How do you contribute your unique gifts to the church you love when you are not welcome to participate fully? This is a question that haunts many LGBTQ+ Catholics, caught between faith and exclusion, and one that groups like Dignity USA attempt to answer.
Over the July Fourth weekend I joined Dignity for their semiannual conference in the suburbs of Columbus, Ohio. The title of the conference, "We Are God's People: Here, Now, Always," lent a clue to what was in store: a glimpse of what is possible when LGBTQ+ Catholics gather not just for belonging, but for affirmation. In such spaces, LGBTQ+ Catholics don't have to wait for permission to be ourselves or to serve; we claim our place boldly, bringing our full selves — gifts, struggles and all — into the life of the church.
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