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DignityUSA
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tel: 800.877.8797
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RETURN TO > 1998 > DATELINE
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DignityUSA DATELINE
JANUARY 1998, VOL. 7, NO. 1
SPECIAL MEMBERSHIP DUES DISCOUNT
Once again, DignityUSA's Board of Directors is offering a $5 disc ount on national dues. This discount is available for both new memberships and renewals received between February 1 and April 30, 1998. The discount is applicable to any renewal received during the three month duration of this program, regardless of the month when the renewal may come due.
National President Bob Miailovich noted, "Similar discounts in the past have stimulated interest in membership. Chapters are urged to take advantage of this opportunity for outreach and to encourage membership renewal." Questions? Check with your chapter's leadership or call the national office at 1-800-877-8797.
$2,500 CHAPTER GIFT TO NIDORF FUND FROM WASHINGTON
Dignity/Washington, DC recently gave a generous gift of $2,500 to DignityUSA's Nidorf Fund. The Nidorf Fund, established earlier this year by the Board of Directors, serves a twofold purpose. First, it is an endowment which will help ensure the future stability and growth of Dignity. Second, it honors one of Dignity's founders, Father Pax Nidorf.
In addition to this gift and the New York chapter's October gift, the Nidorf Fund is presently the beneficiary of a challenge grant from Dignity/Los Angeles member John Nangle. In order to fulfill the challenge, DignityUSA needs to raise $20,000; over $8,000 has been given to date. If you wish to join in the effort to help DignityUSA meet this challenge with a contribution to the Nidorf Fund please contact Charles Cox at the DignityUSA office 202- 861-0017.
CHRISTMAS CARD APPEAL
Please be on the look out for your DignityUSA Christmas card from the National Officers, Board of Directors, and Executive Director. The card offers wishes of peace and joy during this holy season and asks for your continued support in 1998. Please encourage fellow chapter members as well family and friends to remember DignityUSA at this time of year.
NCCB SPEAKS OUT:
ALWAYS OUR CHILDREN IS UNCHANGED
Although it was not on their announced agenda, the full National Conference of Catholic Bishops had a closed-door, executive session discussion of Always Our Children: A Pastoral Message to Parents of Homosexual Children during their November 10-13, 1997 meeting in Washington, DC. Some voices in the Church were hoping that the document would be rescinded or sent for substantial revision.
Following the closed session on November 12, Bishop Thomas J. O'Brien of Phoenix, the Chair of the Committee on Marriage and Family, gave a public report. In it he wrote,
This pastoral message remains loyal to the magisterial teaching of the Church. It recognizes the complexity of homosexuality and the dignity of each person. Additional dimensions of the topic of homosexuality may be explored at the discretion of the Conference in the future. However, the Marriage and Family Committee is pleased to have made this contribution to one important pastoral dimension of the larger question.
Or in other words, the document has been discussed and stands as it is. Bishop O'Brien reported that a great deal of positive comment, as well as other reactions indicating a diversity of opinion, had been received on Always Our Children. The NCCB issued a five page, single-spaced overview report of letters received.
According to the report, over 500 letters had been received from a wide range of people expressing support and gratitude for the pastoral message and no more than 50 letters have been received that criticize and find fault with the document. The bulk of the overview is taken up with quotations from the favorable letters.
No quotations from the negative letters were given. DignityUSA Executive Director Charles Cox and President Bob Miailovich attended the public sessions of the NCCB meetings were present in the press room for interviews and to gather handouts.
On November 10 outside the hotel meeting site, DignityUSA held a press conference urging the bishops to resist efforts to amend or rescind Always Our Children and to proceed with implementation. Cox and Miailovich were joined by Veronica and Jerry Colfer, members of Dignity. They spoke on behalf of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (P-FLAG) which also issued a press release supporting the pastoral letter.
Reports from the conference were carried by National Public Radio, the Catholic News Service as well as local and nationally recognized newspapers. Many of the reports centered on the interruption of the press conference by conservatives opposed to Dignity and the bishops' statement. The exchange of angry words was portrayed as an example at hand of the need for reconciliation between conflicting voices within the Church which NCCB President Bishop Pilla had just finished urging in his opening remarks to the bishops conference.
TAX TIME!
Tax time is upon us!
Those who have made contributions to DignityUSA during 1997 may need a letter with an itemized statement of contributions for tax purposes. The national office is pleased to provide this information to you. Simply request this information in a letter to the National Office or by calling 800-877-8798.
Happy Anniversary
Brooklyn 21; Phoenix 21; Orlando 4
