Centacare, July 2020
The Centacare Rainbow Quality Team would like to provide you with a list of affirming religious communities (please see attachment via link below) that may be helpful for some people from the LGBTIQA+ community that you work with.
Spiritual wellbeing is a human right, but unfortunately people within the Rainbow community who hold particular Christian faiths are not always awarded this human right within their own faith denominations. In response to this need, the Centacare Rainbow Quality Team have worked on identifying religious communities within South Australia who are not just welcoming of people from the LGBTIQA+ community, but are affirming of them.
They have contacted individually the communities listed and have secured permission from them to be added to the list. They have also identified individuals within each community that can be used as an entry point for people who wish to connect with these affirming communities.
The Team acknowledge that this is not an exhaustive list of affirming communities, and there may be others that they do not know of. If you have additional contacts that you feel would be beneficial for this list, please let them know. Also, if you have someone in need whom does not have a denomination listed, please let them know and they will endeavour to source a suitable community if available. At this stage they have only identified Christian faith communities, but they do recognise that spiritual need extends well beyond this faith. However, to date the contacts on this list is all that they have been able to identify, and they will continue to source affirming communities from other faith traditions. They can be contacted via the www.centacare.org.au/contact website for any feedback or additional information.
Whilst the Team have gone to significant lengths to ensure the groundwork has been done to create a warm and welcoming entry into these affirming communities, they would also like to point out that they have no formal links with these communities and therefore cannot guarantee that all people will receive the support that they are looking for. They also cannot offer support to maintain connection within these communities.
It is envisaged that this list will act as a guide for those seeking a supportive and affirming connection with a religious community that aligns with their spiritual beliefs and needs. The Centacare Rainbow Quality Team hope this list will assist you to support those with this particular need.
- Download list as PDF: LGBTIQA+ Affirming Religious Communities (004)