A helpline for the LGBTQI+ community has received the blessings of the Archdiocese of Bombay. The hotline, spearheaded by fashion designer Wendell Rodricks, is an initiative to help the queer community and their allies be closer to the church. The archdiocese Cardinal Oswald Gracias has been considered to be one of the progressive personalities in the Indian Catholic church’s space.
In a social media post, Rodricks divulged the details of his meeting with the archdiocese, “Yesterday I met Cardinal Oswald Gracias in Bombay to seek His Eminence’ approval and blessing to start a social media presence to help the LGBTQ community, their families and friends and bring them closer to the Church.”
The designer claimed it was quite an emotional moment for him when Cardinal Gracias blessed his effort to help those in the queer community who wished to reunite with their faith. “I was moved to tears when Cardinal Gracias not only gave his total approval and support but also agreed to advise his clergy to be more compassionate and less condemning of the LGBTQ community. At the end of our meeting, His Eminence placed his hand on my head and blessed me in a special way that ‘Christ bless us for the work we are doing for society’. Suffice to say I felt indeed blessed, grateful and immensely joyful. In smog filled Bombay, my heart felt a rainbow in the sky,” said in a social media post.
The idea for Rodricks’ initiative, which is likely to be kickstarted later this month, came from the feeling ‘condemned’ in his childhood. “I have personally suffered. If [a queer person’s] faith goes against them, it leads to psychological damage because they can’t get the acceptance,” Rodricks told The Hindu.
Rodricks had faced quite a bit of criticism after he came out as gay. In a 2007 interview to The Telegraph, Rodricks said, “I guess they expected me to be this terrible monster or someone very feminine who’d try to grab them.” He even claimed to stay under the radar in his hometown so as not to attract attention towards his sexual orientation. “If you see me in my village — in church or at a public function, I don’t display overly my affection for my partner,” he had said in the interview.
The renowned fashion designer’s yet-to-be-named campaign will reach out to the LGBTQ community and their allies in order to curb marginalisation of queer people. “I will be the public face of this endeavor to establish a hotline to assist LGBTQ and family/friends who need guidance and support to keep the faith.”
Teaming up with Ruby Almeida, the co-chair of Global Network of Rainbow Catholics, Rodricks will start the helpline soon, which will be available to members of the community across the country. “The Cardinal has said that we have to be people who are supportive and the church has to be supportive of them. The church has been always welcoming and respectful of all people,” Father Nigel Barett, the spokesperson of the Archdiocese of Bombay said, adding that “the moral position has been one that the sexual act between members of the same sex is not endorsed or accepted.”
