Parish LGBTQ Ministry?

[Crocus]

Thank you. My parish is very small. Our priest has expressed need for something like that. It is good to see it as an outline that we could possibly use to explore our particular issues.

 

[Poet]

Obviously it would have to uphold Church teaching in order to gain Diocesan or parish support. Do you have any ideas to share?

In this day and age, no it’s not obvious. Many people claim ‘support groups’ within Christian churches that are in fact hoping to tell the churches to alter their teaching on homosexuality. But now that I know your intent is to uphold Church teaching, I know where you’re going with this thread and will think about that. The COURAGE group is the first thing that comes to mind.

 

[GordonP]

I hadn’t heard of Courage until this thread.

That’s an extremely basic piece of information. Courage may be minuscule, but literally every single person in the US who is involved in LGBT ministry and outreach, whether conservative or progressive, not only has heard of the group, but has formed a very strong opinion about them, whether for or against.

The fact that you have never heard about them until now indicates that you have a huge knowledge deficit to address before you can even think about starting a parish LGBT ministry. Otherwise, you’ll just be spinning your wheels and making a big mess of things.

You say your parish is small. LGBT ministries are commonly carried out at the diocesan or regional level, not in small parishes.

My advice is to learn from people who are already doing it, rather than trying to figure it out on your own. So contact:

the diocesan Courage contact, if you favor a conservative approach;

Or your regional chapter of Dignity, if you favor a progressive one.

Like other posters have already noted, this is a highly polarizing issue.

 

[blackforest]

The fact that you have never heard about them until now indicates that you have a huge knowledge deficit to address before you can even think about starting a parish LGBT ministry.

Calm down. Why do you think I started this thread?

You say your parish is small.

My parish is actually huge - it was another commenter mentioning a small parish - and I already stated that I may end up addressing this at the diocesan level. The fact that you overlooked these two details means that you have a huge attention deficit to address.

Many people claim ‘support groups’ within Christian churches that are in fact hoping to tell the churches to alter their teaching on homosexuality.

To repeat, I’m here to start a ministry, not to defend it. Whether or not it starts is up to my priest’s or bishop’s discretion, not yours.

 

[blackforest]

It is time to mute this thread.

If anyone has direct experience with this type of ministry and has some insight to share, please message me.

 

[Poet]

To repeat, I’m here to start a ministry, not to defend it. Whether or not it starts is up to my priest’s or bishop’s discretion, not yours.

You asked for (name removed by moderator)ut. I asked for clarification on your aims. You said ‘obviously’ it would follow Church teaching and I said in this day and age, that’s not obvious, given some of the ‘Catholic’ support groups out there. I asked for clarification. I did not ask you to defend anything and I most certainly didn’t say it was up to my discretion.

I agree, if you’re going to get angry at someone asking for clarification so they can take their time to help you, yes, it’s time to mute this thread.