The 'Queer people in our parishes' training event was organized by the pro-LGBT Rainbow Pastoral Care Platform and HOSI (Homosexual Initiative) Salzburg.
(LifeSiteNews) — The Archdiocese of Salzburg, Austria, held a training event titled “Queer people in our parishes” with two pro-LGBT activist groups.
According to kath.net, the event occurred on May 5 and was organized by the Rainbow Pastoral Care Platform and HOSI (Homosexual Initiative) Salzburg.
The event's goal was, based on the “personal approach to the topic,” to reflect on the “theological approach” and the “canonical framework” and discuss “concrete options for action.” Two of the five speakers at the event were members of the pro-LGBT activist group HOSI Salzburg.
According to its website, HOSI is a pro-LGBT “human rights organization.” Its goals include “depathologizing and destigmatizing people, regardless of their body and gender identity(ies) and their (a-)sexual lifestyles and practices,” the “promotion of community and queer (sub)cultures” and “acceptance, respect and appreciation of sexual, gender and romantic diversity.”
Asked by kath.net why the Archdiocese of Salzburg held the event with HOSI despite views clearly contrary to Catholic teaching, the diocese said it strives to “speak WITH people and not ABOUT them.”
According to the diocese, HOSI is a “recognized self-representation of queer people in Salzburg” and therefore “an important point of contact.” From previous encounters, it is known that faith “is an essential source of life for many queer people,” the archdiocese's statement continues.
Kath.net noted that their question about why people with same-sex inclinations who follow Church teaching and live in celibacy were not invited to the event remained unanswered by the archdiocese.
The Catholic Church has always taught that homosexual acts are gravely sinful and contrary to nature. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) states the following:
Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered. They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved. (CCC 2357)
The Archdiocese of Salzburg is headed by Archbishop Franz Lackner, who also serves as the leader of the Austrian Bishops’ Conference. During the COVID-19 crisis, Lackner and the other Austrian bishops supported the Austrian government's draconian general vaccine mandate.
