Chronology of groups of believing homosexual people in Italy
This card wants to report some significant stages of the history and evolution of Christian homosexual groups in Italy. It therefore does not pretend to exhaust the topic that, at the moment, nobody has yet dealt with in an organic way. To carry out corrections or news additions write us.
• July 1980 - The first conference on "Christian faith and homosexuality" in which a few dozen Italian believers are encountered in Prali (Turin) at the Ecumenical Center of Agape at the Ecumenical Center of Agape. Since then the field took place every year and has now reached its twenty -first edition.
• December 20, 1980 - The Guado group was born in Milan: the founders had met during the summer at the Agape camp and had come into contact with Don Domenico Pezzini who, in 1979, responded to the letter of a young homosexual published by "Rocca". The groups of Cremona (the drop), of Reggio Emilia (the archipelago) and Abbiategrasso (MI) (the needle in the haystack) will be born from the ford for "gemmation".
• January 10, 1981 - The Davide group was born in Turin, which begins a collaboration relationship with the Abete group of Don Luigi Ciotti still in progress. Among the founders is Ferruccio Castellano, the animator of the first Agape field. Later the group will change its name and will be called Davide and Gionata.
• March 1982 - The first seminar of believing gay groups dedicated to the theme takes place at the Center for Civitate Christiana: "being homosexual". This experience will end in 1985.
• December 1982 - The Guado Group begins the publication of its quarterly bulletin which will continue until 2005
• June 1983 - The Il Guado group participates in the foundation of the European Forum of the groups of believing homosexuals.
• September 1983 - A group is established in Padua, around Gianluigi Giudici who, from 1987, will be called the meeting and operate at the Valdese church of the city until 1999. The word of Vicenza will be born from this group.
• January 1986 - Don Domenico Pezzini leaves the ford and founds a group of spiritual research from which the source will be born (the group that still guides spiritually in the first person). In the meantime he began his collaboration with the group on the way which, in the meantime, had set up in Bologna. The groups "The source" of Rome will refer to the experience of Don Pezzini; The "Il Mosaico" group of Brescia, the "La Crete" group that meets in Bergamo and the "La Rondine" group in Turin ..
• April 24, 1987 - The first conference of Italian believers on the theme takes place in Turin: "Catholic sexual morality: from the Bible to the magisterium, to the pastoral care". The conferences of Turin will go on until 1989.
• 23 october 1987 - The first Venetian conference of groups of believing gays on the theme takes place in Venice: "friendship". Two more will follow.
• May 1989 - Meeting of the European Forum of the groups of homosexuals believing at the Agape di Prali field (Turin).
• October 1989- Conference of Groups of Believing Gays in Monteforte Irpino (Avellino). Two more will follow. In the meantime, the group I Teles of Naples begin their activity, which will operate until 1991 and Chiara and Francesco di Udine who will continue its activities until 1999.
• February 1990 - The "Fratelli dell'Elpìs" group was born in Catania, which immediately finds in Don Giuseppe Gliozzo, owner of the parish of the Blessed Crucifix of the good death, a valid point of reference.
• October 1990 - The "new proposal" group was born in Rome. It will be in the house of the founder of the group that, on November 20, 2002, the Auxiliary Bishop of Rome, Monsignor Clemente Riva, will begin the custom (lasting until the death of the prelate) to meet the groups of homosexual Roman believers on the occasion of Christmas.
• May 1993 - on the initiative of some members of the Guado, the "L'Arcipelago" group of Reggio Emilia which will cease to exist in 2000 and will be replaced, in 2001, was born by the group "Battle ".
• October 1993 - Don Goffredo Crema leaves the Ford and founds the group of christian homosexuals "La Drop" in Cremona.
• March 12, 1994 - Coordination of Christian homosexuals in Italy was born in Bologna. The Guado of Milan, Davide and Gionata of Turin, the drop of Cremona, the archipelago of Reggio Emilia, the meeting of Padua, the word of Vicenza, Chiara and Francesco di Udine and new proposal of Rome are part of it.
• 13-14 may 1995 - On the initiative of the coordination groups of Christian homosexuals in Italy, at the headquarters of the "Valdese theological faculty of Rome", the conference is held: "Consciousness, freedom and communion: homosexuality and churches" in which a hundred people participate. Among other speakers, Don Franco Barbero and the American theologian John Mc Neill are present.
• January 1997 - He begins his publications "Acqua di Fonte", the quarterly periodical to which the groups linked to the experience of Don Pezzini refer.
• February 1997 - Gianni Geraci, until then president of the Guado, is elected spokesperson for the "coordination of groups of Christian homosexuals in Italy".
• March 1997 - The rainbow center of special pastoral care was born in Rome.
• November 8, 1997 - The Emmanuele group of Padua was born.
• January 1998 - The their activities begin the renaissance Group of Pordenone and the Arco Di parma Group .
• February 1998 - The evangelical network of faith and homosexuality is born - refle that aims to coordinate how many, within the Italian evangelical churches, are attentive to the problem of welcoming homosexual people. Profa organ will be a quarterly connection bulletin. In October, the Refo organizes his first conference on the subject several families, different families.
• March 1998 - The first issue of the "newsletter of the coordination of Christian homosexuals in Italy" is out of the "Bulletin of the Guado".
• June 1998 - The Franciscan friars of Potenza give life to a group of help of relational difficulties that deals, among other things, of homosexual people.
• September 1998 - The Narciso and Boccadoro group was born in San Marino.
• 23 october 1999 - takes place on the initiative of the coordination groups of Christian homosexuals in Italy and of the Italian section of the movement we are church the conference: «Homosexual people in the Church: problems, paths, prospects»Which, for the first time, collects representatives (about three hundred) of all realities that, in Italian churches, deal with homosexuality. The documents of the conference will then be published by the "Meridiana" publishing house in Molfetta, in the book the place of the other.
• July 18, 2000 - Italian believing homosexuals participate in world Pride, after organizing, for the participants, an ecumenical moment of cult and having made their contribution to the study day on: homosexuality and religions That the organizing committee had proposed in the previous days. in the Meantime, several new groups were born: in Rimini the group "Narciso and Boccadoro"; in Trieste the "Kairos" Group that will melt in 2004.
• June 2001 - The ford is one of the promoting groups of Milan Pride 2001.
• February 2, 2002 - The ford organizes, in collaboration with the Italian section of us we are church the conference: The place of the other: homosexual people in churches , with the participation of the Moralist Enrico chiavacci and the Theologian Elisabeth Green. the participants are About 200. the documents were published in The group's bulletin.
• Autumn 2002 - The group "Suspended Bridges »Of Naples.
• May 2002 - The emmanuele Group , in the context of the Gay Pride of Padua, organizes a public round table with the participation of Gianni Geraci and Don Domenico Pezzini, preparing the land for a very prudent attitude of the local church against Pride.
• Autumn 2003 - The group "was born in FlorenceKairos ». The "La Ressa" group was born in Trento, which collects the witness of the interlinguistic group "Senfkorn - mustard grain", which had been operating in the city of Bolzano for years.
• November 2003 - "Coordination of Christian homosexual groups in Italy" approves a founding card.
• February 21, 2004 - on the initiative of the group «New Proposal», A hundred exponents of the groups of believing homosexuals meet at the Valdese theological faculty of Rome for the conference dedicated to the ten years of the number of" family today ", dedicated to the theme: homosexuality. Questions and dramas of an marginalized and little -known world.
• November 20, 2004 - The ford organizes a public conference on the theme: free or persecuted Catholics: the questions to a God who returns, with the participation of the Vaticanist Marco Politi, by Don Leonardo Zega and Vittorio Bellavite. There is a one hundredths of participants.
• February 19, 2005 - The "Fratelli dell'Elpis" group organizes a public meeting in Catania on the theme: from Nicodemo's night at birth on the other for the kingdom in which, with the representatives of the other groups of Christian homosexuals, it celebrates its 15 years of activity.
• April 2005 - The group "La Fenice" was born in Turin.
• April 22, 2006 - The first field for gay and believing lesbians of Central Italy Italy takes place in Albano Laziale on the theme: the visible and the invisible: with me, with others, with the other. This experience is repeated in 2007.
• July 2006 – In seguito a un dibattito sul ruolo e sul senso del COCI Gianni Geraci prende atto del fatto di non essere più in grado di esercitare una funzione di portavoce del «Coordinamento gruppi di omosessuali cristiani in Italia». Rimane comunque la rete di rapporti che si erano creati tra i vari gruppi di omosessuali cristiani in Italia.
• 28 Giugno 2007 – Molti gruppi di omosessuali credenti raccolgono l'invitò del gruppo «Kairos» di Firenze e organizzano, in tredici città italiane, delle veglie di preghiera per le vittime dell'omofobia. L'iniziativa coinvolge diverse centinaia di persone in tutta Italia.
• 1 settembre 2007 – Nasce Gionata.org , il primo portale su "Fede e omosessualità", (dal nome del protagonista di una storia biblica dalle forti coloriture omoaffettive) realizzato da volontari provenienti da diverse confessioni cristiane (cattolica, valdese, battista, anglicana, etc…) e da diversi cammini (parrocchiali, movimenti ecumenici, religiosi e dai gruppi di credenti omosessuali cattolici e evangelici).
Cronologia aggiornata al 10 settembre 2007
Per realizzare questa cronologia sui gruppi di persone omosessuali credenti in Italia ci siamo basati principalmente sulle notizie riportate in Credere Oggi, n.116, marzo-aprile 2000, pp.114-115 e su Wikipedia alla voce Cogi (Coordinamento gruppi di omosessuali cristiani in Italia) e gruppo Guado.
Si ringraziano per le segnalazioni ricevute: Gruppo Guado di Milano, Gruppo Arco di Parma, Gruppo Terra Battuta of Reggio Emilia, the Refo group of Florence.
