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Archdiocese of San Diego to offer Mass for families of the LGBT community – gay activists call it “historic”
Honoring the 20th Anniversary of the 1997 USCCB pastoral message “Always Our Children,” on October 7, 2017, Auxiliary Bishop John Dolan (pictured above) and Father Lucio Castillo of the Archdiocese of San Diego will celebrate a Mass for “families of the LGBT community” at St. John the Evangelist Church in Hillcrest (where Dolan previously served as Pastor). Laura Spencer-Martin, director of the Diocese’s Office for Family Life and Spirituality, said:
As a diocese we want to be with people, with everyone; especially when people have been hurt…I think he wants to send a message of love, compassion, listening and being with all the people.
According to City Commissioner Nicole Murray Ramirez, a longtime national LGBTQ-rights activist based in San Diego:
This is a truly historic Mass…When you remember that this is the same diocese that 12 years ago refused to give a funeral to John McCusker and just five or six years ago did the same thing again to SRO’s owner, John Sanfilippo, but now this bishop is welcoming LGBTs and our families to celebrate Mass…There are still people in the church who don’t want us there. I think it’s courageous.
John McCusker and John Sanfilippo both owned local gay bars in the San Diego area. Following public criticism regarding the denial of a Catholic funeral for each man, in both cases, the Archdiocese reversed its earlier decision and they received a Catholic funeral.
The pastoral associate and coordinator of LGBT ministry at St. John the Evangelist Church is Aaron Bianco. According to his profile on the website for the dissident group Call To Action, Mr. Bianco “will begin his work as Call To Action’s full-time Program Outreach Associate beginning June 1st [2015]. Aaron has served as Pastoral Associate at Saint Joseph’s Cathedral in San Diego since 2008 with experience in RCIA, liturgy, and music. Aaron has extensive experience with young adults through his coordination of the Cathedral’s young adult ministry group of over 600 young adults. Given Aaron’s engagement with grassroots organizing and comprehensive understanding of intergenerational dialogue we are excited to have Aaron offer support to CTA’s young adult program…”
Call To Action, in their official “Call for Reform in the Catholic Church,” asked for the following:
“We call upon the church to discard the medieval discipline of mandatory priestly celibacy, and to open the priesthood to women and married men…”
“We call for extensive consultation with the Catholic people in developing church teaching on human sexuality…”
“We claim our responsibility, as committed laity, religious and clergy, to participate in the selection of our local bishops…”
After the 2015 Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage, Jim FitzGerald, Executive Director of Call To Action, made the following statement:
Call To Action is elated with today’s Supreme Court outcome. Finally all loving and committed partners and families will be recognized fully and equally. Call To Action embraces a Church rooted in welcome, inclusivity, equality and justice for everyone. This decision reflects those Gospel values.
When asked about a 2015 statement from Archbishop Victor Fernández, who reportedly said:
The pope goes slow because he wants to be sure that the changes have a deep impact..The slow pace is necessary to ensure the effectiveness of the changes…
Bianco responded: “Yes, that’s true…But when the church does evolve – and I know it happens at a frustratingly slow pace – however, it doesn’t go backward.”
“Always Our Children” is often cited by pro-gay Catholics as an official proclamation that determined and or changed universal Catholic Church teachings with regard to homosexuality