The new training subsidy for adults of catholic Action reflects on homosexual people
The new subsidy for adults of Catholic Action,High definition. Training courses for adult groups 2025-2026, brings with it a prominent novelty that deserves to be underlined. In the training course, divided into four stages starting from the Gospel of the Transfiguration, the first stage entitledStanding standingHe dedicates ample space to a focus with an unequivocal title: "Todos, Todos, Todos" (pp. 36-43) dedicated "to open their eyes" on people in particular affective situation due to sexual orientation or gender identity.
For the first time an official subsidy of catechesis for adults drawn up by the National Center of Catholic Action inserts an explicit study on the theme of homosexuality. The declared goal is clear: "We have a duty to question us, to question ourselves and open new ways of dialogue".
The central contribution is signed by donStefano Guarinelli, psychologist and psychotherapist, professor at the Pontifical Gregorian University. With lucidity and rigor, Guarinelli explains how fragile the category of "normality" is when applied to human and emotional experience. "If you are not like everyone else - he writes - for one or two or twenty or one hundred ways of being or behaving, then you are not normal".
The problem arises when this discrepancy is read as a pathology, confusing the simple data with a diagnosis. For the author, however, it is essential to recognize that homosexuality is not "a symptom to be cured", but a complex reality that asks to be interpreted in its wealth. "We have made many steps forward in normalization - he says - but the risk is to stop at the label, forgetting that every sexual orientation and every gender identity speak of a unique intertwining of personal and social experiences. The real challenge is not only to give visibility, but to enter a deep knowledge of people and their paths, so that everyone is recognized in their own, unique and precious way of being a son in his son ».
Next to this theoretical gaze is placed thetestimony of Luisa Bellomo, which adds meat and blood to the words of the focus. Luisa tells the moment when, during her service in Catholic action, she became aware of being a lesbian: "I wondered if the Church and my association, the house that formed me to faith, would have wanted me again". It affects his feeling "out of place", but also the strength to leave thanks to the affection received and the encounter with other young LGBT believers. Thus was born the experience of the groupThe AlmondOf Padua, defined by her as a "small community in which to put together these two aspects of our lives, only apparently incompatible".
From this path Luisa draws a clear belief: "The AC is already a frontier, when it recognizes that there are people with different stories inside, who are not afraid but can be wealth. These stories must be seen and welcomed, they are not secondary: being a minority means being in a space that has not foreseen your existence, and this continuous cancellation has a weight ».
The focus is enriched withquestions for group reflection, which lead to questioning how to relaunch the difference as a value, on how to make the Catholic action a "mother" capable of welcoming everyone, and on how to positively infect communities with an inclusive style.
Theapplication ideasThey are equally concrete: from work on language (in dialogue with theManifesto of Hostile Words), to the use of cultural tools such as the cineforum (with the filmThe front windowBy Ferzan Özpetek, 2003), up to the involvement of experiences already live in Italy that favor the dialogue between pastoral workers and LGBT believers.
Thefinal bibliographyWhich accompanies the focus. Among the texts mentioned, authors such as Aristide Fumagalli (Possible love), Martin M. Lintner (Sexual and family moral theology), James Martin SJ (A bridge to build), Luciano Moia (Church and homosexuality), and even the sitegionata.org, a point of reference for the dialogue between faith and experiences of LGBT+ People (lesbians, gay, bisexual, trans and beyond)
This passage undoubtedly represents a turning point: an official recognition, albeit in still prudent form, that the paths of faith of adults can no longer ignore the presence and questions of homosexual people. The Catholic action, an association that has always defined itself as "popular" and "people", thus agrees to live in the "borders" indicated by Pope Francis, where the differences are not an obstacle but an opportunity to meet.
In conclusion,High definition 2025-2026A subsidy of great spiritual and cultural breath is confirmed, but with this opening it takes a further step: it recognizes that "this good air is good for everyone and all, not only to me" - as Luisa says in her testimony - since the challenge of inclusion is today one of the most urgent and decisive for the future of the Catholic Church.
Italian Catholic Action (edited by), High definition. Training courses for adult groups 2025-2026, 144 pages, Editore Ave, july 2025
