Gay Catholics urged to tell their stories

The John Wijngaards Catholic Research Centre’s new website is providing an independent space to document the experiences of Catholics who have had their lives and faith challenged by the Vatican’s current teachings on contraception, homosexuality and access to communion for the divorced and remarried.

Miriam Duignan, a member of the JW Catholic Research Centre team, said:

“These issues are particularly significant for younger Catholics who often have great difficulty in reconciling their faith with the Vatican’s attitudes to contraception and homosexuality.”

The website will pass along the views expressed on the platform to Church representatives ahead of the Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops focusing on the family in October 2014.

The Synod of Bishops aim to address the serious challenges of the social and spiritual crisis in today’s world. Their deadline for investigating views on many of the key issues is December 6, which campaigners for modernising Church attitudes believe unreasonable and potentially stifling to debate.

John Wijngaards, a Catholic Scholar, author and director of an international faith formation centre charity, is heading the JW Catholic Research Centre team.

He said:

“The deadline is inadequate if the Church and its Bishops are serious about addressing these fundamental topics.”

Adding:

“These are key issues affecting and blighting so many people’s lives, their voices need to be heard. The current teachings are based on a misguided interpretation of natural law which was nurtured by medieval theologians. They have no place in a 21st century Catholic Church”

The opportunity offered by the John Wijngaards Catholic Research Centre is unquestionably rare.

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