LGBT Supporters, Opponents Gather for Catholic Bishops' Meeting

As LGBT Catholics and their supporters wind down from Pope Francis's visit to the United States, with questions about the nature of his meeting with Kim Davis, the news that he met with a gay couple, and the Church's recent announcent that it fired a high-ranking priest who came out, they're gearing up for another major event in the Roman Catholic Church.

The Synod of Bishops on the Family will convene Sunday at the Vatican, with bishops from around the world meeting to discuss a variety of issues related to the family, including divorce, remarriage, and birth control as well as LGBT issues. It will continue through October 25.

It's the second of two such meetings the pope has called. The first one, held last fall, ended in disappointment for supporters of LGBT equality, as the document that came out of the session contained supportive language as a work in progress but not in its final form.

A working paper that is supposed to guide discussion at the meeting didn't offer much encouragement when it was released in June, saying that LGBT Catholics deserve respect and support but going no further, certainly not challenging the church's opposition to same-sex relationships. But LGBT activists are already on the ground in Rome and hoping to influence the synod's outcome.

The Global Network of Rainbow Catholics, a coalition of LGBT and supportive groups that grew out of last year's synod, is holding its first meeting, with the theme "LGBT Voices to the Synod." It opened Thursday and continues through Sunday. At the end, it will have "a statement of pastoral concerns to be sent to the Vatican and to all the bishop participants in the synod," according to a blog post from New Ways Ministry, one of two U.S. groups in the coalition, the other being DignityUSA.

The coalition has also organized a Saturday afternoon meeting called "Ways of Love: Snapshots of Catholic Encounter With LGBT People and Their Families," devoted to the presentation of case histories of inclusive treatment of LGBT people by Catholic clergy and laity. The session will include an interview of former Irish President Mary McAleese, who is the mother of a gay son and an equality supporter, by journalist Robert Mickens. It will close with an address by Mexican Bishop Raul Vera, known for his supportive approach to LGBT Catholics.

Of course, groups that endorse church doctrine on homosexuality -- that celibacy is the only acceptable choice for gay people -- will make their voices heard as well. A conference titled "Living the Truth in Love," sponsored by Courage, a support group for celibate gay Catholics, and organizations with similar views, met Friday in Rome.

This all sets the stage for the bishops to engage in extensive debate on the status of LGBT Catholics, as Religion News Service observed. Andrea Rubera, president of Nuova Proposta, an Italian group that's part of the Global Network of Rainbow Catholics, told the service he has suggestions for the bishops but is keeping his expectations realistic.

Rubera, a gay man who is the father of three, said LGBT people and their families could contribute much to the church, given the right circumstances. "If we keep having a dialogue based only on an ideological basis, we will never get anywhere," he said. "We have to meet and create a dialogue on a human basis. ... We have to meet real people, real lives, real histories."

But he doesn't look for the church to change right away. "If I have to be pragmatic, I think that nothing of what I mentioned will come out from this synod," he told the news service. "I hope that the synod will be a step forward regarding what they finally produced last year, which was more or less nothing."