Why is it important for us Christians to participate in vigils for overcoming homotransbiphobia?
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Luigi and Valeria, Christian parents with an LGBT+ daughter from Bari (Italy) and members of The Tenda di Gionata (Italy)
Why is it important to participate in vigils for overcoming homotransbiphobia?
It is important because it is a great, beautiful opportunity to reflect on how God sees us. In a world that seems ridden with fear (fear of life, fear of freedom, fear of the new, fear of those who are different), it is wonderful to remember that God looks at us uniquely and invites us to enter into a full and personal relationship with Him.
This vigil can be an opportunity for every person in the Church and in our communities to start seeing people as God sees them: without fences, without barriers, without prejudice.
It is important because we believe that the Church, through openness to LGBT+ people, their stories, their suffering, and their joys, can rediscover the creative freedom of the Spirit and the vocation to “open the doors” and to live the welcoming and inclusion that are at the root of the Gospel.
It is important because we want to testify that rejection, violence, discrimination, ghettoisation, bullying, and exclusion are not part of our language and must not, cannot be part of the language of the Church: because, as Pope Francis says: “Every person is a child of God, every person. God does not reject anyone; God is the Father. And I have no right to drive anyone out of the Church. Not only that, but it is my duty always to welcome. The Church cannot close the door to anyone. To no one.“
Will you keep vigil with us? We await you.
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