Another attack on the Catholic Church

LGBT Catholics to hold vigils in Springfield and Chicago cathedrals

Gerald FarinasonOctober 3, 2014/0 comments

Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

As Pope Francis calls his bishops for his “Extraordinary Synod on the Family”—a summit to discuss changes to the family dynamic around the world—LGBT Catholics in Illinois will hold sunset vigils that will include communal prayer of the rosary.

They will take place at 6 p.m. on Oct. 13 at Immaculate Conception Cathedral, 524 E. Lawrence Ave., Springfield and Oct. 14 at Holy Name Cathedral, 735 N. State St., Chicago.

The events are just two stops in a nationwide sojourn called Pray, Listen, Discern: Raising the Voices of LGBT Catholics—taking place in cities led by prominently anti-gay church leaders. They include Abp. Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, Abp. John Nienstedt of St. Paul and Minneapolis, Abp. Dennis Schnurr of Cincinnatti, Abp. Charles Chaput of Philadelphia, Abp. William Lori of Baltimore.

Most Rev. Thomas Paprocki, bishop of Springfield, gained national fame when, upon the passage of marriage equality in Illinois, he led the Rite of Exorcism at his Springfield cathedral in “reparation for the sin of same-sex marriage.”

Observers characterized Paprocki as pontificating to the packed church, “We must pray for deliverance from this evil which has penetrated our state and our church.”

As archbishop of Chicago and president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Cardinal Francis George was one of the leading voices against marriage equality nationwide, having had the ear of many politicians in each state and in Washington, D.C. In 2013, Cardinal George described marriage equality legislation in Illinois as “acting against the common good of society.”

He also angered the general public in 2011 when he responded to a change to the Chicago Pride Parade route, which would pass in front of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church in the Boystown LGBT neighborhood enclave.

“You don’t want the gay liberation movement to morph into something like the Ku Klux Klan, demonstrating in the streets against Catholicism,” he said.

The Human Rights Campaign Religion and Faith Program planned the Pray, Listen, Discern tour to coincide with the synod—which surprised church leaders and observers when Pope Francis announced it would happen. Over 150 bishops will attend the Vatican meeting from Oct. 5 to 19.

It will be the first of two synods. The next is planned for Oct. 2015. By then, Pope Francis is expected to announce doctrinal changes that could affect Catholics around the world.

But LGBT advocates in the U.S. are worried that bishops will appeal to the Pope to keep restrictive policies, like refusing to baptize children of LGBT parents.

“As we prepare to gather, we pray that our U.S. representative in Rome, Abp. Joseph Kurtz, listens to our voices and sees the value of recognizing and including all families in the Catholic fold,” said Lisbeth Melendez Rivera of the Human Rights Campaign. “On behalf of all those who have been excluded from the church—from the LGBT faithful and divorced families, to those who have been fired simply for being who they are—we will offer them Holy Mary’s wisdom and God’s clarity.”

There are major forces working to keep church tradition. Among them is one of the biggest funders of The Vatican, the Knights of Columbus—which held its convention Aug. 5 to 7 in Orlando, Fla. with Cardinal George in attendance. It stressed, through convention speeches and homilies, the need to defend family life and fight women’s reproductive choice.

The convention even bestowed an award for International Family of the Year: Mr. James and Mrs. Stefanie Bell of Cody, Wyo. and their nine surviving children ages 2 to 24. They are held as an example of what an extraordinary family looks like.

The synod is not expected to declare acceptance of marriage equality or the ordination of women as priests, but advocates are hopeful that Pope Francis has instituted a first step that could, in the long run, bring changes people want.