WARSAW (ChurchMilitant.com) - A pro-gay activist group is setting up LGBT "safe spaces" at next week's World Youth Day (WYD).
The triennial event, a gathering of young Christians from around the world begun by Pope St. John Paul II in 1986, is scheduled to be held July 26 to 31 in Kraków, Poland, with LGBT activist organization Faith and Rainbow arranging for an "LGBT Pilgrim's Haven" to be set up to minister to gay, lesbian and transgender youth in attendance.
"We wanted to create [a] so-called 'safe space' where people who participate in World Youth Day can talk, discuss topics of faith, orientation or gender identity in the situation safe, friendly and accepting," asserts event organizer, Misza Czerniak. "Such a space missing in the WYD [sic]."
A description of the event on Facebook explains that there will be "several lay and clergy volunteers ... available and ready to listen, to talk about issues of faith, sexual orientation and gender identity, as well as to offer advice and counseling, or to pray together."
The invitation for the event is extended to "LGBT believers as well as non-Catholics or those who do not belong to the Church but want to spend some time together."
Faith and Rainbow had initially inquired with Bp. Damian Muskus of Kraków about becoming an official part of World Youth Day, but their requests were denied. However, the group reached out to the Polish bishops to invite them to stop by the "safe space."
Organizers have planned several LGBT-friendly programs for the event, including screening two films, one of which highlights dissident theologian John McNeill, who spurred criticism over the Church's handling of LGBT sexual expression. The Pilgrim's Haven will also showcase several speakers, made up of theologians and scholars, including American Jesuit Fr. Jim Mulcahy, whom the group describes as "an experienced pastor and spiritual father of many LGBT believers."
Among the featured speakers for the LGBT group is Fr. Jim Mulcahy, described by the group's Facebook page as "an experienced pastor and spiritual father of many LGBT believers."
