More than 100 priests and employees of the Catholic Church in Germany have publicly admitted to being gay: “It’s time to show that we exist”
Priests, teachers, administrators and volunteers of the church in Germany, a total of more than a hundred people, have made their sexual orientation public and denounce, in a wide-ranging campaign called #OutInChurch, the Catholic Church’s discriminatory attitude towards sexual minorities, writes Deutsche Welle.
They published an open letter on Monday, January 24, calling for LGBTQ+ people to be servants of the Church or simply parishioners without fear and without discrimination. Sexual orientation or sexual identity should not be grounds for dismissal or interpreted as a violation of loyalty to the church.
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Excerpt from the open letter of over 100 employees of the Catholic Church in Germany:
The signatories of the manifesto also demand, in addition to equal rights, that the church take responsibility for discriminating against LGBTQ+ people over time.
“We’re part of the church, it’s always been like that”
“I don’t want to hide my sexual identity anymore,” says Uwe Grau, a priest from Stuttgart, in a message published on the #OutInChurch campaign website, part of a series of testimonies from church employees. A few of them are anonymous.
“We are part of the church. It’s always been that way. It’s time to show that we exist,” says Raphaela Soden, who works in a center of a church that cares for young people. Soden is a queer non-binary person.
Priest Stephan Schwab also revealed that he is gay and a year ago, Schwab held a mass for gay couples in his church in Würzburg. “I am firmly convinced that I am doing my job well as a gay priest,” he says.
“I want to work in a church where all people, regardless of their sexual orientation or identity, are accepted so that no one is forced to hide or deny a part of themselves,” he continues.
The 45-year-old priest Frank Kribber confesses that no one knew until now that he was gay, but the collective manifesto gave him the courage to make the disclosure: “I want to be part of a church that does not exclude anyone and where everyone is equally well received.”
“As a theologian, I should be able to love my wife and at the same time be able to work in the church,” is also the message of Jutte Hamm-Ullmann, a 52-year-old bisexual woman.
The campaign is also supported by high faces of the church, one of them being the Archbishop of Hamburg, Stefan Hesse.
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Stefan Hesse, Archbishop of Hamburg:
The testimonies of LGBTQ+ Catholics working for the church were included in a documentary titled “How God created us”/”How God created us”/”How God created us”, broadcast on German public television on Monday night. The documentary also denounces the church’s acts of discrimination against them.
The Vatican, between the pros and cons of gay marriage
The campaign comes days after new accusations were levelled at the German Catholic Church over priest abuse of children, following a report by several independent German lawyers. They point out that the former Pope Benedict XVI was aware of these abuses during his time as Archbishop of Munich between 1977 and 1982, but he did nothing. The Vatican then denied the allegations.
Last year, the Catholic Church reaffirmed that homosexuality was “a sin” and again resisted the blessing of same-sex marriages. But the rules at the high level are beginning to meet resistance from the clergy. Last year, for example, more than 100 churches across the country officiated marriages for “everyone who loves each other,” gay, lesbian or heterosexual, according to G4Media.
Pope Francis has always supported the Church’s tradition regarding marriage and its classic definition, that is, the union between a man and a woman. However, he showed his support for the LGBTQ+ community. For example, in 2013 he said that gay people should not be marginalized.
“If a man is gay and is looking for God, who am I to judge him?” he said, according to the BBC.
Last year, Pope Francis sent a letter of encouragement to an American priest, an activist for the rights of the LGBTQ+ community. “You are a priest to all men and women, just as God is a father to all men and women,” he wrote, according to CNN. He also said that “God loves each of his children.”