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Pope Benedict XVI rides along Washington’s Rock Creek Parkway in the Popemobile Wednesday. It’s unknown if he was able to read the Dignity banner or if others accompanying him pointed out that it belonged to a gay group, but the pope waved cordially to members, a surprise to some as his doctrinal views have remained stridently anti-gay. (Blade photo by Henry Linser)
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HOME > NEWS > LOCAL
By: LOU CHIBBARO J COMMENTS
 
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of the Wicked Witch of the West” has been adapted into a Tony Award-wining Broadway musical, wrote his letter as an invitation for the pope to visit him and his family in their home in Massachusetts.
“Pope Benedict, my husband and I, married under the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, are Catholics,” he said. “We have three children adopted from overseas, ages 10, 8 and 6. They have all been baptized and the middle child will make his First Communion in 10 days.”
Similar to Mizeur and the others whose letters were delivered to the Vatican Embassy, McGuire told the pope that he and his partner yearn for a time when the church hierarchy in Rome better understands gay Catholics.
“I ask you to venture imaginatively into the suffering of your gay and lesbian brothers and sisters in Christ,” said McGuire in his letter. “I ask you to contemplate the burden of those who feel chastised by the church for a human condition they have neither requested nor, because they accept themselves as God has made them, rejected.”
Panas, the Dignity Washington president, said Benedict’s appearance at the Basilica of the Shrine for the Immaculate Conception had a special significance for Dignity. In a statement released last week, the group said five of its founding members created Dignity Washington at an informal gathering in the Shrine’s cafeteria in 1972.
Members of trong>Dignity Washington hold a banner on Rock Creek Parkway Wednesday. Minutes later Pope Benedict waved to them as he passed in the Popemobile. (Blade photo by Henry Linser) |
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“When Pope John Paul II made his 1979 visit to Washington, Dignity Washington was present across from the entrance of St. Matthews Cathedral when he met with local priests and at his Mass on the Mall,” the statement says. “In the same spirit, we present ourselves to Pope Benedict to remind him that God does not make mistakes and welcomes all of us into the Church. We expect as the Vicar of Christ, so should he.”
Mizeur was joined at the news conference by her domestic partner, Deborah Mizeur, who gave an impassioned account of her decision to convert to Catholicism after meeting Heather Mizeur and spending time worshiping with her.
Deborah Mizeur told of how Heather’s strong passion for both the church and efforts to bring about church ac
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