{"id":25757,"date":"2015-09-26T16:20:25","date_gmt":"2015-09-26T20:20:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/mo-roccas-starring-role-in-popes-mass-thrills-lgbt-advocates\/"},"modified":"2015-09-26T16:20:25","modified_gmt":"2015-09-26T20:20:25","slug":"mo-roccas-starring-role-in-popes-mass-thrills-lgbt-advocates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/mo-roccas-starring-role-in-popes-mass-thrills-lgbt-advocates\/","title":{"rendered":"Mo Rocca's Starring Role In Pope's Mass Thrills LGBT Advocates"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mo Rocca's Starring Role In Pope's Mass Thrills LGBT Advocates<\/b>
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Mo Rocca, an openly gay<\/a> TV reporter and comic, played a starring role in Pope Francis’ Mass in New York City’s Madison Square Garden Friday night, delighting LGBT rights advocates long critical of the Catholic Church’s opposition to homosexuality.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Rocca, a reporter for CBS Sunday Morning and former correspondent on The Daily Show, <\/span>delivered the first, or Lector, Bible reading<\/span><\/a> at the New York City Mass in Spanish. Rocca’s mother is Colombian.<\/span> <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

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“<\/span>I am deeply grateful and humbled to have delivered a reading at a Mass celebrated by<\/span> @<\/span>Pontifex<\/span><\/a>,” <\/span>Rocca tweeted<\/span><\/a> afterward.<\/span><\/p>\n

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I am deeply grateful and humbled to have delivered a reading at a Mass celebrated by @Pontifex<\/a><\/p>\n

— Mo Rocca (@MoRocca) September 26, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Joe Sudbay, a veteran LGBT rights activist and writer, interpreted Rocca’s reading as a sign that Pope Francis has followed through on his rhetoric implying he would make the Church more welcoming to gays<\/a> and lesbians<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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“Having openly gay<\/a> @MoRocca do first reading at MSG seems to confirm” Rocca’s argument that Francis’ July 2013 statement expressing tolerance of gay<\/a> people was “big,” Sudbay said on Twitter. In 2013, the pontiff famously said<\/a>, <\/span>“Who am I to judge a gay<\/a> person of goodwill who seeks the Lord?”<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Having openly gay<\/a> @MoRocca<\/a> do first reading at MSG seems to confirm it was big. From 7\/29\/13: t.co\/ZX6Gzv4r8A<\/a><\/p>\n

— Joe Sudbay (@JoeSudbay) September 26, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Tony Varona, an American University law professor and LGBT activist, called Rocca’s reading <\/span>“lovely.”<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Spanish biblical reading by openly #gay<\/a> @MoRocca<\/a> at mass w\/@Pontifex<\/a>. Lovely, and decent pronunciation! t.co\/wKbcuR9KS2<\/a> via @msnbc<\/a><\/p>\n

— Tony Varona (@TonyVarona) September 26, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Rocca came out in 2011<\/a>, when he was 42. He insists that his Catholic family members have been very supportive.<\/span><\/p>\n

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“Everyone assumes (including my Anglo friends) that it’s hard to be gay<\/a> if you have a parent who is a religious Catholic, and especially a Latin American Catholic — all I can tell you that wasn’t the case with me,” <\/span>Rocca told the Latin Post<\/span><\/a> in November 2013. “My parents were great.”<\/span> <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

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New Ways Ministry<\/span><\/a>, which calls<\/a> itself a “<\/span>gay<\/a>-positive ministry of advocacy and justice” for LGBT Catholics, was pleased to see the Church include Rocca, but remains skeptical of the institution’s overall progress on LGBT rights.<\/span> Rocca’s starring role comes as LGBT men<\/a> and women<\/a> “<\/span>find themselves unwelcome in many U.S. parishes and more than fifty church workers have <\/span>lost their jobs in LGBT-related disputes<\/span><\/a> since 2008,” Bob Shine, a staff associate at the ministry, wrote in a blog post<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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One of the pope’s speaking stops on Saturday — the four-day, Vatican-backed World Meeting of Families — demonstrates the challenges facing LGBT Catholics seeking greater acceptance in the church. The conference <\/span>limited attendance<\/span><\/a> to its only session on homosexuality on Thursday and has taken measures to stifle LGBT activism at the event.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Also on HuffPost:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms.<\/a> It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.<\/p>\n

www.huffingtonpost.com\/2015\/09\/26\/mo-rocca-francis-mass_n_8201234.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mo Rocca's Starring Role In Pope's Mass Thrills LGBT Advocates Mo Rocca, an openly gay<\/a> TV reporter and comic, played a starring role in Pope Francis’ Mass in New York City’s Madison Square Garden Friday night, delighting LGBT rights advocates long critical of the Catholic Church’s opposition to homosexuality. Rocca, a reporter for CBS Sunday … Continue reading Mo Rocca's Starring Role In Pope's Mass Thrills LGBT Advocates<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2466,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[107],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nMo Rocca's Starring Role In Pope's Mass Thrills LGBT Advocates - GAYFRIENDSCHAT.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/mo-roccas-starring-role-in-popes-mass-thrills-lgbt-advocates\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mo Rocca's Starring Role In Pope's Mass Thrills LGBT Advocates - GAYFRIENDSCHAT.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mo Rocca's Starring Role In Pope's Mass Thrills LGBT Advocates Mo Rocca, an openly gay TV reporter and comic, played a starring role in Pope Francis’ Mass in New York City’s Madison Square Garden Friday night, delighting LGBT rights advocates long critical of the Catholic Church’s opposition to homosexuality. 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