A coalition of four national groups representing lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Catholics has been told it cannot use space it had been promised at a Catholic church in Center City for alternative workshops and gatherings next month during the World Meeting of Families.

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St. John's was to be home base for 14 families representing LGBT Catholics who are traveling to Philadelphia for the week of Sept. 21 to 27, and the site of a Sept. 25 workshop titled "TransForming Love: Exploring Gender Identity From Catholic Perspectives."

New Ways and the other groups in the coalition, Dignity USA, Fortunate Families, and Call to Action, had also planned a news conference for Sept. 22 as well as group meetings at the church, a few blocks south of the Convention Center, where the World Meeting of Families will be held.

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The apparent ejection from St. John's is the latest evidence of the divide between church leaders and LGBT Catholic groups as the meeting and the visit by Pope Francis draw near.