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The Church and Ministry to the MarginalizedGod in fact “takes us as we are, but never leaves us as we are” -
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Pope Francis: If a person is gay and seeks out the Lord and is willing, who am I to judge that person? I was paraphrasing by heart the Catechism of the Catholic Church where it says that these people should be treated with delicacy and not be marginalized. I am glad that we are talking about “homosexual people” because before all else comes the individual person, in his wholeness and dignity. And people should not be defined only by their sexual tendencies: let us not forget that God loves all his creatures and we are destined to receive his infinite love. I prefer that homosexuals come to confession, that they stay close to the Lord, and that we pray all together.
Pope Francis. The Name of God Is Mercy (pp. 61-62). Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
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Pope Francis and Ministry to the LGBTQ+ community and their families
"The answer to the proposed dubium does not preclude the blessings given to individual persons with homosexual inclinations, who manifest the will to live in fidelity to the revealed plans of God as proposed by Church teaching. Rather, it declares illicit any form of blessing that tends to acknowledge their unions as such. In this case, in fact, the blessing would manifest not the intention to entrust such individual persons to the protection and help of God, in the sense mentioned above, but to approve and encourage a choice and a way of life that cannot be recognized as objectively ordered to the revealed plans of God." Responsum of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith
"We would like before all else to reaffirm that every person, regardless of sexual orientation, ought to be respected in his or her dignity and treated with consideration, while ‘every sign of unjust discrimination’ is to be carefully avoided, particularly any form of aggression and violence. Such families should be given respectful pastoral guidance, so that those who manifest a homosexual orientation can receive the assistance they need to understand and fully carry out God’s will in their lives." Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love) (No. 250).
"This offers us a framework and a setting which help us avoid a cold bureaucratic morality in dealing with more sensitive issues. Instead, it sets us in the context of a pastoral discernment filled with merciful love, which is ever ready to understand, forgive, accompany, hope, and above all integrate. That is the mindset which should prevail in the Church and lead us to “open our hearts to those living on the outermost fringes of society.” (Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love) No. 311-12).
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News on issues affecting LGBTQ+ Catholics and their families
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July 4
More than 200 people from all over the United States and Canada, as well as from the United Kingdom, Italy, Colombia and Uganda, gathered June 24-25 in New York City for the first in-person Outreach LGBTQ Catholic Ministry Conference.Read More -
June 23
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June 17
"Lightyear" (Disney) blasts off in cinemas with controversy in its wake.Read More -
June 17
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June 3
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June 1
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May 10
Pope Francis answers three questions put to him by Jesuit Father James Martin whose pastoral ministry involves the LGBT community.Read More -
April 5
Leadership at the Catholic Benefits Association believes the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will soon announce new regulations that may pose an existential threat to religious-based employers including Catholic hospitals.Read More
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