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News Archive (2010)

Denver Archdiocese Decision to Expel Children “Deeply Hurtful” Say National Catholic Groups

DignityUSA Leads Coalition in Expressing Grief, Concern Over Ejection of Children From Catholic School Because They Have Lesbian Parents

Boston, MA, March 12, 2010–In a full-page ad set to run in this Sunday’s Denver Post and Boulder Daily Camera, DignityUSA and three other national Catholic organizations committed to equality for gay and lesbian people in the church express concern and grief over a recent decision by the Denver Archdiocese to bar the children of a lesbian couple from reenrolling in the Sacred Heart of Jesus School, a prekindergarten-8 school in Read more »

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Catholic School's Treatment of Child of Lesbian Couple Protested by Many

Submitted by dignityusa on Tue, 03/09/2010 - 08:19

Leaders of DignityUSA join Catholic families in Boulder, Colorado in expressing extreme disappointment that the young child of lesbian parents has become the Archdiocese's latest target in its attacks on gay, lesbian, and transgender people. The child has been barred from returning to Sacred Heart of Jesus School because of her parents' sexual orientation. Read more »

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Catholics for Equality Organizational Meeting

Submitted by matsonm on Thu, 03/04/2010 - 14:14

DignityUSA was requested to participate in a seminal and hastily organized gathering of Catholic LGBT advocates in Washington, DC on January 30 and 31, 2010. I represented DignityUSA in lieu of Executive Director Marianne Duddy-Burke, who was unable to clear her calendar on short notice. I was joined by Board members Mark Clark and Tom Yates, both of Dignity/Washington. Ray Panas, President of Dignity/Washington was also present. Read more »

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DignityUSA Board of Directors to Meet in Philadelphia April 16-18

Submitted by dignityusa on Thu, 03/04/2010 - 13:48

DignityUSA’s Board of Directors will meet at the Radisson Plaza-Warwick Hotel, 220 South 17th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103, (215) 735-6000, Friday through Sunday, April 16-18, 2010.

We encourage DignityUSA members to see the board in action. You need not spend the entire weekend with us.

The board meets for about 3 hours Friday night. Work resumes by 9 a.m. on Saturday and goes through the day until about 6 p.m. Sunday, the Board wraps up its work in a 3-hour session ending at 12 noon. Read more »

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DignityUSA Board Nominations Now Open

Submitted by dignityusa on Thu, 03/04/2010 - 13:45

Nominations are open for four (4) Directors-at-Large for a period of two years—October 1, 2010 to September 30, 2012. Read more »

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Catholic Charities limits same-sex couple benefits

External Link: 
Read more at the Washington Times

Marianne Duddy-Burke, executive director of DignityUSA, a group for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Catholics, called the Catholic Charities decision "appalling."

"It's a two-tier system among its workers," Ms. Duddy-Burke said. "It violates every principle of the dignity of work and justice for workers that the Catholic Church has stood for for years and it makes employees of Catholic Charities a sacrificial lamb to prove a political point."

Ms. Duddy-Burke said the choice to cut spousal benefits in these economic times imposes a burden on new Catholic Charities employees. She said this would cause "more damage to their families than a same-sex marriage."

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A Catholic Defense of Same Sex Marriage

External Link: 
Read more at The Religious Consultation

By Professor Daniel C. Maguire
a Catholic Theologian teaching at Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

The Catholic Church is beginning to rediscover what it once knew; that not all persons are heterosexual, that many people are homosexual and that this is just fine. In the past, the Church accepted homosexuality more openly and even had liturgies to celebrate same sex unions.1 There was a recognition that different sexual orientations are clearly part of God's plan for creation-some people are heterosexual and some are homosexual-this is the way God made us and we have no right to criticize God.

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The Call to Wed: Why Catholics Should Celebrate Same Sex Marriage

Submitted by dignityusa on Thu, 01/14/2010 - 18:25

by Patricia Beattie Jung

The contemporary debate about same sex marriage has created a wonderful opportunity for all Christians – whether gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered or straight – to think about why we celebrate marriage. Only when we are clear about what it is that Christian couples do when they marry can we address the question of whether the church should continue to bless only heterosexual partnerships. Ultimately all decisions about the form(s) marriage should take hinge decisively on foundational judgments about the purpose(s) of marriage. For Christians, such normative claims about the purpose(s) of marriage are deeply embedded in our faith convictions about God’s designs for and work in the world. So at bottom our question is really quite clear: from a Christian theological perspective, what is marriage for?

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Searching their souls: Can church include transgendered?

Submitted by dignityusa on Wed, 01/13/2010 - 18:19

It began innocuously enough when the incoming priest at St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Student Center at Drake University noticed a piece of paper on a copy machine in the parish office.

On it was a counselor's authorization of hormone therapy for a transgendered person about to undergo a sex change. On a letterhead that included the center's name and address.

What came quickly after is changing a community:

Rest of the story can be found in the Des Moines Register

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Sponsor a Board Member!

Submitted by dignityusa on Fri, 01/01/2010 - 11:59

At its last meeting this fall, DignityUSA’s National Board decided to begin raising funds to help defray the cost of traveling for our Board members. As many of you might know, due to the financial stress DignityUSA has experienced in the past few years, we have been asking our National Board members to pay for their own expenses when we meet in person, three times a year. Depending on where the Board member lives and where the meeting is taking place, the cost of airfare, hotel, meals, and incidentals can easily run over $1,000 per trip. Read more »

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