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Inclusion for LGBT people

Posted on 23. Aug, 2018, in Achievement, Christian Values, Community, Sexuality, Young people3 Comments

There was great excitement in the RDS as thousands gathered from across the globe to attend the Pastoral Congress in anticipation for the Pope’s visit.  However there have been many voices who are saying that LGBT people are being excluded from the World Meeting of Families.

James Martin SJ, renowned American author and consultant to the Vatican’s Secretariat for Communications, gave a workshop entitled ‘Showing welcome and respect in our parishes for LGBT people and their families,’ at the World Meeting of Families 2018 Pastoral Congress in the RDS, Dublin on 23 August 2018. In this interview with Pat Coyle, he shared many personal stories of LGBT exclusion by priests and religious and encouraged the faithful to “stand up”and fight against this type of injustice.

At a packed talk, he recounted experiences of deep pain among LGBT people as well as examples of parishes were great work was being done regarding LGBT inclusivity. He offered concrete suggestions for bringing about change and reform in parishes so that LGBT people and their families could feel welcome and supported.

He indicated that standing up for LGBT people can be put forward as an example of tackling injustice for Catholics around the world.

3 responses to “Inclusion for LGBT people”

  1. Rev Eileen Cremin says:
    August 24, 2018 at 9:26 am

    This is a good interview, but it ends rather abruptly! It left me wondering what I had missed out on!

    • miriam says:
      August 24, 2018 at 10:39 am

      Thanks Eileen – that was prob down to the fact that it was done and edited all yesterday evening, so it was probably edited a bit tightly! But he goes on to say that he cares more about the large numbers in the church than those protesting outside!

  2. Suzanne Ryder says:
    August 28, 2018 at 11:13 am

    This is a very enlightening interview. There are so many ways in which LGBT people encounter discrimination. And then the confusion with child abuse. I really appreciated the point around gay priests coming out and the advantages of this. some of the underlying problem, I think, is that religious and clergy are thought of as asexual, whatever their orientation.