Tag: Catholic Church

Diversity Role Models – Challenging prejudice one story at a time

A YEAR AGO I trained as a volunteer with Diversity Role Models, a charity which offers workshops in schools featuring positive LGBT or straight ally role models who speak directly to young people about their experiences, to challenge bullying by promoting empathy. They began in London in 2011 and are now expanding across the UK, including …

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Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2014/12/22/diversity-role-models/

‘You gotta have faith’ – Diva magazine debate on faith & sexuality

Tonight in Liverpool, Diva magazine editor Jane Czyselska chaired a debate between veteran human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, Christian commentator and musician Vicky Beeching, Rose Neelam, a muslim and Faith Communities Officer at UK Black Pride, and lesbian Rabbi Ariel Friedlander, as part of the annual Homotopia LGBT arts festival. Read Peter Tatchell: My journey to Humanism Read …

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Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2014/11/12/you-gotta-have-faith-diva-magazine-debate-on-faith-sexuality/

A very extraordinary synod

Early in the morning of Sunday 19th October I received a text message from the lay reader at our Anglican parish church, who was away for the weekend. This was unusual – what could be so urgent that she would text so early in the morning while she was on holiday? The text read: ‘Dear …

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Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2014/11/10/a-very-extraordinary-synod/

A call to action as Catholic Church consults on marriage and family life

A CALL TO ACTION, a group of Catholics campaigning for greater openness and dialogue in the Roman Catholic Church, is calling for the results of a consultation on sexual ethics to be released. The survey was commissioned by Pope Francis and sent to Catholic bishops around the world last November, with instructions to consult as …

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Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2014/04/19/a-call-to-action/

‘I am what I am’ – A reflection on identity

The following text is a reflection I presented today during Morning Prayer at the church I attend with my partner. The church chooses a monthly theme for its services – this month’s theme was Musicals! When my partner and I were asked to lead a service on the theme of musicals, at first I thought: …

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Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2013/08/11/i-am-what-i-am/

A photo a day kept inspiration at play – Now can we be married and gay?

WHEN I STARTED this blog I aimed to write a short post each week. I managed for about six weeks, but some of the posts were not so short as I was writing about issues and experiences that had been on my mind for months and years. But life began to take over and I …

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Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2013/01/01/photo-a-day-inspiration/

Photo A Day – December 8: Someone I love #FMSphotoaday

FIVE YEARS AGO TODAY my partner and I had our first date. Little did we know as we met in that café that we would make the news in 2012 as the first couple in the UK to register a civil partnership in a place of worship. Yesterday I found myself on the news again, as the …

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Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2012/12/08/photo-a-day-dec8-someone-i-love/

Photo A Day – November 30: On the wall #FMSphotoaday

‘HOW DEEP dare I go? How far might I reach?’ These challenging questions form part of a framed display of the life story St Ignatius of Loyola on the wall of Loyola Hall Jesuit Spirituality Centre in Merseyside. I went there with an early draft of of my ‘coming out’ story to make an eight …

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Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2012/11/30/photo-a-day-nov30-wall/

Photo A Day – November 15: In my bag #FMSphotoaday

THREE THINGS go everywhere with me in my satchel – a diary, my phone charger, and perhaps the least interesting yet most useful gift I have ever received. The black leather conference folder was a gift from a former housemate one Christmas – I remember being unimpressed and underwhelmed at the time. What could I …

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Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2012/11/15/photo-a-day-nov15-in-my-bag/

The scared and the sacred – Wrestling with identity

THIS is a detail of Jacob Wrestling With The Angel, by Alexander-Louis Leloir (1865). I discovered this image as I began writing my coming-out-in-faith story. I believe the story which inspired it has something to teach us about our identity, which may explain its popularity as a source of inspiration for artists, and why it speaks …

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Permanent link to this article: https://abravefaith.com/2012/09/23/the-scared-and-the-sacred/

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