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DignityUSA
PO Box 376
Medford, MA
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tel: 800.877.8797
202.861.0017
fax: 781.397.0584
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RETURN TO > DATELINES > HOME
DignityUSA
Volume 15, No. 10
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in PDF format…DATELINE Editor: Bill Welch, EditorDateline@dignityusa.org
Keeping you informed TABLE OF CONTENTS DignityUSA Fundraising: Recent and Near-Term House Parties Two New National Board Members: Lourdes Rodríguez-Nogués and Tom Yates |
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DignityUSA Fundraising: Recent and Near-Term House Parties
New York City Party Raises Over $4000!
Past National Secretary, Former National Director, and former local chapter leader (Dignity/San Francisco and Dignity/New York) Tom McLoughlin threw a party on September 9, 2006, to celebrate his 25 years’ membership in DignityUSA. Over 70 people attended — long time members, friends, newcomers and family members. It was a fun evening for all.
Tom raised over $4,000 for DignityUSA!
There are several Dignity chapters raising money for DignityUSA this fall.
- Dignity/Columbus (OH) will host a five-course "Traveling Dinner" for up to twenty people on Saturday, October 21, 2006. For more information, please contact Mark by email at matsonm@aol.com
- Dignity/Seattle (WA) will celebrate its 33rd Anniversary in October in conjunction with a fundraiser for DignityUSA. As of press time, a venue has not been finalized. For more information, please contact 206-325-7314 or by email at mjrankin2000@worldnet.att.net
- Dignity/Chicago (IL) will host a Thanksgiving Party in November for chapter members who make a donation to DignityUSA. For more information, please contact 312-458-9438 or by email at DignityChicago@aol.com.
You can do it too: Food, wine & soft drinks and Friends — mix them together! Is there a party for DignityUSA in the works in your chapter? If you are interested in organizing or hosting a House Party for DignityUSA, or want to know how to go about it, contact board members Peggy Burns mgtburns@comcast.net or Lewis Tanner lewistanner@yahoo.com. We can help you make your party successful!
Solidarity Sunday is a faith-based anti-violence initiative begun in 1995 by DignityUSA as a way of making our opposition to anti-gay violence visible.
For materials and ways to participate in Solidarity Sunday, go to our web page www.dignityusa.org/solidarity/index.html.
Save the Dates DignityUSA’s
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Happy Anniversary & Congratulations to:
Greater Lansing (MI) - 18 years
New Brunswick (NJ) - 22 years
New Mexico (NM) - 22 years
Indianapolis (IN) - 25 years
Toledo (OH) - 29 years
Buffalo (NY) - 30 years
Pittsburgh (PA) - 32 years
Twin Cities (MN) - 32 years
Seattle (WA) - 33 years
New York (NY) - 34 years
Washington (DC) - 34 years
Los Angeles (CA) 37 years
Introducing Two New National Board Members
Here are biographical sketches on two new DignityUSA national board members.
Lourdes Rodríguez-Nogués
“My life in DignityUSA started on Easter Sunday, 1978 when I attended liturgy at Dignity/Boston (MA) for the first time. I became a member in February 1979 knowing fully that I had found my spiritual home in that community in Boston. I became active rather quickly: holding office on the chapter’s Board of Directors; participating in committees; heading task forces; being a homilist, Eucharistic minister, and presider, and being in the forefront of Dignity/Boston’s journey towards becoming more inclusive of women. The community of Dignity/Boston has always played a very important role in my spiritual and personal development; in my journey of coming out and being a lesbian activist, and in my struggle to come out as a Catholic.
“In my professional life, I am a psychologist and have worked as a psychotherapist for more than 20 years. I am currently director and owner (with my life partner Diane) of a group private practice in Boston called Rasi Associates, founded and previously owned by a member of Dignity/Boston, Rich Rasi, known to many of you. I love my job and feel humbled by the way it allows me to be witness to so many people’s lives.
“At home, I am a married lesbian woman. I met my spouse, Diane Sidorowicz, at Dignity/Boston. (Who says you cannot meet an attractive woman in church!) She was a real woman pioneer at Dignity/Boston, having arrived there well before me, when only two other women were around. Diane and I have known each other for more that 20 years, and have been in a relationship for 14. We had a civil and holy union in Vermont in 2001, performed by a justice of the peace and by Rich Rasi. Although we were legally married in Massachusetts in 2004, we consider that first ceremony our real marriage. We live in Boston with our cat Bo and our two Havanese dogs, Mojito and Chula.
“So that you can complete the whole picture of who I am, let me tell you that I was born in Cuba (almost) 59 years ago. I am bilingual and bicultural, which enriches my life, although sometimes they involve making embarrassing linguistic and cultural faux pas. I feel rooted in the culture and Cuban experience, which is central to me and all that I am, even if I have lived in Puerto Rico and now Boston much longer than I ever lived in Cuba.
“You can get the Cuban out of Cuba, but you can’t get Cuba out of the Cuban!”
Tom Yates
“Since I’m an extreme movie aficionado — some might argue fanatic — I collect movies, along with videos and books about film. Titles like 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die and 1000 Films to Change Your Life and their ilk fill my bookshelves. Much of the charm of these books is in the power of the pictures, quotes, and descriptions from movies to
summon common memories and emotions. This cultural iconography is so pervasive that a line from The Wizard of Oz or a still from Casablanca can evoke an almost universal response with little or no other clues, at least among 20th century Americans. Much of this is not how these will change your life, but how much these have already altered our perspectives and perceptions.
“Similarly our Roman Catholic traditions and upbringing have given us common set of ideas, symbols and/or touchstones that keep a lot of our perspectives uniquely Catholic, in spite of any of our disillusionments with the institutional Church in issues of peace, social justice, or sexual politics.
“During my college years I had pretty much abandoned the Church. Much of my disagreement with the Catholic Church was over the Church’s seemingly split stance on peace and social justice issues. Our parish priest was pretty hawkish during the Viet Nam War, and not very forward-thinking in any of the civil rights issues of the time. By the time I’d finished college, I was thoroughly disenchanted with the Church’s hypocritical position on all things gay and lesbian.
“After I’d moved to the Washington, DC area — and almost on a fluke — I walked through the doors of St. William’s Chapel to my first Dignity-sponsored Mass. I never would have guessed that it would have changed and shaped so much of my life. During the past 23 years I have witnessed this community wax and wane through disease, disagreements, and institutional persecution. Yet, it is still a place to share and commemorate our joys and sorrows.
“Recently I attended a family wedding at a suburban parish church in upstate New York. Despite my joy in celebrating with my family, I realized how much DignityUSA and Dignity/Washington (DC) have altered my perceptions — how these faith-communities more completely fulfill my needs of community, church, and even family.”
Honor and Remember Friends & Family with a Gift to DignityUSAA special way to honor or remember a family member or friend is by making a gift to DignityUSA. Special anniversaries, special birthdays, commitment or wedding ceremonies, birth of a child, or to remember someone who helped shape your spiritual life. These are all good reasons to make an honor or memorial gift to support the work of DignityUSA. |
Sign-up for DignityUSA Communications
As of June 2006, all DignityUSA news items are distributed electronically. This includes the monthly DATELINE, Quarterly Voice and press releases. Whether DignityUSA continues with primarily electronic distribution of information in the future depends upon our ability to meet the increasingly high expenses of printing & mailing, and how high a percentage of members' email addresses we have in the database.
Please sign up for the DignityUSA News Service to ensure that you receive all of our on-line periodicals: http://lists.dignityusa.org/mailman/listinfo/dusa-news
Upcoming Events
- DignityUSA Board Meeting, Washington, D.C., Fri-Sun, October 6-8, 2006.
- Ecumenical Catholic Communion Retreat, Rochester, NY, Wed-Sat, October 18-21, 2006. Further info see http://www.ecumenical-catholic-communion.org.
- Call to Action Conference, Milwaukee, WI, Fri-Sun, November 3-5, 2006. Further info see
http://www.cta-usa.org/conference2006/intro.html
DignityUSA Vision Statement
DignityUSA envisions and works for a time when Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered Catholics are affirmed and experience dignity through the integration of their spirituality with their sexuality and, as beloved persons of God, participate fully in all aspects of life within the Church and Society.