| Summary: | <p>This paper focuses on lgbt catholics and the ways in which they<br />try to manage the presumed discontinuity of homosexuality and Christianity<br />[O'Brien 2004, 179]. It is drawn from my MA and PhD fieldwork among lgbt<br />Catholics groups in Italy and the ways in which they negotiate their presence<br />and formulates their tactics [De Certeau 1980] of mobilization within the<br />Vatican Church. These tactics involve, among others, the importance of<br />setting up an informal dialogue with people in flesh and bone by re-casting<br />the concept of Christian witnessing, the importance of being in a loving<br />relationship, the use of an inclusive theology by challenging the applicability<br />and relevance of some so-called «homophobic» biblical passages in today's<br />socio-historical context and the importance of reconciliation within the<br />Church by avoiding to struggle against it. By questioning the concept of<br />"agency" as an attitude to subvert and rebel against the dominant situation<br />[Mahmood 2005], I take into account the experiences of the lgbt Catholis<br />groups in Italy and the ways in which they give sense of what it means to be<br />Catholics.</p>
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