By: Andy Humm

Gay City News

Pope Benedict XVI, author of the Roman Catholic Church's hard line against homosexuality, will be met by some gay dissent during his trips to Washington, DC, April 15-17, and New York, April 18-20, but nowhere near the direct razzing he received in 1988 as Cardinal Josef Ratzinger. At that time, his visit to St. Peter's Church at Citicorp's Midtown headquarters building was so disrupted by gay and AIDS activists that his planned speech was cancelled.

By David Crary

Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) - Pope Benedict XVI may not see them or hear them, but aggrieved Roman Catholic activists hope his U.S. visit this week will help them draw attention to issues ranging from the ordination of women and gay rights to sex abuse by priests and the Vatican ban on contraception.

Due to the retreat on October 13th, we will not be having a mass on Sunday, October 14th. You are invited to join us at 5pm for the mass that follows the retreat.

Group says homosexuality not at odds with Catholicism.
By Huong Le
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Saturday, July 07, 2007

Lesbian activist Honour Maddock said the Roman Catholic Church's stance on homosexuality no longer bothers her.

"I find it frustrating, but I've been ignoring them for a while now," she said of church leaders who object to her homosexual relationship.

But she does want to ensure that other openly gay Catholics feel welcome in parish life.

Washington, D.C. – DignityUSA, the nation’s largest advocacy group for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Catholics, issued comprehensive new guidelines for pastoral care at its just-concluded national convention, held July 5-8 in Austin, Texas. The document was developed in response to pastoral guidelines released by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in November 2006, which Dignity views as deeply flawed and damaging.

Washington, D.C. - On Sunday, May 27,2007, one Canadian and two American women will be ordained as priests, and one American woman and two Canadians (a man and a woman) will be ordained as deacons in the Roman Catholic Church. The ordinations will take place in Toronto, Ontario, at the West Hill United Church beginning at 3:00PM. A pass is required for admission, and there will be a press conference after the ceremony. The Women's Ordination Conference (WOC) supports these ordinations wholeheartedly as one of the ways women are renewing the church.

Gay Catholics Deplore Decision of Archbishop Flynn to Forbid Mass for Conference on Homosexuality and Catholicism

Four agencies are collaborating on an in-depth study of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community of central Ohio.

The study is believed to be the first of its kind in the nation, and is the first step to designing culturally competent services to meet the needs of an increasingly visible LGBT community.

To access the survey, click here.

On December 20th, Soulforce sent a letter to TIME magazine along with 3,638 petition signatures. The letter calls on TIME to publish a follow-up story or editorial in the print edition to counter Dobson's erroneous statements from his article titled "Two Mommies is One Too Many" which appeared in the December 18th issue of Time.

Thank you to everyone who signed the petition and helped to circulate it.

To read Soulforce's letter to Time magazine visit Soulforce's website.

In the December 18th issue of TIME Magazine, James Dobson responds to the news of Mary Cheney's pregnancy by once again invoking "30 years of social-science evidence" to support his claim that children do best "when raised by their married mother and father."

Dobson's views on lesbian and gay parenting do not reflect the mainstream of American professional organizations concerned with researching and promoting children's well-being. In a 2004 policy statement, the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy reported "no evidence that same-sex couples or family units vary significantly from heterosexual couples or family units in terms of aspirations, hopes and goals, or in outcomes for children."