Catholic Gay Priests Confess

<p><em>Catholic Gay Priests<&sol;em><br &sol;>&NewLine;<strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that more than 100 Catholic church officials in Germany came out as lesbian&comma; gay&comma; bisexual&comma; and transgender LGBT&comma; queer or non-binary on Monday&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;They called for reform within the crisis-hit church&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Demands for a more liberal attitude to homosexuality within the German church have coincided with uproar over reports of widespread child sex abuse by Catholic clergymen in the country&comma; including allegations of cases where former <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;punchng&period;com&sol;">Pope<&sol;a> Benedict XVI failed to act&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The 125-strong group&comma; which includes priests and workers in education and administration&comma; published a statement demanding an end to the &&num;8220&semi;discrimination and exclusion&&num;8221&semi; they had experienced&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;I don&&num;8217&semi;t want to hide my sexual identity anymore&comma;&&num;8221&semi; Uwe Grau&comma; a priest in the diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart&comma; was quoted on the group&&num;8217&semi;s website as saying&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;We are part of the church&comma;&&num;8221&semi; added Raphaela Soden&comma; who works in pastoral care for young adults and identifies as queer and non-binary&period; &&num;8220&semi;We always have been&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s time to finally make it clear that we exist and how wonderfully queer the body of Christ is&period;&&num;8221&semi;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The statement called for &&num;8220&semi;free access to all pastoral vocations&&num;8221&semi;&comma; and an end to what the signatories called a &&num;8220&semi;system of concealment&comma; double standards&comma; and dishonesty&&num;8221&semi; surrounding LGBT issues&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;Entering into a non-heterosexual relationship or marriage must never be considered a breach of loyalty and&comma; consequently&comma; an obstacle to employment or a reason for dismissal&comma;&&num;8221&semi; they said&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The issue of homosexuality has caused a major rift in the Catholic Church between modernisers and conservatives&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;<strong>Source&colon; AFP<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;