Despite saying all were “welcome to participate as one family” at the World Meeting of Families (WMoF) LGBT Catholic group, We Are Church Ireland says organisers have shut it out.
The event which Pope Francis will attend is due to take place in Ireland next month.
We Are Church Ireland (WAC Ireland), which advocates for LGBT inclusivity, says it is “being refused an exhibition stand” at the event.
It claims this is “because WAC Ireland stands for the full equality of Women and LGBTQI people.”
WAC Ireland says it responded positively to the WMoF’s invitation to welcome the pope to Ireland.
The WMoF says the event has already been marred by controversy over disputes about LGBT families.
Pressure from anti-LGBT Catholic lobbyists has forced WMoF organisers to remove all references to homosexuality and same-sex parents from booklets produced for the event.
WAC Ireland says although its application and deposit for an exhibition stand was submitted on 14th February, it still hasn’t had a written response about its application.
“Almost fortnightly, we have rung the WMoF inquiring about the status of our application. The constant reply has been: ‘Yes, we received your application but it is on hold.’”
The group says it was told “it was up to those at the executive level to inform us.”
WAC Ireland sent a registered letter in May to the Secretary General of the WMoF and copied it to the Archbishop of Dublin and President of WMoF, asking for “the courtesy of a decision on our application.”
It has not had a response to these letters.
WAC Ireland says it cancelled its deposit in mid-July after the WMoF deadline passed.
“This refusal by the WMoF to engage with We Are Church Ireland and, in effect, to reject our application shows a closed and exclusive mentality which contradicts Pope Francis’s constant calls for dialogue in the Catholic Church.”
In response, WMoF spokeswoman Brenda Drumm said WAC Ireland was “one of a number of organisations who are on a holding list in respect of exhibition space … [many of which] are on hold because they do not meet our stated criteria which were provided to them at the time of their application.”
- The criteria seek:
• “Church-approved organisations” involved in “supporting family and marriage on behalf of the Irish Bishops’ Conference”
• organisations involved in “promoting Catholic social teaching.”Source - Pink News
- Irish Times
- Image: GCN
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