NO WELCOME FOR WE ARE CHURCH
IRELAND AT WORLD MEETING of FAMILIES.
No decision about WAC Ireland’s application for an exhibition stand that was made 5 months
ago.
WAC Ireland is astonished and dismayed by the discriminatory manner by which it has been
treated by the World Meeting of Families. WAC Ireland stands for the full equality of Women
and LGBTQI people and greater democracy & transparency in our church.
We responded positively to the invitation by the WMoF that all were welcome to participate as
one family in welcoming Pope Francis to Ireland. On 14th February 2018 we submitted an
application with the required deposit for an exhibition stand in the Main Hall of the R.D.S
during the Pastoral Congress, 23-25 August 2018.
To date, 5 months later, we still have not received the courtesy of a written response.
Almost fortnightly, we have rung the WMoF inquiring about the status of our application. The
constant reply has been ‘Yes, we received your application but it is on hold’. Upon inquiring
as to when a decision on our application would be made we were told that it was up to those
at the executive level to inform us.
As no information was forthcoming, on the 25th May we sent a registered letter to Fr. Tim
Bartlett, Secretary General of the WMoF and copied it to Dr Diarmuid Martin, Archbishop of
Dublin and President of WMoF, asking for the courtesy of a decision on our application. Both
these letters were also ignored.
To add insult to injury on the 5th June we received a circular email from the WMoF touting for
business saying stands were still available and inviting applications!
Still having received no decision by the middle of July, and the WMoF own deadlines having
expired, we have finally cancelled our deposit cheque.
The lack of the most basic courtesy in dealing with our application, purposefully leaving us in
limbo which amounts to a rejection, is a total contradiction to the advertised ‘all are welcome’
inclusivity of the WMoF, who continue with their stealth tactics against gay people (erasing
pictures of LGBTQI couples from its official brochure earlier this year and deleting one
inclusive minute from the video of Bishop David O’Connell).
Brendan Butler, We are Church spokesperson.