"Seen from this perspective, it becomes clear that the Church's approach provides the most compassionate response to people, including youth and young adults, who experience same sex attractions," Schneible said. "Far from being a misfortune or a disappointment, their identity as sons and daughters of God – who are made in his image and likeness, and have received divine grace and a call to holiness – is a profound and life-giving joy."
Those who experience same-sex attraction deserve compassionate outreach from Catholics, she said, adding, "we do so in the belief and hope that following God's plan will always lead one to happiness and ultimate fulfillment."
Equally Blessed claims World Youth Day typically "includes sessions sponsored by organizations that oppose any advancement of civil rights for LGBTQI people." It said the pilgrimage aims to "create the space now for LGBTQI people within the Catholic Church."
Its objections included the recent synod on young people discussion about LGBT issues "where only (mostly older) cisgender men were allowed to vote." It objected to what it said was "a recurrence of rhetoric that blames child sexual abuse on homosexuality" and protested what it said was the "attempted erasure of LGBTQI Catholics and same sex couples from the church."
Equally Blessed objected to "unjust treatment of LGBTQI church workers, "including violence and threats of violence," citing the case of a pastoral worker at San Diego's St. John the Evangelist Parish who resigned from his position after he became the focus of strongly critical internet coverage from fringe Catholic blogs and news sites, which said he was in a same-sex union and backed LGBT advocacy. The pastoral worker said he had endured "physical and emotional violence" due to the internet sites and their readers. Extreme harassment, including death threats placed on the man's car, were reported to police and the FBI, an associate pastor at the parish told Fox 5 San Diego.
Equally Blessed claimed that Pope Francis had shown "public silence" after all these developments.
The Equally Blessed contingent to World Youth Day includes Melissa Barber, who quit her job as a religious education director in Indianapolis to contract a same-sex union; Catherine Buck, an adjunct professor from New Jersey who writes for New Ways Ministry's blog; and Keith Hall, a federal employee from Washington, D.C. who co-chairs the Dignity Young Adult Caucus.
The self-described Catholic groups in the coalition reject Catholic teaching on the immorality of homosexual acts and have called for same-sex unions to be recognized as sacramental.
In a February 12, 2010 statement, then-U.S. bishops' conference president Cardinal Francis George of Chicago said New Ways Ministry's claim to be Catholic "only confuses the faithful regarding the authentic teaching and ministry of the Church with respect to persons with a homosexual inclination." He rejected claims that it provides "an authentic interpretation of Catholic teaching and an authentic Catholic pastoral practice." The group has no approval from the Church and "they cannot speak on behalf of the Catholic faithful in the United States," he said.
In 2016 New Ways Ministry awarded its Bridge Building Award to media commentator and America magazine editor Father James Martin, S.J., who based his book on LGBT outreach on his acceptance speech.
In 2012 the Equally Blessed Coalition issued a report attacking the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Knights of Columbus for their work to maintain the legal definition of marriage as a union of one man and one woman.
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The report's funders included the Human Rights Campaign and the report acknowledged Arcus Foundation funding for the Equally Blessed Coalition.
The Arcus Foundation is also a grant maker to the Catholics United Education Fund and the pro-abortion rights group Catholics for Choice. It has funded groups in other Christian communities, including Episcopalian groups ahead of the breakup of the Anglican Communion over issues such as ecclesial authority and homosexuality.
It has been a partner of the U.S. State Department's Global Equality Fund.
Kevin J. Jones is a senior staff writer with Catholic News Agency. He was a recipient of a 2014 Catholic Relief Services' Egan Journalism Fellowship.