Church should be more inclusive: draft report
The future of the Australian Catholic Church should be more inclusive and welcoming to the LGBT community, according to a working document produced by an Australian archdiocese.
The draft document, which was released by the Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn, makes suggestions on ‘the future of the Catholic Church in Australia.’
Among LGBTI inclusivity it also calls for women deacons, women chaplains and married priests, as reported on conservative website LifeSiteNews.
‘God’s love is inclusive,’ it says. ‘The church has spent too much time excluding rather than including, eg, women, LGBT people, the divorced, people of other religions.’
The document is a draft list of suggestions which could be brought before with the countrywide Plenary Council due to take place in 2020.
The council is being described as the “highest form of gathering of local church and has legislative and governance authority,’ to discuss the future of the Catholic Church in Australia.
The last time Australia held a Plenary Council was 81 years ago.
The Church under Pope Francis
While it remains a divisive topic, the Catholic Church’s attitude towards homosexuality and the LGBTI rights has mellowed in recent years.
This has been particularly true since under the leadership of Pope Francis. While the pope has remained opposed to issues such as same-sex marriages, he has often made comments which have caused many to consider him as progressive with regards to LGBTI rights.
In 2013 the pope shocked members of the Catholic Church and of LGBTI communities by saying ‘If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?
Earlier this year, the pope told a gay man that ‘God made you like this and loves you like this and I don’t care. The Pope loves you like this.’
