The court decision to strike down Virginia’s ban on gay marriage has strong symbolic importance. There are strong echoes of “Loving vs Virginia”, which ended the prohibition on interracial marriage; it’s the first state in the old Confederacy to strike…
Monthly Archives: February 2014
Divorce: Catholics Worldwide Challenge Vatican Communion Rules
One of the key questions that precipitated the decision to call the Extraordinary Synod on Marriage and Family, was whether the Church should modify its current rule forbidding people who have divorced and remarried, from receiving communion. Results from the…
Luxembourg Bishops: Church Should “Accept Reality As It Is”
For Luxembourg, Vatican Insider reports: The Catholic Church in Luxembourg has also published its own analysis of the results of the questionnaires on the family online. The Synod of Bishops decided to send out said questionnaires in preparation for next…
Catholic Priest Urges LGBT Protection in Trinidad Constitution.
It’s not only in Europe and North America that we have increasing support from faith communities for LGBT equality. There is progress too in Africa and the Caribbean, although from a weaker base and greater hurdles still to overcome. In…
Red State Marriage Equality Train Rolls Along
As marriage equality notched up one victory after another in 2012 and 2013, opponents bleated a repetitive refrain: those were all in liberal, blue states. Gay activists had reached their limit. In red states, traditional marriage would continue to prevail.…
Belgian Catholics Urge Greater Welcome for Gay Catholics / Divorcees.
Vatican Insider reports that the Religious Information Service (SIR) has analysed the results of the survey on the Pope’s pastoral care programme for the family, and published some extracts of these results for some European countries. Those for Germany and Switzerland…
The Equality Train Rolls Along, in Church and State.
Step by step, queer families are seeing moves to full recognition, even in American red states (and in church). The latest victory in Idaho follows court decisions in Utah and Oklahoma to strike down the states’ constitutional ban on gay…
Gay Marriage, Ireland: Archbishop Supports Civil Unions.
Gay marriage will not come to Ireland until 2015, when a referendum will be held, to approve a recommendation last year by the country’s constitutional convention - but already, some benefits are being seen, in both Church and state. In…
LGBT (Church) History Month: The Early Christians
The cultural context of the early Christians was one of stark contrasts with more recent times. Then, it was Christians who were political and even social outcasts, more recently Christian values underpin much of the laws and customs of Western…
Worldwide, 78% of Catholics Support Contraception.
It’s a myth that Catholic support for contraception is restricted to the wealth countries of North America and Western Europe. A global survey of self-identified Catholics in twelve countries (those with the largest Catholic populations) has found that overall, 78% of…
