Gay issues and Church teachings do not make a happy marriage but for gay Catholics like Mario Gerada, bishops gathered in Rome have made the right noises.

With bishops arguing that gay people have “gifts and qualities” to offer the Catholic community, Mr Gerada believes the language signals a change in attitude.

It is a language that differs markedly from that of Pope Benedict, who when serving as head of the Vatican’s doctrinal department had called gay people “intrinsically disordered”.

But even if the conclusions on gay issues contained in a document that summarises the debate between bishops in the first half of a two-week Synod are cause for hope, they still fall short of Mr Gerada’s expectations. He says the Synod is unlikely to address the fundamental theological question on which the Church’s teachings are built: are gay people defective or not?

“This question remains unanswered. What the bishops and the Pope are doing is catching up with the church because many Catholics have embraced gay issues and moved on,” Mr Gerada argues. He says the argument that gay people are gifts to the Church was first made in the book ‘Another kind of love’, penned by Fr Richard Woods in 1977.

The Synod document released on Monday, known as the relatio post disceptationem, gave details of the discussions by bishops from all over the world on a number of morally charged issues linked to the family.

The Church’s treatment of LGBT people also featured in it and made world headlines since the language used was interpreted as an opening to gay people.

However, during his daily bulletin yesterday, Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi insisted the document was just a summary of the discussions and did not represent the official position of the Church or the Pope.

The Synod has another week to go and the conclusions will serve as the agenda for next year’s meeting of bishops that will also focus on the family.

But in a world where gay partnerships are being officialised by more and more countries – some through marriage others through civil unions – bishops have acknowledged the need to dedicate special attention to children with gay parents. A realisation seems to have crept in that gay issues, among others, cannot be swept under the carpet even if they are morally challenging.

Bishop Mario Grech, who is in Rome representing the Maltese Episcopal Conference, says bishops have appealed for a greater appreciation of the good present in the experiences of “irregular families”. In his latest blog on the Synod, Mgr Grech says these families, including civil unions, also contain “hidden jewels” such as love, generosity, a sense of justice, faithfulness, a life of prayer and hard work.

“Even though these situations contrast with the evangelical proposal, it doesn’t mean God does not sow good seeds that bear fruit,” he says.

Mgr Grech believes the Synod is helping the Church shed light on all human realities.

Where the debate will head remains unclear but for optimists like Mr Gerada, the very fact that a discussion has started is very positive.

“It is a first step that will hopefully lead to a theological debate that looks at gay people as a variation in nature rather than a disorder,” he says. Only time will tell whether his prayers are answered.

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