An international network of 13 organizations of/with LGBT Catholics met for the first time during the Family Synod 2014 in Rome and since then we have worked together to initiate a global network of LGBTQI Catholics, their parents and families.

We are very happy to announce and invite you to the First Assembly of the Global Network of Rainbow Catholics, the foundational meeting of the new network. Under the title “LGBT Voices to the Synod“, this meeting will take place from 1−4 October 2015 in Rome, on the opening weekend of the second Family Synod.

Part of the program is a public conference “Ways of Love – Snapshots of Catholic Encounter with LGBT People and their Families”. This conference will present LGBT pastoral activities from all over the world that are already going on.

Invited are groups and organizations of LGBT Catholics, their parents and families as well as ecumenical groups with significant numbers of Catholic members; also advocates who work for inclusion, dignity and equality for LGBT people, their parents and families in the Catholic Church.
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Michael Brinkschroeder (European Forum of LGBT Christian Groups – Coordinator Roman Catholic Church Activities).

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The Conference “Ways of Love – Snapshots of Catholic Encounter with LGBT People and their Families” (Rome, October 3rd, 2015) will present examples from all over the world of LGBT pastoral care and inclusion already realized in the Catholic Church.
These testimonies, given by Catholic pastoral leaders from around the globe, demonstrate that a pastoral approach is better than an ideological one for promoting peaceful and fruitful relationships with LGBT people in the everyday life of Roman Catholic communities.
Because the conference’s case histories have been successful for many years, they serve as models for the bishops gathered in the Synod who will be discussing ways to welcome and include LGBT people into church communities. The witness of these pastoral leaders shows that including LGBT people is already happening among Catholics worldwide, even in the absence of concrete guidelines from the hierarchy.

Venue: Rome, Italy, Centro Pellegrini “Santa Teresa Couderc”, Via Vincenzo Ambrosio 9/11, Roma (Italy)

Time: October 3rd, 2015, from 3 to 7 pm

Free Entrance with possibility to reserve a seat

INFO> Email rainbowcatholicsassembly@gmail.com
Website: www.waysoflove.wordpress.com
Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1616333885308527/

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PROGRAMM

Moderator: Gabriella Caramore (author and host or the Italian radio program “Human beings and prophets”)

14.30 Arrival

15.00 Welcoming and introduction

15.15 Interview with Mary MacAleese (Ireland) by Robert Mickens

15.45 Catholic LGBT Pastoral Projects – Snapshots from Chile, USA, UK, Kenya, Italy, Thailand with:

17.15 Break

17.45 Keynote speech: Bishop Raul Vera (Mexico)

18.30 Final Panel: Hopes and expectations from the Family Synod

19.00 Closing

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gnrc-logoMembers Global Network of Rainbow Catholics

European Forum of LGBT Christian Groups
ACGIL – Associació Cristiana de Gais i Lesbianes de Catalunya (Spain)
Dette Resources Foundation (Zambia)
DignityUSA (USA)
Drachma – Drachma LGBTI and Drachma Parents Group (Malta)
Ichthys christian@s lgtbh de Sevilla (Spain)
LGBT Catholics Westminster Pastoral Council (UK)
New Ways Ministry (USA)
Nuova Proposta (Italy)
Ökumenische Arbeitsgruppe Homosexuelle und Kirche (Germany)
Pastoral de la Diversidad Sexual (Chile)
Wiara i Tęcza (Poland)