Yadira Vieyra, center, a synod delegate who works with migrant families in Chicago, attends a session of the Synod of Bishops on young people, the faith and vocational discernment at the Vatican Oct. 11. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — One small group’s discussions at the Synod of Bishops concerning the LGBTQ community focused on how the Catholic Church could best minister to people who already feel marginalized and attacked by the church itself, a U.S. synod participant said.
Catholic Church “doctrine isn’t going to change, we just need to find a way to make them feel that Jesus loves them,” Yadira Vieyra said Oct. 19 at a Vatican briefing for reporters.
Vieyra, 29, is a specialist in child development and works in Chicago, helping migrant families. She had told America Magazine an interview published Oct. 12 that issues concerning gender and sexuality were being “discussed extensively” in her small working group during the synod on youth, faith and discernment. “It was controversial, it was heated,” she told the publication.
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A reporter at the briefing asked Vieyra to expand on her comments about what was happening at those discussions.
“In terms of the topic of the LGBT community,” Vieyra responded, “we were talking in terms of how do we better minister to a group that has been, that feels attacked.”
“Oftentimes when ministered to in a poor manner, they feel like they are displaced and that the church doesn’t want them. We know that’s not true. Any Catholic knows that that is not true,” she said.
The church teaches that all homosexual acts are morally wrong but affirms the dignity of people with homosexual inclinations and calls them to chastity. Serious offenses against chastity include not just same-sex unions and homosexual activity, but also pornography, using contraception, premarital and extramarital sex and cohabitation.
Vieyra said when it comes to people in the LGBTQ community, “we just need to find a way to make them feel that like Jesus loves them. We hold them to the same standard as any heterosexual person who is having extramarital relations so it’s important to make sure that we communicate that and the church is here for them.”
“But it’s tricky ministering to a group that already feels attacked,” she added.
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Dear friends at CatholicPhilly.com, Why, oh why would a Catholic publication like yours go against something Archbishop Chaput ALREADY made a statement on???? From what I researched, Archbishop Chaput made comments at a gathering of Bishops in Rome on Oct. 4: “Archbishop Charles Chaput was reported saying that the church should avoid using the term LGBTQ to identify people in documents because “There is NO such thing as an ‘LGBTQ Catholic’ or a ‘transgender Catholic’ or a ‘heterosexual Catholic.'”
Chaput was in Rome giving a speech to the Youth Synod, a general assembly meeting of bishops, on Oct. 4 when he said the Catholic church does not “categorize people” based on their “sexual appetites” and using the term LGBTQ to categorize “suggests that these are real, autonomous groups, and the Church simply doesn’t categorize people that way,” Chaput said. SO WHY,OH WHY, DOES CATHOLIC PHILLY SAY “LGBT CATHOLICS” ??? Our Archbishop said there is NO such thing SO dear Catholic Philly, you need to publically correct your mistake.
Given that the Church has always taught and practiced to love the sinner and hate the sin, the proposition by Catholic homosexuals aka LGBTQ that they “feel marginalized and attacked” is completely false and preposterous at face value. This accusation is nothing more than an emotional sympathy ploy by Church sodomites and sympathizers to gain tacit Church approval for their sinful sodomite lifestyle, and it is the main reason why it was added to the Synod as a discussion topic.
One solution would be for the church to openly denounce and discuss the evils of pornography, contraception, premarital and extramarital sex, and cohabitation in the same way that they do homosexuality. This would then (hopefully) help the LGBT community see that they are not being singled out for their acts that fall into these same sinful categories. Chasity for ALL would be the best way to address this problem.
Ron, Many appreciate your wisdom and reply here!!! SO TRUE– “the church should openly denounce and discuss the evils of pornography, contraception, premarital and extramarital sex, and cohabitation in the same way that they do homosexuality.” I have NEVER heard any homilies/sermons/mentions of these things! I DID hear the first sermon ever on HELL and it was from a faithful Pastor at ST. IGNATIUS CHURCH IN KINGSTON, PA —excellent and he cited the vision the three children had at Fatima on Hell.
Lots of people feel attacked by Christian standards.