Janet Obeney-Williams is a member of the Jesuit parish of Farm Street in the heart of London. She was invited by her parish priest, Fr Dominic Robinson SJ, to be part of the parish coordination team for the Synod. She worked on distributing questionnaires ‘to every corner of the parish’ and organising small discernment groups with the local community and also with the LGBT community.
In a symposium on synodality last February she shared her story and her expectations for this Synod. In her testimony she says that this participation made her change her self-perception and rediscover herself as a Christian.
Janet wanted to be Catholic from the age of 18, but did not join the Church until 2013, after Pope Francis addressed the LGBT community. She attends the LGBT mass held in that parish. She started as part of the LGBT choir at that celebration, and is now part of the general choir of the parish.
Janet, who has been in a same-sex relationship for several years, shares her hope for the synodal process: “I pray that this process will continue, I am sure that the Holy Spirit is in it. (…) I am grateful to be able to give this testimony today and in Jesus’ name I am grateful.”
Listen the full Janet’s witness.