Cornerstones. how To build lGBT+ catholic Pastorals?
"How to build Catholic pastoral care with LGBT+ people?". It is from this question that the fourth volume of Pietre d'Angolo was born, the result of the Pietre d'Angolo meeting of the Cornerstone Project (Florence, 5 April 2025). A volume that recounts the concrete attempts of some Italian Catholic dioceses to walk alongside LGBT+ people and their families, listening to that "discarded stone" that becomes a cornerstone.
In his preface, Gian Luca Carga invites us not to look for universal recipes: each diocese starts from its own territory, from its own history. «Reality is superior to idea», he recalls, quoting Evangelii gaudium (Francis, 2013, n. 231). From here comes the variety of paths: all different, all marked by the desire for a Catholic church that is more attentive to real life and the creativity of the Spirit.
The jesuit Pino Piva SJ offers an intense reading of the parable of the talents. He proposes looking at sexual orientation and gender identity as talents, not as burdens. If we imagine God as a rigid judge, we feel wrong. But if we discover a God who entrusts life to us with trust, then what we are becomes a gift capable of bearing fruit. «Maybe the problem is that we don't fully believe in our talentor», writes Piva. And so we risk burying it.
The volume then gives space to the pastoral paths started in catholic dioceses of Bologna, Chiavari is Florence told by those responsible for these diocesan journeys. Different paths, but united by the same objective: to build a pastoral care that works with LGBT+ people and their families, not simply on them. Here the paths of LGBT+ Christian groups and their parents find their voice - On the Way, Love on the Way, Kairos — which become a concrete place of faith, listening and concrete accompaniment in the local church.
From these experiences a message emerges forcefully: it is not Enough."to include". The real challenge for the Catholic Church is reciprocity, where everyone - LGBT+ people, parents, communities and pastoral leaders - grow together. Only in this way are Christian communities capable of listening, caring and, above all, the Gospel.
This publication was created and distributed free of charge byLa Tenda di GionataWith the contribution given by the Otto per Mille of the Waldensian Table tocornerstone ProjectOPM/2023/41829.
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CORNER STONES. HOW TO BUILD LGBT+ CATHOLIC PASTORALS?
INDEX
Foreword by Gian Luca Carrega
Father Pino Piva SJ, Walking with responsibility: the talents of LGBT+ Christians in the Church
Various Authors, Building inclusive Catholic pastoral care: paths in the dioceses of Bologna, Chiavari and Florence
The cornerstones of the Cornerstone Project
The four cornerstones
