Members

Commentary by Chuck Colbert on the new "DignityUSA Letter on the Pastoral
Care of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) People 2007" can
be found at http://www.dignityusa.org/pastoral/colbert.html.

"Sowing Division in a Divided World," A Statement from Catholic Church Reform Groups,
can be viewed at http://www.dignityusa.org/news/2007/070720cor.html

The photo gallery of Dignity at the Pride Parade is available here.

The members of DignityUSA - Columbus Chapter has requested that the organization advertise in popular periodicals. The leadership team has listened. So, look for our ad in the May 3rd issue of Outlook Weekly. The topic of this issue is “Taking Back Our Faith”.

Questions are rated on a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being least and 5 being most important.

1. Spiritual Development: “We strive to achieve Christian maturity through the sacraments, Scripture, prayer, an active love of neighbor as ourselves, and liturgical celebrations, especially the Mass.”
   • Sunday Liturgies 1 [0] 2 [0] 3 [0] 4 [3] 5 [17]
   • A Yearly Retreat 1 [1] 2 [2] 3 [10] 4 [6] 5 [1]

The final count for the Travelling Dinner has been done. We have collected $2700 for DignityUSA. We would like to thank all the contributors and volunteers who all made this event such a great success.

On October 22, we will be having elections of our leadership team. Nominations can be sent to nominations@dignitycolumbus.org.

There are four positions. They are:

The Call to Action Conference in Milwaukee, WI, November 3-5, 2006, will be held at the Midwest
Airline Center downtown. DignityUSA has secured the group rate for ten or more who register together. If
you register directly, Dignity¬USA does not get the discount rate nor credit for our number of
participants.

Please send your filled out Call to Action Conference registration form and your credit card info or check payable to CTA to DignityUSA, 1500 Massachusetts Ave., NW #8, Washington, DC 20005-1894, by mid-September. Those received in time will be mailed together (as required for the rate) for the early bird rate of $160 per person. Registration form is available at http://www.cta-usa.org/conference2006/registration.html.

Present: Logan Bear, David Goldsmith, Mike Tynan

We began our discussion by talking about our purpose. We talked about describing Dignity as being ”Within the Catholic Tradition, But a Little Beyond.” We discussed our purpose as “reforming” the Church, out of justice and respect for ALL human dignity, but not necessarily “replacing” the Church. For some it is still important to participate in regular parish life, if for no other reason than to witness that GLBT persons have a right, and even a responsibility to be there, in the church and in the Church.

At the same time, coming on the heals of our gathering at Redeemer Lutheran, we felt it important to foster even more contact with Integrity, Lutherans Concerned, the Gay-Straight Alliance in Delaware, in an ecumenical effort that the hierarchical church has neglected. Again, in our liturgical gatherings, we have stepped “beyond” the Catholic tradition, by having, not only a celibate priest, but also a married priest couple and a woman presider. Ironically, this has come about by the restrictions the hierarchical church places upon us.

Dear Dignity Members,

Lutherans Concerned is pleased to host our "annual" ecumenical picnic on Sunday, August 20, from 5:00 to 8:00 PM at Redeemer Lutheran Church, 1555 S. James Rd., Columbus 43227. We'll provide grilled meats of the hot dog and hamburger type (or something equivalent), beverages, and paper products. Everyone else is invited to bring a dish to share.

We've decided to have it at Redeemer so that numbers aren't an issue and we're OK rain or shine. I'm expecting to include King Avenue and the Delaware group in the invitation, but we decided against trying to contact all individual welcoming churches--just too much hassle.

To become a member of DignityUSA Columbus Chapter, just join through our national organization, DignityUSA. To get started, visit their membership page.