Group 1: Jamaicah Arevalo, Juan Nery, Clarabelle Santos

A Career Responding to the Vocation to Love

(Advocacies—Political, Environmental, Human Rights, Gay rights, etc.)

Topic Outline
I. Introduction
A. Why we chose the LGBTQIA+ advocacy
B. The topic in the context of students engaging in advocacy work for LGBTQIA+ rights –
responding to a vocation to love within their activities and initiatives.
II. Video 1: What ignites your passion for LGBTQIA+ advocacy?
III. Heeding the Call: Advocacy Work as a Manifestation of Christ's Love
A. Need for Community
1. “Through the exchange with others, mutual service and dialogue with his brethren,
man develops his potential; he thus responds to his vocation.” — Catechism of the
Catholic Church, 2nd ed., 1879
B. Justice as a Manifestation of Love
1. “...live up to our human and Christian vocation to love, for justice is really love’s
minimum expectation...” — Genovesi p. 31
2. “Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.” — Proverbs
31:9 (NIV)
C. Advocacy Work as a Response to the Call to Love
1. Demonstrate compassion, Promote justice, Defend the rights of the marginalized
and/or vulnerable
2. By doing these, we respond and live out our Christian vocation to love.
IV. Video 2: What challenges do you face as an LGBTQIA+ advocate?
A. General challenges in this kind of advocacy; such as discrimination, stereotype, judgment,
homophobia, stigma, backlash, close minded people
V. Navigating Challenges: Church Teachings & differing Beliefs
A. “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 natural law.… The number of men and women who have deep-seated
homosexual tendencies are not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered,
constitutes for them a trial.” — Catechism of the Catholic Church, para. 2357-2358
B. “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination” — Leviticus 18:22
 C. “Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural
sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way, the men also abandoned natural
relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful
acts with other men and received in themselves the due penalty for their error” — Romans
1:26-27
1. Video 3.1: From your perspective, what are the Church teachings that most often
interfere with the voices/freedom of queer people?
2. Video 3.2: Have you or your organization ever encountered any difficulties between
your advocacy efforts and certain teachings of the Church?
VI. Reconciling Advocacy & Faith: How do we reconcile our advocacies when they conflict with our
faith, or with the beliefs of those around us?
A. Preferential option for the poor; Christ’s love to those who need it the most
1. “Christian love, like Christ’s love, is to be directed toward the people most in need
of it [...] we know that it is not just sinners who especially need love’s attention but
also the people most often ignored and neglected by the structures of society.” -
Genovesi, p. 33
B. Pursuing peace even in the face of conflicting beliefs
C. Acknowledging the significance of respecting people. The "another self" pertains to the
golden rule which is the principle of treating others as you would like to be treated by.
Therefore, we should be kind to people.
VII. Conclusion
A. Careers responding to advocacies of injustice and inequality must be rooted in Christlike love.
Their foundations must be found in our vocation to love, while being wary of the
complications of money and the prejudices of society.
1. Advocating for a more equitable, humane, and Christlike world is good in the eyes of
our faith, but unmistakably comes with its own host of challenges, like banality and
neglect.
2. These challenges include discrimination and judgment, but also sometimes
misunderstandings of Church teachings.
3. The question of championing advocacies that others view as undeserving of God’s
grace can be answered through the universality of God’s salvation and the Church’s
preferential option for the poor.
B. Video 4: What advice would you offer to other students who may be hesitant to engage in
advocacy work due to potential conflicts with their faith or beliefs of others?