Exodus, an international Christian ministry dealing with faith and homosexuality, has closed down with an apology from its president for inflicting “years of undue suffering” on the gay community. Founded in 1976 by a gay man, Frank Worthen, Exodus functioned as a support group for men and women who were struggling with their sexual orientation. Read more
A report that Pope Francis told Latin American religious about a “gay lobby” in the Vatican has overshadowed other remarks the Pope made to the group about points of tension in the Church between religious orders and the hierarchy. The report of what the Pope told leaders of the Latin American and Caribbean Confederation of Read more
The President of the Latin American and Caribbean Confederation of Religious Men and Women (CLAR) has apologised to Pope Francis for the leaked notes of a private conversation with the Holy Father over the weekend. In a statement released on the CLAR website, Sr Mercedes Homes Leticia Sanches said there was no record of the conversation Read more
A gay teacher who was fired by Cincinnati archdiocese after she became pregnant through artificial insemination has told a jury she did not know the procedure violated Catholic doctrine. Christa Dias is suing the archdiocese over her dismissal, saying she was fired simply because she was pregnant and unmarried. Dias said she and her same-sex Read more
Catholic Scouting groups in the United States have called for respect for all people while reiterating the Church’s teaching on sexuality following the Boy Scouts of America’s decision to admit gay youth. Some Catholic dioceses have stated that they will continue to sponsor Scouting groups under the new policy. Other dioceses, and the National Catholic Read more
The Pacific Conference of Churches, which represents 38 Protestant and Catholic Churches in the Pacific region, says it’s unmoved by the passage, in New Zealand, of the same gender marriage bill General secretary Francois Pihaartae has told Radio Australia’s Pacific Beat in his view, same sex marriage remains against God’s will. “Pacific churches are very much conservative. And Read more
The catchcry of same-sex marriage proponents is “equality”: gay couples have a right to equal treatment and to deny them legal marriage is blatant discrimination. Yet this claim deflects attention from the real issue: what is the true nature of marriage? Two rival visions jostle for supremacy. The conjugal model says marriage is a lifelong Read more
In two television interviews aired on Easter Sunday, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York said Catholics should show more love to gays and lesbians. In an ABC interview he was asked, “What do you say to a gay couple who says, we love God, we love the Church, but we also love each other and Read more
Being about the only professor at a liberal, tolerant, cosmopolitan Western university who is known to be a practicing Catholic — baptized at the age of two weeks — I have been asked frequently in recent times about what I think will happen to the church in the light of Pope Benedict’s resignation. Will it Read more
The University of Notre Dame in the United States has launched a pastoral plan for gay students — “for the support, holistic development and formation of students who identify as GLBTQ [gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, questioning], as well as their heterosexual friends and allies”. Though the announcement follows years of petitions for an official “gay-straight Read more