This fall, the Synod on Synodality’s October assembly dominated news coverage as perhaps the most significant Catholic event since Vatican II. As a result, some Catholic LGBTQ+ news did not make it onto Bondings 2.0—yet. Yesterday and today’s posts feature stories and commentaries not yet covered, with links provided if you would like to learn more.
The posts today and tomorrow feature stories and commentaries not yet covered this, with links provided if you would like to learn more.
Pope Francis welcomed a group of transgender women, with whom he has formed an ongoing relationship, to a luncheon at the Vatican last week marking the church’s World Day of the Poor.
A Canadian Catholic school board trustee was deemed ineligible to serve over an anti-LGBTQ+ social media post and further refusal to make amends for the post, leading to the trustee’s resignation.
In the National Catholic Reporter, transgender Catholic Maxwell Kuzma has written about what positive impact the Vatican’s greater welcome to gender-expansive people could have.
Catholic reformers have responded largely negatively to the synthesis report from last month’s General Assembly of the Synod on Synodality. The report failed to mention LGBTQ+ people directly, though a closer reading reveals sections that, if applied to gender and sexuality issues, could be helpful.
In the two weeks since the Synod on Synodality’s first General Assembly ended, a flurry of reactions and commentaries have appeared, both about the meeting’s final report and the larger process.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is set to elect a new secretary, as well as six committee chairs next week, when they meet from November 13th to 16th. Most of the candidates skew LGBTQ-negative, once again contrasting the USCCB with Pope Francis’ desired way of being church.
The Synod assembly’s final report contains a number of passages that can be applied in positive ways to LGBTQ+ issues.
In the Synod on Synodality’s first two years, Catholics worldwide expressed a strong desire for the church to engage positively with LGBTQ+ people. Today, the final report of the Synod’s first General Assembly disappoints by simply reaffirming the hierarchy’s status quo.