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Group sees good in trip to Vatican
By WAVENEY ANN MOORE © St. Petersburg Times, published January 13, 2001 ST. PETERSBURG -- A local man, part of a recent gay and lesbian rights delegation to the Vatican, says the trip was not futile. The group failed to be granted a meeting with Pope John Paul II or Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, head of the Vatican's doctrinal office, to discuss concerns about the Roman Catholic Church's policies concerning gays, lesbians and other sexual minorities. "Our reason for being there was to open a dialogue, and that did not happen," said Bill Carpenter, a St. Petersburg resident who made the trip with Soulforce, an ecumenical gay rights organization, and Dignity/USA, the nation's oldest organization of homosexual Catholics. However, Carpenter, 48, said he is pleased that the effort, promoted as a non-violent campaign "against centuries of spiritual violence and anti-gay teachings," got the attention of the Italian public. The 22-member American group held four demonstrations in Rome, beginning Jan. 3 and ending on Epiphany, Jan. 6. Wearing sweat shirts that said in Italian and English, "God's gay children bring gifts. . . . Bless them," the delegation held its first three vigils just outside of St. Peter's Square. On the first day, said Carpenter, "We literally brought gifts -- that we had asked the Vatican to bless -- that we were going to take to an orphanage just outside of Rome." On Jan. 4 and 5 the group again stood outside St. Peter's Square. On those occasions, they carried gifts that later were distributed to AIDS- and HIV-infected patients and battered women. Vatican officials did not respond to daily letters for meetings, Carpenter said. On Epiphany, the final day of the protest, Carpenter and another member of the group were detained outside St. Peter's Square during the pope's outdoor Mass. Later that day the group moved its protest just inside St. Peter's Square. This time members wore sweat shirts with the words, "Stop spiritual violence," and "No more tithes or offerings until the anti-gay teachings end." They also carried photographs of themselves to lay at the creche of the Christ Child, where pilgrims to the Vatican also had presented their gifts. Carpenter said the group wasn't allowed to approach the creche. "We certainly made a powerful statement to the Vatican, to the gay community, to the people of Rome that the Vatican was not invincible and that it was important to bring truth to those who oppress us," he said. Last year Soulforce organized protests at United Methodist, Presbyterian Church (USA), Episcopal, Southern Baptist and Roman Catholic gatherings in the United States.
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