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HRC & Local Catholics Join to Raise Voices of LGBT Faithful While Bishops Attend Meetings With Pope

WASHINGTON - The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest advocacy group for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights, will join with LGBT Catholics and their supporters in seven cities to pray the rosary and hold a vigils as part of a national effort to send a message of acceptance during a bishops’ meeting with Pope Francis from Oct. 5-19.

The two-week faith sojourn, Pray, Listen, Discern -- Raising the Voices of LGBT Catholics, is scheduled to coincide with the Vatican’s Extraordinary Synod, a gathering of 150 Catholic Church leaders in Rome to consider family issues and challenges facing the church.

The Pray, Listen, Discern Events will kick off Oct. 6 in San Francisco at the Cathedral of St. Mary, and be followed by prayers and vigils in six other cities where bishops have targeted LGBT Catholics with particularly heartless comments.

Following the launch in San Francisco, events are scheduled Oct. 9 in St. Paul; Oct. 13 & 14 in Chicago and Springfield, Ill.; Oct. 15 in Cincinnati; Oct. 17 in Philadelphia; and Oct. 19 in Baltimore. Additional information, including times and locations, can be found here.

“As we prepare to gather, we pray that our U.S. representative in Rome, Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, listens to our voices and sees the value of recognizing and including all families in the Catholic fold,” said Lisbeth Meléndez Rivera, director of HRC’s Latino/a and Catholic Initiatives. “On behalf of all of those who have been excluded from the church -- from the LGBT faithful and divorced families, to those who have been fired for simply being who they are -- we will offer them Holy Mary's wisdom and God's clarity."

The Synod is expected to address issues of profound importance to LGBT Catholics who are experiencing increasing acceptance among church laity. That movement toward inclusion and moderation, also reflected in Pope Francis’s messages, is not, however, expected to be carried to Rome by U.S. clergy.

The vigils will shine a light on Catholic bishops who have been the most outspoken in their rejection of LGBT Catholics, their civil rights, and their rightful place in the church, according to Meléndez Rivera. More information about bishops in those cities can be found in the HRC document, “The Best of the Worst: Catholic Bishops Across the Country.”

In addition to addressing questions about the family, the Synod in Rome will also consider issues of fertility, surrogate birth, and contraception. Though the Synod will not result in recognition of marriage equality or the ordination of women, participants have the opportunity to take steps toward greater inclusion -- including extending the baptismal sacrament to children of LGBT Catholic families.

More information on the synod can be found in this HRC publication, The Vatican’s Extraordinary Synod: Catholic Church at Critical Juncture.

The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against LGBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.

 

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