The Church, the Church, and the LGBT+Catholic community: What do Catholics and parishioners can do to help them understand what they are doing?

He invited all Catholics to live in hope for what lies ahead because the church is able to bless them. “We are able to bless the church with our presence, with our gifts.”

Francis’ announcement also makes allowances for similar blessings of straight couples in what the church considers “irregular” relationships. In some cases, a couple might have one of the partners get divorced, but not get a formal church annulment before entering into another civil marriage.

Ponnet advises people who are unwilling to do these blessings to try to find a priest that will do them.

He said it’s important to be clear about what priests are blessing and what they aren’t. “We’re not blessing the relationship,” he says. “We’re blessing the individuals in front of us. And I appreciate the pain that that causes, and I don’t know how to get around that.”

Ponnet, who is the archdiocese’s chaplain to its gay and lesbian ministry, says he always declines to attend the civil weddings of same-sex couples he knows because he doesn’t want there to be any confusion. He believes that his presence could bring people to believe that the church does not condone or recognize such marriages.

The blessings are not about official, doctrinal changes. And the job of Father Chris Ponnet in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles is to help both priests and parishioners understand them.

Progress, Cappiello says, not just for Catholics in same-sex relationships themselves, “but for family members, particularly parents who may be experiencing this terrible tension and conflict between what their church is teaching them and what their heart is telling them about their child who is in a loving partnership.”

Lpez and Guzmn go to the Saturday evening Mass with the LGBTQ+Catholic groupdignity a lot. The group gathers for a few things, including Scripture, prayer and communion.

Guzmn says it was a greatAffirmation and not a condemnation of our relationship because he was a friend of the family and represented the church as well.

“I just want to make sure that you guys take care of each other,” López recalls the priest saying. He asked us to kneel in front of him and give him a blessing.