LGBT Roman Catholic organization Dignity Philadelphia recently elected a new set of leaders.
The organization, which is celebrating its 40th year, elected board president Mike Viola, vice president Larry Sutter and treasurer Michael Bradley and re-elected secretary Kevin Davies.
All four of the elected officers have an extensive history with the group and have served the agency in a variety of positions.
Viola, who replaces president Joanne Collins, has been a member of Dignity Philadelphia for more than 16 years and has previously served as the board’s vice president and assistant treasurer.
Viola said he immediately took to the atmosphere at his first Dignity services.
“I was invited by a friend of mine to attend services. Once you start to attend more services, you start to know people, you feel comfortable there and that got me going,” he said.
As president, Viola said he hopes to continue Dignity’s outreach and enhance its publicity efforts.
“We want to be relevant and let people know we exist and are still serving a purpose in the community,” he said. “We’ve been around for 40 years and religious organizations are becoming more accepting of members of the LGBT community, but it doesn’t eliminate the impact Dignity has.”
Sutter has been involved with Dignity for more than 15 years, and this is his first time serving on the board.
Sutter said he has been fortunate to have had a positive experience as an LGBT Catholic.
“I was raised and am a practicing Roman Catholic,” he said. “I have been lucky in my own churches because I haven’t gone through the experiences with leaders raving against the LGBT community; it was always a non-issue.”
His involvement with Dignity has enhanced his religious involvement, as well as allowed him to build strong ties within the LGBT community.
“Dignity has become my religious home and it has become a social factor for me,” Sutter said. “I am not a big bar person and I have my own group of friends but this has become a foundation for greater friends.”
Newly elected treasurer Bradley also has been a long-standing member of Dignity Philadelphia, joining 18 years ago.
Bradley said when he first came out, he struggled with both his sexuality and spirituality.
“I knew a Dignity member who I went to La Salle University with and I was speaking to him about my coming-out process and he mentioned Dignity Philadelphia and told me about it and invited me to attend,” he said. “It has been roughly 18 years and has been a very positive experience.”
Bradley said he will be mindful of the organization’s expenses but also envisions the group getting involved with more social activities.
“I want to look hard in our expenses and increase revenues but I also want us to have some funds for fun things like participating in GayBINGO, and we sponsored a film for QFest last year, so doing things like that,” he said. “We want get our name out there. We want to remain viable. We’ve been around for 40 years and we hope we are around for much longer.”
Bradley said he also wants to see Dignity Philadelphia reach more diverse audiences.
“We definitely want to support and have more efforts be more inclusive for women in the Catholic Church. It is a good place for spirituality and refuge, and we also want to engage in more social-justice issues and have more activities where we can engage younger members.”
Davies returns to the board in his second term as secretary.
He joined the group in 1981 and has filled a number of roles on the board.
He will continue to oversee the group’s paperwork and board minutes, and said he wants Dignity to continue to grow in membership and influence.
“We have 135 members now and around a stable 40-45 members come to Mass, so we are hoping to increase the number of individuals who attend our services,” he said. “We want to try and make a safe space for LGBT people who want to practice their faith. We accept anyone that wants to come in and sit with us, practice and have Mass with us.”
Viola said he is confident in the new board leadership and that all the officers’ experiences will be beneficial for the organization.
“We have all been members of Dignity/Philadelphia for many years, so we bring that experience. And we all experienced working with other organizations, so we bring that as well.”
For more information on Dignity Philadelphia, visit www.dignityphila.org.
