Reports from the Synod on Youth indicate that LGBT issues are being raised in at least two ways: whether to use the term “LGBT” in a church document and whether to refer to same-gender couples and their children as “families.”
His cause stalled for nearly four decades, the institutional church finally recognized yesterday what the people of God have known all along: Monseñor Oscar Romero is a saint! With the Synod on Youth underway in Rome, I suggest here that this newly-canonized, but longtime saint can lead us forward towards LGBT liberation.
LGBT Christians must be welcomed fully into the church, said an Italian bishop, because what matters first is their identity as Christians who are wholly part of the baptized faithful.
A top church official in Germany has rejected claims that gay priests are a cause of clergy sexual abuse, saying such ides are discriminatory. He also said the church can no longer be hypocritical by preaching its sexual morality while knowing few practice it.
Detailed reports from the language-based working groups at the Synod on Youth were released yesterday. Most of the 14 groups at least touched on questions of sexuality, but none really engaged LGBT issues specifically.
A French bishop participating at the Synod on Youth has called on the church to not be afraid of sexuality, but to instead begin an honest conversation about it and engage LGBT youth and their allies with a new pastoral model.
A rightwing Catholic group has announced its intention to investigate Catholic cardinals ahead of the next papal conclave, saying it will be “noted very carefully” in reports if a cardinal is considered to be gay.
Earlier this week, Bondings 2.0 reported on Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia’s comment during the Synod on Youth that LGBT people do not exist. A back and forth about terminology as it relates to gender and sexuality proceeded on Twitter, as it likely has elsewhere.
Like openly LGBT people, Catholic women exist almost exclusively at the Synod on Youth’s margins. That rejection is why solidarity between these communities will be key to winning equality, said feminist panelists at an event in Rome earlier this week.
With the Synod on Youth now underway in Rome, Bondings 2.0 explores the LGBT records of a sampling of delegates from outside the U.S. The following bishops are just some of the 300-plus delegates participating in the Synod (a full list available here). It is unclear if and how LGBT issues will be addressed, who might be the key bishops involved in any discussion, and whether there will be positive outcomes.