Posted on 03/26/2026 9:59:31 AM PDT by ebb tide

Catholic dioceses in Austria have been hosting an LGBT-themed Way of the Cross that reinterprets the stations according to the supposed experiences of “queer” refugees.
The ecumenical project “Fluchtweg” (Escape Route) tries to connect the Passion of Jesus and the Stations of the Cross with the contemporary experiences of “queer people” who had to flee their home countries, according to the group “Catholic Youth” of Upper Austria.
“Queer people do not flee for self-realization, but out of fear. Their courage, their vulnerability, and their hope meet us beneath the cross – where every human experience has a place,” said the initiator Anson Samuel when describing the purpose of the project in an interview with Kathpress.
The events took place in March in Catholic churches in Vienna, Linz, and Graz. During the shows, the stories of so-called “queer refugees” were presented as fictional phone calls.
“The stories told are incredibly powerful – it takes your breath away; words fail to describe what it triggers in you,” said Hannelore Mayer, pastoral assistant specializing in pro-LGBT “rainbow ministry” at the organization Junge Kirche Wien.
The “Fluchtweg” (Escape Route) also featured an aerial acrobatics show inside the church. The goal is to “make experiences of exclusion, violence, and hope visible and to promote social awareness,” according to the organizers of the project.
“Touching people without laying a finger on them,” said Stefanie Rausch, one of the aerial acrobats involved, describing the idea behind her performance, which she created together with Arson Bauer.
The “queer Way of the Cross” was created and organized by staff from several Catholic dioceses and other Christian denominations. The project is supported by institutions of the Dioceses of Linz, Graz-Seckau, Innsbruck, and the Archdiocese of Vienna, as well as the Evangelical Church of Vienna.
Katharina Payk, a Protestant university chaplain, “queer theologian,” and co-organizer of the events, said that the project demonstrates the power of ecumenical cooperation.
“When we as Christians live out (queer) diversity together, the church becomes a place that transcends boundaries,” she stated.
Catholic teaching condemns gender ideology and homosexual acts, as well as any sexual acts outside of marriage and not ordered toward the conception of life.
Regarding homosexuality, the Catechism of the Catholic Church states: “Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that ‘homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.’ They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.”
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The “queer Way of the Cross” was created and organized by staff from several Catholic dioceses and other Christian denominations. The project is supported by institutions of the Dioceses of Linz, Graz-Seckau, Innsbruck, and the Archdiocese of Vienna, as well as the Evangelical Church of Vienna.
Katharina Payk, a Protestant university chaplain, “queer theologian,” and co-organizer of the events, said that the project demonstrates the power of ecumenical cooperation.
I’d fully expect this from some Protestant denominations, but from the Catholic Church??????
Per Pope Francis, “Todus, Todus, Todus!”
Someone explain to me how Catholicism is better due to it being supposedly unified in doctrine as opposed to protestants when we see stuff like this?!
See my tagline.
I definitely must agree with your tagline.
Because even Jesus had a Judas, and painting an entire religion on the actions of a handful of heretics is ridiculous.
An abomination to our Father God who NEVER gave the rainbow to Satan!
Poor comparison, The Catholic Church claims specific clarity because of the idea they operate under 1 authority and therefor 1 doctrine where as protestants are often, and honestly justifiably, criticized for a lack of doctrinal purity.
It is reasonable for a person to hold an entity or person accountable to that which it claims as a strength.
Muslims will turn the Vatican II Church around and shut it completely down. They are not teaching Christ’s doctrine.
“Queer people do not flee for self-realization, but out of fear. Their courage, their vulnerability, and their hope meet us beneath the cross – where every human experience has a place,” said the initiator Anson Samuel when describing the purpose of the project in an interview with Kathpress. Anson I don’t want to be in that place.
Because everybody knows that queers are persecuted in Austria
We do. And when someone, even clergy, rejects that authority ( like Protestants) it is utter hubris to point out that the entire religion is flawed.
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