As 2015 winds down and we prepare to celebrate Christmas, it is a time for us to look back at the year. These are a few of the many DignityUSA successes this past year:
DignityUSA: Your Voice in 2015
Lewis Speaks-Tanner
President, DignityUSA
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If you require a printed version of the Dateline, please ask your local (or the nearest) Dignity chapter.
As 2015 winds down and we prepare to celebrate Christmas, it is a time for us to look back at the year. These are a few of the many DignityUSA successes this past year:
DignityUSA: Your Voice in 2015
Lewis Speaks-Tanner
President, DignityUSA
In November, what comes to mind is Thanksgiving, Veterans Day, preparing for winter, longer dark days, bare trees, Advent. It is the time of the year that we are enveloped in gratitude.
Season of Gratitude
Alice Knowles
DignityUSA Vice President
What an exciting time for members of Dignity giving prophetic witness to the sacredness of our lives as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Catholics. DignityUSA has supported 12 families at the World Meeting of Families who are sharing their lived experience as LGBT Catholics, or as the parents of LGBT Catholics, through the Equally Blessed Coalition.
DignityUSA’s Excitement on the Eve of the Pope’s Visit to the U.S.
Allen Rose
DignityUSA Board Member
Have you heard? Pope Francis will be in the U.S. this month! ... DignityUSA has been planning for this visit for nearly a year. While the Pope’s plane doesn’t touch down for weeks yet, we are ready for his arrival!
DignityUSA Plans for Pope Francis’ First U.S. Visit
Marianne Duddy-Burke
Executive Director
DignityUSA
During the membership meeting at the Convention, two major directions for DignityUSA’s future work were affirmed. First, those present unanimously affirmed the resolution calling for equal access to our Church’s sacraments, regard- less of gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, or relational status.
Marianne Duddy-Burke
Executive Director, DignityUSA
What is in a movement we ask? Hard work, great risk, a lot of faith and trust, steady com- mitment and dedication, and the participation, not of a few, but of many. In fact, all of us.
What's in a Movement
Lourdes Rodrigues-Nogues
President, DignityUSA
As we revel in the stunning victory of marriage equality in Ireland and await what is widely expected to be a Supreme Court decision that makes marriage equality the law of the US, we live in a time of incredible social transformation.
Springtime is upon us, and we are beginning to recognize its signs: the blooming of the flowers, the longer, and warmer, days, and the feeling of renewal and new life. As LGBT Catholics, we are going through a springtime of our own.
Lewis Speaks-Tanner
Vice-President, DignityUSA
A Reflection
The responsibility of the belief in the Resurrection is not lost on us. With every alleluia we sing, we faithfully embrace the light, but we also take the risk that comes with living the life that Jesus calls us to, what he promises us, and what only he can deliver here and in eternal life. We cannot remain passive witnesses to this life-changing event narrated to us in the Gospels. Dignity has heard the call loud and clear: go, tell it on the mountain.
We are now well into our observance of the season of Lent. In recent weeks, I have given a great deal of thought to what this season means for us, at this point in our Church’s history, and as we anticipate the Supreme Court’s final ruling on nationwide marriage equality for same-sex couples
Lent: Prepare for the Resurrection
Marianne Duddy-Burke
DignityUSA Executive Director
In their latest issue, Boston Spirit, an LGBT magazine in Massachusetts published a list of the top 25 LGBT Power Players of New England. Publisher David Zimmerman and editor James Lopata presented the list with the question: "Are there true 'leaders' of the community these days? Have we come so far that we no longer need the bold, outspoken, aggressive leaders of the past?”
As we hang fresh calendars and anticipate the 12 months of a new year, there is always a sense of wonder and questions about what lies ahead. We already know some of the major events that will make 2015 a very exciting and full year for DignityUSA.
2015: A Year of Big Events for DignityUSA
By Marianne Duddy-Burke
DignityUSA Executive Director