September 2, 2025. A delegation from DignityUSA, the world’s oldest LGBTQ+ Catholic organization, will be among the more than 1,000 people from over 30 countries participating in the first-ever Jubilee Pilgrimage for LGBTQ+ people that is recognized by the Vatican. The DignityUSA participants come from Indiana, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Washington, DC.
The theme of the Pilgrimage is “Pilgrims of Hope,” and it has been organized by La Tenda di Gionata with support from other groups, including the Global Network of Rainbow Catholics.
“This pilgrimage is truly historic, even miraculous” said Meli Barber of Indianapolis, president of DignityUSA. “Many of us could not have imagined that LGBTQ+ Catholics, who have too often been unwelcome in our own church, will have a chance to walk through the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica, and to pray together there as part of a Holy Year event. We carry the hope that this is another milepost along the path to full inclusion in our church, the church we have always been part of. We are filled with joy and pride for everyone who will be representing us all.”
Sam Albano, author of God’s Works Revealed: Spirituality, Theology, and Social Justice for G, ay, Lesbian and Bisexual Catholics, and secretary of DignityUSA, will be part of the DignityUSA group. “This pilgrimage is a witness to LGBTQ+ Catholics’ enduring faith and love for the Church. It is also an opportunity to be welcomed in a way that we have not always experienced. This really is a time of blessing: being blessing and being blessed,” he said.
Marianne Duddy-Burke, executive director of DignityUSA, was part of a combined DignityUSA and SoulForce group that tried to participate in the last Jubilee in January 2001. Under the banner “God’s Gay Children Bring Gifts,” the group distributed presents at an AIDS hospice and an orphanage, but were surrounded by Vatican security when they gathered in St. Peter’s Square. Many were detained when they tried to use their tickets to attend the Holy Year’s final Mass. “I am very conscious of the different way we are being treated this time,” Duddy-Burke said. “To go from being seen as security threats to being welcomed like any other pilgrims is a huge shift.”
Duddy-Burke also noted that the official pilgrimage falls on the 27th anniversary of her marriage to her wife. “On September 6, 1998, Becky and I stood before our families, our friends, our faith community, and God and made promises of love and commitment in what we named our covenant of marriage. We could never have imagined that we’d be celebrating an anniversary inside St. Peter’s with LGBTQ+ Catholics from around the world. This is a day we will long remember!”
Duddy-Burke also serves as co-chair of the Global Network of Rainbow Catholics (GNRC), an official partner in the planning of the LGBTQ+ Pilgrimage and related events. GNRC will sponsor “Pilgrim’s Rest,” a dinner following the pilgrimage that will offer time for participants to reflect on the experience. “LGBTQ+ Catholics from all around the world who will be part of the pilgrimage are excited to represent their communities, Duddy-Burke said. “Being acknowledged as part of the church in the fullness of who we are is something many who will be there have been working toward for many years. This will be a sacred time for us.”
A banner, created by Philadelphia artist Libby Kircher for DignityUSA, will accompany participants during informal moments around Rome. (It will not be displayed during the pilgrimage or in times of prayer, when the use of banners would not be appropriate.)
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DignityUSA is the world’s oldest organization of Catholics working for justice, equality, and full inclusion of LGBTQIA+ people in our church and society. Since shortly after the publication of the then Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s 1986 “Letter on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons,” DignityUSA and its chapters have been banned from using Catholic space.