They offer the chance to adapt to new needs and serve people differently, and a ministry of service means going wherever the people are, says Martin (pictured).

Martin says that Pope Francis has officially supported ministering to LGBTQ people. He's encouraging the embrace of LGBTQ within Catholic families — creating new possibilities for in-reach.

"Even as some may feel constrained by vows of obedience that obligate leadership to line up with papal directives, others are finding support for new areas of ministry and outreach to underserved and marginalised groups," says Martin.

Besides various communications roles, Martin brings a sense of Catholic belonging to many who had been disaffected or unchurched, particularly LGBTQ people.

With more than 645,000 followers on Facebook, 309,000 on Twitter and 81,000 on Instagram, he ministers to people wherever they are.

Martin says he's just copying Jesus; instead of waiting for students to come to him, Jesus went out into the community to call his first disciples.

"Maybe they're not on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, so you go somewhere else," he says. "They're on Facebook, they're on Instagram, they're on Twitter."

But that's just a first step.

The other step is just as important: "When you go there, you speak in their language," Martin says.

Jesus did; with fishermen like Peter, Andrew and James, he used terms they would understand.

"He said: 'Come after me, and I will make you fishers of people.'"

"And if it's not beneath Jesus to do it, it shouldn't be beneath us," he says.

Martin found community life shifted online during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Even though online ministry can't replace going to Mass, encountering Christ in the Eucharist and communal worship, opportunities to gather as online communities appeared.

Today Martin runs a Facebook Bible study every Friday. It draws about 500 people.

He interacts with online communities on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, plus more informal communities.

His ministry to the LGBTQ+ community began after a mass shooting at a gay nightclub where 49 people were killed in 2016.

"I felt like I needed to say something," says Martin.

Very few bishops said anything. "Even in death, they're invisible to the Church," Martin noticed.

He now has an ongoing ministry to LGBTQ people, something Martin said God led him to.

Source

• Religion News Service

Father James Martin SJ and Sister Simone Campbell (pictured), a Sister of Social Service and New York's Cardinal Timothy Dolan were shoulder-tapped to pray at these key political events.

Yesterday, Martin and Campbell's prayers were offered during the Democrats' National Convention's final night.

Martin has a widespread presence in various media platforms and Campbell is the executive director of Network, a Catholic social justice lobbying group.

Both pre-recorded their prayers with Campbell offering an invocation and Martin delivering a benediction.

Campbell and Martin say they are honoured to have been invited to pray at the event.

"Generally speaking, I don't like to do too many overtly political things, but it's hard to turn down an invitation to pray. I figured if the Republicans asked me, I'd do the same thing," Martin says.

He noted Dolan prayed at both major political conventions in 2012.

Dolan, who was then the president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, prayed for the unborn in his closing benediction at the Democratic Convention.

He asked "that they may be welcomed and protected."

He made a similar plea in his closing for Republican Convention.

The Republican's platform on abortion is generally viewed as closer to the Catholic Church's teaching than the Democrats' platform, which supports legal abortion.

On Monday next week, Dolan will offer a prayer during the opening evening of the Republican National Convention.

"As a priest, one of my most sacred obligations is to try and respond positively whenever I am invited to pray," Dolan says.

"Prayer is speaking to God, offering Him praise, thanking Him for His many blessings, and asking for His intercession; it is not political or partisan."

"That is why I have accepted an invitation to pray at the Republican's National Convention."

Both the Democrats and Republicans are entitled to his prayers, Dolan says.

"My agreeing to pray does not constitute an endorsement of any candidate, party, or platform. Had I been invited to offer a prayer for the Democratic National Convention, I would have happily accepted, just as I did in 2012."

"It is my hope that, during this tumultuous time in our nation's history, people of all religious faiths or none at all might join together in seeking peace and reconciliation in our hearts, in our cities, and in our country."

Source

• The Tablet
• NCR Online
• Image: BillMoyers.com