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By Pete Baklinski
\nLifeSite News<\/p>\n
DAYTON, Ohio, March 16, 2021 (LifeSiteNews<\/a>) \u2013 A Marianist-run Catholic university in Ohio is offering students an opportunity this Lent to create a pro-LGBT \u201cStations of the Cross\u201d and then pray them along with other students who support the normalization of homosexuality.<\/p>\n Participants at the University of Dayton\u2019s \u201cAlly Stations of the Cross\u201d are given the opportunity of \u201cpraying the Stations of the Cross through an LGBTQ+ and allyship lens,\u201d a poster for the event states. The poster includes a picture of a rainbow-colored road leading to the foot of the cross.<\/p>\n \u201cParticipants will attend 5 guided, interactive planning meetings and then host praying the Ally Stations that they created as a team,\u201d the university\u2019s\u00a0website<\/a>, where the event is posted, states. A pro-LGBT campus minister will \u201chelp navigate the team through a simple but powerful reflective and creative process.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo experience necessary – just a willingness to connect the real experiences of people in the LGBTQ+ and Ally community with the experiences of Christ\u2019s passion,\u201d the website adds.<\/p>\n The Stations of the Cross are a traditional 14-step Catholic devotion on the passion of Jesus, beginning with his condemnation of death and ending with his placement in the tomb.<\/p>\n One Catholic parent who has a daughter attending the university expressed concern about the event.<\/p>\n \u201cThis event hinders them from the experience of Christ,\u201d the parent told the university in a communication obtained by LifeSiteNews.<\/p>\n \u201cLent is a reflection on Jesus\u2019s death on the cross,\u201d the parent wrote. The parent accused the University of \u201cleading students to sin during Lent\u201d through the pro-LGBT Stations of the Cross, adding that such an event is \u201coffensive to parents\u201d and \u201cneeds to be stopped immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt does not reflect the teachings of the Catholic Church and in fact could lead these students into a dangerous path of medical transition and sin,\u201d the parent wrote.<\/p>\n So-called \u201cqueer\u201d Stations of the Cross\u00a0usually involve<\/a>\u00a0comparing the sufferings of Christ to the sufferings of persons on account of their same-sex attraction and actions. According to a Catholic parish in San Francisco that\u00a0hosted a \u201cqueer version\u201d of The Stations of the Cross<\/a>\u00a0last year, \u201cJesus\u2019 journey to Calvary and death symbolizes many of the same difficulties that we face at different times in our lives,\u00a0especially as people of faith and as LGBTQ people.\u201d During the first station, where Jesus is condemned to death, the reflection states that LGBT Catholics are \u201cunjustly condemned\u201d for \u201cwho we love.\u201d<\/p>\n University of Dayton officials defended the pro-LGBT Stations of the Cross to LifeSiteNews.<\/p>\n \u201cThe University of Dayton’s Campus Ministry is working with those students who are interested in a Stations of the Cross experience that may draw them deeper in relationship with God, where they can know that they are loved. Students will spend time in prayer with each station, write a reflection based on their experience and prayer, and then pray their reflections together,\u201d a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe University’s Campus Ministry is fully aware of the Church teaching on sexual expression, marriage, and gender identity; our campus ministers respect those teachings. Campus Ministry takes care to ensure all programming related to LGBTQ students expresses Church teachings authentically.\u201d<\/p>\n While the university officials may be fully aware of the Church\u2019s explicit condemnation of homosexual acts as \u201cintrinsically disordered\u201d and her teaching that the homosexual inclination is \u201cobjectively disordered,\u201d it remains unclear if such teachings are passed on to students. The university, however, goes out of its way to\u00a0offer students what it calls \u201cally training\u201d workshops<\/a>\u00a0to help students support the normalization of homosexuality on campus.<\/p>\n \u201cAlly Training is a workshop that educates individuals within the University of Dayton’s Catholic and Marianist tradition, so they may better support the LGBTQ+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans*, Queer, and Questioning) community,\u201d the university\u2019s website states.<\/p>\n \u201cAlly Training includes experiential activities and guided discussions designed to provide knowledge, skills, and attitudes that will help you effectively ally with the LGBTQ+ community,\u201d the website adds.<\/p>\n The Catholic parent told the university, however, that a true ally to persons with same-sex attraction would encourage them \u201ctowards chastity or a single life.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe word \u2018ally\u2019 and \u2018LGBTQ+\u2019 themselves are activist terms, denoting a shift away from Catholic teachings all together,\u201d the parent said. \u201cThis mocks our beautiful Church.\u201d<\/p>\n Most Reverend Dennis M. Schnurr University of Dayton![\"Image\"](\"https:\/\/assets.lifesitenews.com\/images\/made\/images\/remote\/https_www.lifesitenews.com\/images\/local\/ally-stations-s21-1-1_480_622_75_s_c1.jpeg\")
<\/figure>\nContact information for respectful communications:<\/h4>\n
\nArchbishop of Cincinnati, Ohio
\nPhone: (513) 263-6612
\nEmail:\u00a0archbishop@catholicaoc.org<\/p>\n
\n300 College Park, Dayton, OH 45469
\nPhone: (937) 229-1000
\nEmail:\u00a0info@udayton.edu<\/p>\n