Church a gay bar: Queer Chigoans fd ways to merge relign and inty

Contents:

• CHURCH A GAY BAR: QUEER CHIGOANS FD WAYS TO MERGE RELIGN AND INTY
• GAY SOUTH SI PASTOR CLAIMS DISCRIMATN AFTER VENUE SAYS 'YOU NNOT HOST YOUR EVENT HERE'
• HOLY TRY IS A TRIP TO GAY CHURCH
• GAY SOUTH SI PASTOR CLAIMS DISCRIMATN AFTER VENUE SAYS 'YOU NNOT HOST YOUR EVENT HERE'

CHURCH A GAY BAR: QUEER CHIGOANS FD WAYS TO MERGE RELIGN AND INTY

Digny/Chigo is a chapter of Digny/USA, and shar s missn to work for rpect and jtice for all gay, lbian, bisexual and transgenr persons the Catholic Church and the world. The Archdcan Gay and Lbian Outreach of Chigo, AGLOChigo, is a supra-parochial anizatn begun June 1988 to extend the Church’s pastoral outreach to gay and lbian Catholics throughout the Archdce.

We, the members of the Archdcan Gay and Lbian Outreach, as people of God, create a sense of muny for those who wish to rencile their sexual orientatn wh their fah; provi an acceptg and affirmg atmosphere which to worship the Catholic tradn; provi opportuni for tegratn of personal experience through spirual growth; share our distctive gifts wh each other and the Church at large, and wns our Catholic fah to the gay and lbian muny. I uld jo another … sect of Christiany that is more like ‘rah, rah, rabows and unirns, go gay, ’ but that’s not who I am and that’s not why I have the fah that I have, ” Zieman said.

GAY SOUTH SI PASTOR CLAIMS DISCRIMATN AFTER VENUE SAYS 'YOU NNOT HOST YOUR EVENT HERE'

”Affirmed isn’t the first mistry for queer Catholics 1988, Cardal Joseph Bernard tablished the Archdce Gay and Lbian Outreach. Bernard was a pragmatic centrist who found a middle ground wh the Church hierarchy on gay issu, said Michael O’Loughl, thor of “Hidn Mercy: AIDS, Catholics, and the Untold Stori of Compassn the Face of Fear. Bernard was steadfast his support for Chigo’s gay muny, particularly durg the AIDS crisis, said Joe Vek, director of muny outreach at Archdce Gay and Lbian the archbishop’s relatnship wh queer people was more plex.

In 1986, he opposed a proposed ordance Chigo outlawg discrimatn agast gay people.

Rick Garcia, then executive director of the Catholic Advote for Lbian and Gay Rights, wrote a 1987 Tribune op-ed that the archdce failed to provi meangful outreach to those sufferg. Clement’s and some other parish around the untry was they were willg to engage mistry wh a muny that was so margalized and the topic of homosexualy was so taboo the church, ” he said.

HOLY TRY IS A TRIP TO GAY CHURCH

The send Tuday of every month, Affirmg Worship holds church Atmosphere, an Anrsonville gay bar. ” A pri flag hangs agast the brick wall, and Joshua Hundl, a drag performer, wears a drs that says “God is gay, nonbary, pan, queer.

” Wicker Park Lutheran pastor Jason Glombicki said this unfortunately supported his “general lived experience” as a gay man, though the plan is to keep new pri flags up.

Sometim all there is to do is pack to a gay bar on a Tuday night, sg and one pot durg the Affirmg Worship service, a group of teenagers trickl off the street. On June 5, 1988, a small group of gay and lbian Catholics celebrated their first mass as a newly anized mistry of the Archdce of Chigo, pecially created to reach out to Chigo’s LGBT muny. The new mistry was named the Archdcan Gay and Lbian Outreach of Chigo, and s acronym – AGLO – was no cince.

GAY SOUTH SI PASTOR CLAIMS DISCRIMATN AFTER VENUE SAYS 'YOU NNOT HOST YOUR EVENT HERE'

In rponse to the Vatin’s 1986 publitn, “The Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons, ” the Archdce nied of the e of church facili to all who were not full munn wh Catholic teachg, which left Digny/Chigo seekg a new home wh the muny. This document, while affirmg the digny of all people, also directed bishops to whdraw support om groups actively ntradictg Church teachgs on homosexualy. Thomas Healy, pastor of neighborg Our Lady of Mount Carmel on Belmont Avenue, along wh the parishners reached out their hands to their gay and lbian siblgs wh an offer to host the mistry.

MissnDigny/Chigo is a chapter of Digny/USA, and shar s missn to work for rpect and jtice for all gay, lbian, bisexual and transgenr persons the Catholic Church and the As pennt anizatns created to support LGBT Catholics and our fai and iends, DignyUSA and Digny/Chigo envisn and work for a time when LGBTQI Catholics are affirmed and experience digny through the tegratn of their spirualy wh their sexualy, and, as beloved persons of God, participate fully all aspects of life wh the Church and Society. BeliefsWe are all ma God’s image and that God rejoic our diversy: man or woman, straight or gay, lbian, bisexual, transgenr or relatnships, cludg marriage, are a gift om God, and not somethg to be supprsed or be kept the closetPeople of all genrs, genr inti, and sexual orientatns are lled to serve and to lead the ChurchThat we are Catholics by Baptism and by God’s will, and no one n ny our place as God’s childrenBoardSteve Forst, printMart Grochala, vice printMary Donnelly, secretaryAl Pezzo, treasurerRon Alfano, at largeMichael Hogan, at large. Mary Houlihan, a member of the Legn of Mary, began a home Mass for the gay and lbian muny unr the Legn’s aegis.

It played host to the natnal nventn of DignyUSA 1977, was a charter member of Call to Actn, an umbrella anizatn for progrsive Catholic groups, and -sponsored the Orange Ball, a Chigo benef to raise funds to bat Ana Bryant-backed anti-gay referendums around the 1980’s were challengg for Digny/Chigo as the chapter grew to over 150 members. Sebastian Church and all church property rather than subm to a mand om Cardal Joseph Bernard to whdraw Digny’s public statement affirmg homosexualy which said “we believe that gay, lbian, bisexual and transgenr persons n exprs their sexualy a manner that is nsonant wh Christ’s teachg. Sebastian’s Digny/Chigo began meetg a seri of welg Prottant church before settlg at Broadway Uned Methodist the 1990s Digny/Chigo reasserted s role as a Roman Catholic fah muny misterg the needs of gay, lbian, bisexual and transgenr people.