Join fellow DignityUSA members and other lay-led Catholic reform organizations on November 15th at the USCCB Assembly in Baltimore, MD. Together we'll gather in peaceful witness near the U.S. Bishops’ meeting in downtown Baltimore, where they will be voting on a document to deny Communion to President Joseph Biden and other prominent Catholics.

Our gathering, “Bread, Not Stones,” (Matthew 7:9) will call for our bishops to be pastors, not political operatives, and to better align with Pope Francis and the majority of Catholics who believe that the Eucharist “is not a prize for the perfect, but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak.” We believe it is wrong to weaponize sacraments, and pray that our witness will instead affirm the dignity, rights, and freedom of conscience of all people.
 
When: Monday November 15, 2021 at 12:30pm. 
Where: Columbus Park, corner of Eastern Avenue and President Street, Baltimore

Buses will leave from Washington DC, New York, & Philadelphia. The whole group will arrive at the witness site in Baltimore, MD at approximately 12 noon. The buses will return after the witness. Bus passengers must be fully vaccinated and wear a mask while on the bus. You can register for the event on the Catholic Organization for Renewal website. 

Congratulations to Maddie Marlett and Kenn Dowling of our Young Adult Caucus for being accepted to host a workshop at National LGBTQ Task Force: Creating Change Conference 2022!

In their workshop called Finding Spiritual Power in Minority: Lessons from LGBT+ Catholics, they’ll explore the impact of the Dignity community and the maturity of faith that emerges by collectively forming an identity and facing oppression within the Catholic Church. In their proposal they share,

“Dignity is a prime example of how LGBT+ people have addressed this lack of access to religious spaces. Since homophobic and transphobic religious leaders are not creating the space for us, we have to create it for ourselves.  Although this kind of rejection and exclusion is often traumatic and painful, something magical actually comes out of this act of taking ownership, due to the effect of the Franciscan value of "minority.'

The DignityUSA Board has scheduled the 2021 Membership meeting for Sunday, December 4, 2021.

It will begin at:

2:00 PM ET/1:00 PM CT/12:00 PM MT/11:00 AM PT/9:00 AM HT.

This will be an on-line meeting, and we expect the meeting to last 90 minutes. The meeting will include an update on programmatic and financial status, as well as the opportunity for members to pose questions to the leadership team.

Registration is now open, and you can submit a comment when you register, or send your question to secretary@dignityusa.org. 

Families With Dignity and Dignity Detroit are joining forces in a program we call Love Always Wins to raise $5,000 to offer financial assistance for Detroit Catholic church and school employees who lost their jobs due to their affirming beliefs. 

Just in the last year, at least five Catholic ministers and teachers in the Archdiocese of Detroit have been fired or pressured to resign from their jobs -- two for being in a gay marriage, one for being in a gay partnership, and two because they were publicly affirming of LGBTQ+ people.

All of the money raised in this fundraiser will go to ousted employees.

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