# Mediatized Catholicism--Minority Voices and Religious Authority in the Digital Sphere
## 5 Catholic LGBT+ Networked Communities and the Issue of Authority
### The Multifaceted Forms of Religious Authority: Structure  
With respect to structure, the Catholic Church, in terms of both community (or People of God) and hierarchical organization, was the authority most called into question in the online discussion. The Catholic Church was said to exclude LGBT+ people, with a few locally rooted exceptions. Moreover, it was considered to be discriminatory and incapable of change. In this sense, the Catholic Church and its internal structures (the local parishes, the hierarchy) frustrated the desire to belong. Examples of sentences referring to the Catholic Church's structure included the following constructions: \"The Church says\" or \"Despite what the Church says\". The reference to Roman Catholicism was often implicit. There was an emergent tension around the issue of \"belonging\" and a complex negotiation over the meanings of \"church\" and \"Catholic community\". One position in the debate advocated reclaiming rightful belonging, which derives from the sacraments (Baptism, especially) and from the love of [PERSON]. Hence, belonging does not need to be positively acknowledged by the Church structure, because it is a fact: LGBT+ people belong to the universal Church of People of God, and they find their community in the network of LGBT+ groups. In this sense, they criticized the Catholic Church. A second position considered instead the importance of the Catholic Church's transformations and praised these changes. For example, one message in the community (2014) stated that \"it is important to see the good everywhere.... We must rejoic in this Church--semper reformanda--day after day it tries progressing in the Love toward [PERSON] and the neighbors\". A third position focused instead on the relevance of an explicit recognition. This relevance rests on the collective and hierarchical character of Catholicism: without public recognition, there is no full participation. According to this view, LGBT+ Catholics bear the collective responsibility of demanding internal change. Furthermore, this position shared the opinion that the Catholic doctrine is not flexible and cannot be selectively chosen, which raised the issue of whether those who condemn LGBT+ people can call themselves Catholics. In relation to this topic, the authority role of the liturgy was also called into question. The main issue concerns the role of the liturgy and the sacraments in defining inclusion in and exclusion from the Catholic Church structure. Baptist, the Eucharist, attending mass, and participation in general were discussed with respect to their function within Catholicsm. Moreover, as already mentioned, it was discussed whether specific sacraments (such as Reconciliation) are necessary in order to be part of the Church community: if Reconciliation is necessary to receive the Eucharist and if homosexuality is a sin to be confessed, what happen if the priest does not grant the absolution? Is it grounds for exclusion from the community? One message in the community particularly exemplified the entanglements between the Catholic Church structure, the liturgy and the sacraments, and individual religiosity: \"Personally, I have no relationships with the hierarchical Church, except when I need a sacrament. I know some may disagree\". In the message, the \"hierarchical Church\" referred to the Catholic Church's traditional and official structure as opposed to the informal structure composed of friendly groups and inclusive communities. LGBT+ Christian groups provide an important point of reference for the elaboration of arguments on religion and homosexuality and constitute the \"Church community\" that the traditional structure does not offer. Moreover, on- and offline communities of LGBT+ Christians are points of reference for coping with the deficiencies of the Catholic Church. Such groups are also an important source of expertise for dealing with family (parents or relatives).