Gay Catholics prepare for World Youth Day

Gay and lesbian Catholics who share Christian ideals will be welcomed to take part in Australia’s largest religious event, World Youth Day.
July 2008 is the first time Australia has hosted World Youth Day, an annual event initiated in 1986 by Pope John Paul II to bring together Catholic youth from all over the world.
A World Youth Day spokeswoman said she hoped gay and lesbian Catholics who supported the Church’s values and teachings would be actively involved in the celebrations.
More than 500,000 young pilgrims from Australia and around the world are expected to arrive in Sydney for World Youth Day from 15 to 20 July 2008.
Gay Catholic activist Michael Kelly said he would be surprised if gay Catholic organisations were allowed to play a public role.
Sydney Catholic gay group Acceptance will submit an application for endorsement to the World Youth Day organisers in October, Tim, a group spokesman, said.
Acceptance will be proposing an event as part of the World Youth Day celebrations, which reinforces the message that it is “okay to be gay and Catholic”.
The group will look at joining forces with its equivalent organisations around the world, including Quest in the UK and Dignity in Canada and the US.
The Prime Minister John Howard has contributed $35 million to World Youth Day, and Opposition leader Kevin Rudd has promised $15 million to the event if he wins the federal election.
The money, Kelly said, would be used towards recruiting youth to a conservative position on spirituality, sexuality and ethics.
“This is a huge, international, flagship event for ultra-conservative Catholicism,” he said.
He has called on the gay and lesbian community to “look very seriously” at how it will respond to World Youth Day.
“The church has thrown millions of dollars into promoting their teachings on sexuality and religion,” he said.
“What kind of outreach can we make as a community to the young gay and lesbian Catholics in Sydney for World Youth Day?”
Kelly proposed a rainbow tent in Hyde Park, where community members could offer literature, condoms, counselling and support.
The more the community can work together the better, former evangelist Anthony Venn-Brown said.
“If you are in a traditional church that is not welcoming of gay and lesbian people, you will be experiencing a degree of dissonance between your faith and your sexuality,” he said.
“In some cases it causes mental health issues, and we know that some people suicide because they are so tormented by the conflict.”
ACON would be providing its usual services during World Youth Day including peer support, counselling and the provision of same-sex information, Siri May, Young Women’s Project Officer at ACON, said.
It was unlikely, however, that ACON would be formally invited to participate in World Youth Day, she said.
Tim from Acceptance said the group was not equipped to provide health services to young gay and lesbian Catholics and would instead refer them to the appropriate service providers.
Instead, the role of Acceptance was to provide a safe, spiritual and social environment for gay Catholics and their families.
“We are going to hold our event anyway,” Tim said.
“There is nothing to stop anyone organising a seminar or forum, but obviously we would prefer it if the event was formally endorsed.”