we are, 25 years later, and L.G.B.T.Q. people are going to go through the Holy Door as a group,’ Mr. De Bernardo said.” . . .

“Bernardo Massarini, a priest from Amiens, France, who has worked with L.G.B.T.Q. Catholics for 20 years, said he had cried during the homily. One of the first things he did upon arriving in Rome this week, he said, was to visit Pope Francis’ tomb ‘to say, ‘Thank you,”‘ adding, ‘If we’re here, it’s because of his ministry.’ ”

“Alessandro Previti, one of the organizers of the pilgrimage, said the Vatican had put the group on the calendar following years of dialogue between Jonathan’s Tent, an Italian advocacy group, and ‘key members of the Vatican and pastoral workers.’

“‘We are welcome first and foremost as Christians who are L.G.B.T.Q., so we are at home,’ he said, adding, ‘It’s about time.'”

David from the Queer Worship Community in Munich, Germany

from Politico:

(for full article, click here)

Caterina, a health care worker from Padua, Italy: “This is a super-significant moment, the first LGBTQ+ jubilee in history, you can imagine how important that is for both LGBTQ+ Christians and the Church.”

Kaitlyn, from London, UK: “We have been overlooked for so long. It is very good to show it is possible to be both LGBTQ+ and Catholic.”

Guillermo, an El Salvadorean who travelled from London: “It’s a very special moment as it’s the first time the LGBTQ+ community has been invited — that is very meaningful. We all hope Leo will carry on the inclusiveness of Francis.”

from CNN.com:

(for full article, click here)

Cory Shade, Fort Lauderdale, Florida: “I think this is opening up the church to so many more people, to whole families, and it’s just such a welcoming experience.”

Michael O’Loughlin, executive director of Outreach, USA: Tthe pilgrimage was a “huge moment” and LGBTQ people are “cautiously optimistic” Pope Leo will continue what Francis started.

from Agence France Presse in The Korea Herald

(for full article, click here)

A religious sister from France waiting to join the pilgrimage.

Yveline Behets, a 68-year-old transgender woman from Brussels, Belgium, who walked 130 kilometers with another 30 LGBTQ people along part of the ancient Via Francigena pilgrimage route to get to Rome: “One should not misuse the word ‘welcome.’ We are not just some outsiders who are are welcomed sometimes, or more regularly — we are part of the same family.”

Hugo, a 35-year-old from Quebec: The LGBTQ pilgrimage was “a really important signal for us to feel more included.” He hoped it would “let people who are on the fence to allow themselves to be more welcoming towards homosexuals in the Church.”

Beatrice Sarti, a 60-year old mother from Bologna, Italy, accompanying her gay son on the pilgrimage: There “is still a long way to go” for moving other Catholics. “Many of our children no longer go to church … because they are made to feel that they are wrong. That absolutely needs to change.

“The first thing to do is train educators, the seminarians, the priests and the bishops, starting at grassroots,” admitting “it is a very long process.”

from The Washington Post

(for full article, click here)

“For those in the group, one of the most memorable moments came Saturday, when they made their pilgrimage through the basilica’s Holy Door, an act that, especially in a jubilee year, is meant as a rite of redemption. A leader among the group carried a symbol embraced by gay Catholics: a rainbow cross. During at least one event in the past, Vatican staff had forbidden such a cross inside the church.

“The cross’s bearer, Armando Capasso, 40, a gay teacher from Naples, was preparing to place it to one side before passing through the Holy Door. To his surprise, a Vatican staffer and guard signaled the okay, and waved him in. He was permitted to hold it high throughout St. Peter’s Basilica.

“’I am in shock,’ Capasso said, pausing as he held back tears. ‘The church sees us without our masks, and lets us in.'”