Jesuit university and Gay Pride, "All, all, all"

Alberto Hurtado University (Chile) held a "religious" "pride prayer" event, in which the LGBTI flag was blessed and participation in the Gay Pride march was promoted, as part of a week of activities dedicated to the "sexual diversity community.

Alberto Hurtado University, a Chilean Jesuit university, has published a video depicting a "religious" celebration related to the so-called "Gay Pride Month." The celebration is not an isolated event, but rather part of the "Pride Week" organized by the university this June.

Yesterday, Wednesday, June 18, the first "pride prayer" was held at noon at a Catholic university in Chile, organized by the university's Gender, Diversity, and Equity Department. For greater awareness, the ceremony took place in the central courtyard of the university campus. The purpose of the event was to "pray for the community of sexual diversity at the university."

The prayer was led by Jesuit Priest Rodrigo García, in charge of the university's Pastoral Ministry for Sexual Diversity. He was dressed in a pink shirt, a corduroy jacket, green pants, and a multicolored stole. He used a kind of improvised altar, behind which was placed the new LGBTQ+ flag. This flag is not limited to the rainbow, but includes brown and black as a reference to race; pink, light blue, and white as a reference to transgenderism; and a yellow triangle and a purple circle referring to intersexuality. During the ceremony, the flag was blessed.

The priest explained that it was "a moment to give thanks for the LGBT community, for what it contributes to the university." He also claimed that what he was doing was simply what the late Pope Francis intended: "It's a religious act. Pope Francis said this. I didn't do anything that hasn't been said or done. This is neither a subversive nor a revolutionary act." In that sense, he noted that Pope Francis had repeatedly said that "the Church is a place for everyone, everyone, everyone." The Jesuit, however, allowed himself to change the phrase slightly: "We now say: everyone, all of us, all of us."

He also affirmed that the "proud prayer" was framed "in a global moment in which we commemorate the struggle of people for the rights of sexual diversity. That is why we join Pride Month, because our politics respect and promote diversity." Not content with that, the Jesuit noted that God "sort of approves of Pride" and that "Jesus is going to march on Saturday," referring to the Gay Pride March that will take place this Saturday, June 21.

The University's Director of Gender, Diversity, and Equity, María Teresa Rojas, stated verbosely that, "In the context of Pride Month, we have invited the community of students, staff, and academics to have a moment of reflection through Christian prayer, a prayer that invites us to think about respect, inclusion, and the dignity of all people, and to recognize that our staff and students are also sexually diverse and, therefore, deserve a space of recognition and invitation, right? To feel part of a community that belongs to all of us." She also explained that it seemed important to them that "a Catholic university of all times should explain to society that religion and diversity can go hand in hand."

During the celebration, an Our Father was recited and petitions were offered to God related to inclusion and the importance of sexual diversity. As the images show, there was no shortage of blessings for apparent same-sex couples in fulfillment of the Fiducia supplicans. Judging by the published video, attendance was quite low.

Alberto Hurtado University is the only Jesuit university in Chile, a country with a dozen Catholic universities. It was founded recently, in 1997. According to the university's website, its purpose is "to build an academic project of excellence, non-profit, diverse, pluralistic, and inclusive." In the section dedicated to its identity and mission, there is no mention of God. In March of that same year, the university organized the First Chilean Congress of Interdisciplinary Studies on Sexual and Gender Diversity.

That a Jesuit university should devote the month of June to celebrating Gay Pride against the morals of the Church is particularly striking when one considers that June is the Month of the Sacred Heart, a devotion intimately linked to the Society of Jesus. Indeed, in the early 20th century, the twenty-third General Congregation of the Jesuits noted that "the Society of Jesus accepts and receives with a spirit overflowing with joy and gratitude, the gentle charge entrusted to it by our Lord Jesus Christ to practise, promote and propagate devotion to his most divine Heart". In the 21st century, apparently, the Society has decided to accept a very different burden.

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