Gay Hyde Park Family Traveling To Philadelphia To See Pope Francis
HYDE PARK (CBS) - More than a million pilgrims are expected to jam Philadelphia during Pope Francis' visit this weekend. Among them, families from the gay community, including one from Hyde Park.
Marianne and Becky Duddy-Burke and their 2 daughters will be among the masses, traveling to the World Meeting of Families.
"We are part of a pilgrimage of 12 families, all with LGBT members," Marianne told WBZ-TV.
"I want to show that we're a family, a faithful family as much as any other family," adds Becky.
Marianne heads a Massachusetts organization of gay Catholics called DignityUSA. "I just think it's really important that the church be aware that there are LGBT people who are part of the church now, who are faithful Catholics," she says.
Early in his tenure, Pope Francis surprised some people when he was asked about priests who are gay and responded; "Who am I to judge?"
But he has not changed church doctrine.
"Unfortunately Pope Francis has continued to use the same kind of rhetoric the previous two popes have, calling same sex marriage a threat to the family. And I think part of our mission is to talk about, that this builds family, this is about respect for families," says Marianne.
Despite that, the couple has not left the church.
"I think there's a lot of richness in Catholicism. There's the sacramental life, there's the spirituality," Becky says.
And they're hoping church leadership can change.
"Francis has opened some windows and allowed some of this different thinking to start to be verbalized. Once that window is opened there's going to be a lot of air let in, and I think that's really good for us, and for the whole church," says Marianne.
Even though Francis has indicated he wants Catholicism to be more inclusive, the church still looks at homosexuality as "intrinsically disordered."
