<p>&nbsp;</p> <p>In conjunction with our allies in the National Religious Leadership Roundtable&nbsp;DignityUSA issued the following statement about the United States Catholic&nbsp;bishops' proposed guidelines &quot;Ministry to Persons with a Homosexual&nbsp;Inclination: Guidelines for Pastoral Care&quot;:</p> <blockquote> <p>&quot;Lesbian gay bisexual and transgender [LGBT] Catholics have been looking for&nbsp;sensitive respectful and compassionate leadership from their bishops for&nbsp;decades. Some of the more welcoming language in this new document could be&nbsp;interpreted as an attempt to provide that. However every positive statement in&nbsp;these proposed guidelines is contradicted by the bishops' own statements and&nbsp;even more by their actions.</p> <p>&quot;This document attempts to welcome gay and lesbian people into an institution&nbsp;that is simultaneously leading attacks on our civil rights relationships and&nbsp;families all across the world. It is an invitation to collaborate in our own&nbsp;oppression.</p> <p>&quot;As LGBT Catholics families and friends we call on the U.S. bishops to listen&nbsp;to lesbian gay bisexual and transgender Catholics who will willingly tell of&nbsp;the gifts we have received through our God-given orientation and the blessings&nbsp;we know through our loving relationships &mdash; as well as of our spiritual&nbsp;struggles in our church. Our voices and that of the Holy Spirit speaking in and&nbsp;through our lives must be heard in outlining the pastoral care the church&nbsp;provides.&quot;</p> </blockquote> <p>To read the full text of all the other statements issued please please visit&nbsp;<a target=_blank href=http://www.thetaskforce.org/media/release.cfm?releaseID=991>http://www.thetaskforce.org/media/release.cfm?releaseID=991</a>.</p> <p>To read the recent Associated Press story which quotes DignityUSA please visit<br /> <a target=_blank href=http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Bishops-Gays.html>http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Bishops-Gays.html</a>.</p> <p>To read DignityUSA's 1987 &quot;Letter on Pastoral Care of Gay and Lesbian Persons&quot;&nbsp;DignityUSA's response to the Vatican's Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic&nbsp;Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons of October 1986 please visit<a href=http://www.dignityusa.org/1986-pastoral>&nbsp;http://www.dignityusa.org/1986-pastoral</a>. This document was&nbsp;approved by the DignityUSA House of Delegates in Miami July 1987.</p> <p>&quot;By the grace of God I am what I am and God's grace to me has not been without&nbsp;effect.&quot; (I Corinthians 15:10)</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>