It is one thing "to take tradition into account, to consider situations from the past, but quite another to be closed up inside a dogmatic box" Francis said.

He was responding to a probe into his thoughts on the backlash against his papacy by conservatives, including US clergy members.

According to the Daily Mail newspaper, the Pope's criticism will make explosive viewing on Sunday when the full interview is released in the US.

Same Church, different views

Francis envisions a merciful Catholic Church open to everyone. He describes it as a "field hospital" ready to bind up the wounds of a suffering humanity.

He's called for Catholics to embrace LGBTQ+ Catholics.

Last December, he approved letting Catholic priests bless same-sex couples - although the Church maintains a ban on gay marriage.

The blessing is for the people, not 'the union' itself, Francis says in the CBS interview.

"Some people were scandalised by this. But why?" he asks. Homosexuality is not a crime but a "human fact".

Not everyone's pleased with his ideas.

More conservative Catholics - including many groups in the United States - say they want a pope who lays down the law and presents doctrine in black-and-white terms.

They oppose the church becoming more welcoming to LGBT people and to giving lay people bigger roles in the institution.

They're not impressed with the Pope's outspokenness on the plight of migrants and on the need to address climate change either.

Calling out critics

Francis is straightforward about calling out his critics.

Some opponents in the US are "backwardists" who have replaced faith with ideology, the Pope says.

Last year he dismissed conservative Bishop Joseph E. Strickland who was a withering critic of his papacy and accused Francis of undermining the church's central teachings.

Recently, he has also sanctioned one of his most outspoken critics, US Cardinal Raymond Burke.

The Pope's remarks to CBS come at a time when a spotlight has been thrown on an extreme socially conservative trend in the US Catholic church.

This trend was highlighted by a sports celebrity's recent address at a Catholic school.

He described Pride Month as "evil" and suggested women would find the most fulfilment as homemakers.

Source

• CNN
• Daily Mail

The vice president of the Mexican Bishops' Conference, Archbishop Gustavo Rodríguez Vega, defended the act despite the dismay it caused among the faithful.

During the 14 November funeral Mass of judge and activist Ociel Baena and his romantic partner, supporters covered their caskets with LGBT flags.

Rodríguez, the archbishop of Yucatán, pointed out that Baena and his partner are "children of God and our brothers" and so "we could not, in any way, not receive them in the church. Especially when the family wanted them to be taken there [to the Aguascalientes cathedral]."

Ociel Baena notably requested to be addressed as "magistrade" - reflecting a nonbinary identity. In May, Baena was the first to receive a "nonbinary" passport, a category created by the government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

Claims of hate crime

The couple's bodies, showing signs of violence, were discovered inside Baena's house on 13 November.

Investigators suggested "everything indicates that it could be a personal matter" since "a sharp instrument" was found in the hands of one of the deceased.

Several comments on Facebook questioned the quick conclusions of the investigators and claimed it was a hate crime.

Father Francisco Torres Ruiz, a liturgy expert, clarified the church's stance on symbols at funeral Masses, emphasising that ideological symbols contrary to Christian beliefs should not be present.

Ruiz suggested the attending priest could "indicate to the family or the funeral planners that that symbology is strictly prohibited."

However Ruiz added "it's a very forced situation for the priest, because he's not going to stop a celebration to remove that flag."

"There is no problem" said Archbishop Rodriguez, because "there was no intention to offend anyone.

"They are also welcome to all the services that the Church can offer" he concluded.

Sources

Catholic News Agency

Independent

Then a relatively new pontiff, this was his comment in response to a reporter who inquired about a "gay lobby" in the Vatican.

Francis went on to add that L.G.B.T.Q.+ individuals "shouldn't be marginalised. The tendency [to homosexuality] is not the problem…they're our brothers."

Given the West's dramatic increase in acceptance of L.G.B.T.Q.+ individuals, revisiting the last 10 years can ensure that the impact of these simple words is not lost to time.

According to Gallup, Americans' view of the moral permissibility of gay and lesbian relationships increased from 55 percent to 71 percent from 2012 to 2022.

Moreover, Obergefell v. Hodges, granting the legal right for all Americans to civil same-sex marriages, would not be decided until 2015.

The recent controversies over special Masses for Pride Month were non-issues because it was unfathomable for any parish to celebrate Pride.

Lastly, Pope Benedict had written in his 2010 book Light of the World: The Pope, The Church and the Signs Of The Times that "homosexuality is incompatible with the priestly vocation."

Having contextualised the world of 2013, it is less surprising how these five words featured prominently in the press's coverage of the new pope.

Time Magazine, which named Jorge Bergoglio as the "People's Pope", cites this famous question in its promulgation of Pope Francis as their 2013 Person of the Year.

Some press outlets suggested that Pope Francis might even change official Church teaching on homosexuality.

Meanwhile, other media organisations were quick to parse Francis' statement to demonstrate that he had no intention of changing Church teaching.

What is the significance of these words 10 years later? Indeed, the debate is still ongoing as to what degree L.G.B.T.Q.+ individuals can participate in the life, activities, and sacraments of the Church.

A brief review of the last 10 years of Francis' pontificate will reveal how the Catholic Church's relationship with queer Catholics has evolved.

Certainly, Pope Francis through various statements and actions has continued to invite L.G.B.T.Q.+ Catholics into closer relationships with the Church and broader society.

Most notably, Francis in a 2020 documentary voiced support for civil same-sex unions, saying that "What we have to create is a civil union law. That way [gay people] are legally covered."

More recently, the pope instructed bishops not to support criminalisation laws for homosexuality, stating that a homosexual act is "not a crime. Yes, but it's a sin."

Just a few weeks ago, Francis sent his good wishes and prayers to the Outreach LGBTQ Catholic Ministry Conference.

Earlier in his papacy, he wrote in The Name of God is Mercy that he "prefer[s] that homosexuals come to confession, that they stay close to the Lord, and that we pray all together."

Francis even dined with incarcerated gay and transgender people in 2015.

Beyond the pope, the broader Church has made efforts to minister to LBGTQ+ Catholics.

Following the shooting at Pulse Nightclub, Fr. James Martin, SJ wrote Building a Bridge: How the Catholic Church and the LGBT Community Can Enter into a Relationship of Respect, Compassion, and Sensitivity.

Last month, the Vatican released the working draft of the ongoing synod's document which calls for a new pastoral approach to queer Catholics, notably using the L.G.B.T.Q.+ acronym which the Church had long avoided.

A brief review of the last 10 years of Francis' pontificate will reveal how the Catholic Church's relationship with queer Catholics has evolved.

At the same time, the Church's teaching authority has been clear in upholding traditional teachings on marriage and family life.

This article was originally published by The Jesuit Post. Continue reading

• Ty Wahlbrink, S.J., attends Fordham University in the MA in Philosophy and Society programme.

Since that time, the positions I presented have received both substantial support and significant opposition.

The majority of those criticizing my article focused on its treatment of the exclusion of those who are divorced and remarried and members of the L.G.B.T. communities from the Eucharist.

Criticisms included the assertion that my article challenged an ancient teaching of the church, failed to give due attention to the call to holiness, abandoned any sense of sin in the sexual realm and failed to highlight the essential nature of conversion.

Perhaps most consistently, the criticism stated that exclusion from the Eucharist is essentially a doctrinal rather than a pastoral question.

I seek in this article to wrestle with some of these criticisms so that I might contribute to the ongoing dialogue on this sensitive question—which will no doubt continue to be discussed throughout the synodal process.

Specifically, I seek here to develop more fully than I did in my initial article some important related questions, namely on the nature of conversion in the moral life of the disciple, the call to holiness, the role of sin, the sacrament of penance, the history of the categorical doctrine of exclusion for sexual sins and the relationship between moral doctrine and pastoral theology.

The report of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on the synodal dialogues held in our nation last year pointed to the profound sadness of many, if not most of the people of God about the broad exclusion from the Eucharist of so many striving Catholics who are barred from Communion because they are divorced and remarried or L.G.B.T.

In January, I proposed that three foundational principles of Catholic teaching invited a re-examination of the church's practice in this area.

The first is Pope Francis' image of the church as a field hospital, which points to the reality that we are all wounded by sin and all equally in need of God's grace and healing.

The second is the role of conscience in Catholic thought.

For every member of the church, it is conscience to which we have the ultimate responsibility and by which we will be judged.

For that reason, while Catholic teaching has an essential role in moral decision-making, it is conscience that has the privileged place.

As Pope Francis has stated, the church's role is to form consciences, not replace them. Categorical exclusions of the divorced and remarried and L.G.B.T. persons from the Eucharist do not give due respect to the inner conversations of conscience that people have with their God in discerning moral choice in complex circumstances.

Finally, I proposed that the Eucharist is given to us as a profound grace in our conversion to discipleship.

As Pope Francis reminds us, the Eucharist is "not a prize for the perfect, but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak."

To bar disciples from that grace blocks one of the principal pathways Christ has given to them to reform their lives and accept the Gospel ever more fully.

For all of these reasons, I proposed that divorced and remarried or L.G.B.T. Catholics who are ardently seeking the grace of God in their lives should not be categorically barred from the Eucharist.

In the weeks since my article was published, some readers have objected that the church cannot accept such a notion of inclusion because the exclusion of remarried women and men or L.G.B.T. persons from the Eucharist flows from the moral tradition in the church that all sexual sins are grave matter.

This means that all sexual sins are so gravely evil that they constitute objectively an action that can sever a believer's relationship with God.

I have attempted to face this objection head-on by drawing attention to both the history and the unique reasoning of the principle that all sexual sins are objectively mortal sins.

For most of the history of the church, various gradations of objective wrong in the evaluation of sexual sins were present in the life of the church.

But in the 17th century, with the inclusion in Catholic teaching of the declaration that for all sexual sins there is no parvity of matter (i.e., no circumstances can mitigate the grave evil of a sexual sin), we relegated the sins of sexuality to an ambit in which no other broad type of sin is so absolutely categorized.

In principle, all sexual sins are objective mortal sins within the Catholic moral tradition.

This means that all sins that violate the sixth and the ninth commandments are categorically objective mortal sins.

There is no such comprehensive classification of mortal sin for any of the other commandments.

In understanding the application of this principle to the reception of Communion, it is vital to recognize that it is the level of objective sinfulness that forms the foundation for the present categorical exclusion of sexually active divorced and remarried or L.G.B.T. Catholics from the Eucharist.

So, it is precisely this change in Catholic doctrine—made in the 17th century—that is the foundation for categorically barring L.G.B.T. and divorced/remarried Catholics from the Eucharist.

• Does the tradition that all sexual sins are objectively mortal make sense within the universe of Catholic moral teaching?
• It is automatically an objective mortal sin for a husband and wife to engage in a single act of sexual intercourse utilizing artificial contraception. This means the level of evil present in such an act is objectively sufficient to sever one's relationship with God.
• It is not automatically an objective mortal sin to physically or psychologically abuse your spouse.
• It is not automatically an objective mortal sin to exploit your employees.
• It is not automatically an objective mortal sin to discriminate against a person because of her gender or ethnicity or religion.
• It is not automatically an objective mortal sin to abandon your children.

The moral tradition that all sexual sins are grave matter springs from an abstract, deductivist and truncated notion of the Christian moral life that yields a definition of sin jarringly inconsistent with the larger universe of Catholic moral teaching.

This is because it proceeds from the intellect alone.

The great French philosopher Henri Bergson pointed to the inadequacy of any such approach to the richness of Catholic faith: "We see that the intellect, so skilful in dealing with the inert, is awkward the moment it touches the living.

Whether it wants to treat the life of the body or the life of the mind, it proceeds with the rigour, the stiffness and the brutality of an instrument not designed for such use…. Intuition, on the contrary, is moulded on the very form of life."

The call to holiness requires both a conceptual and an intuitive approach leading to an understanding of what discipleship in Jesus Christ means.

Discipleship means striving to deepen our faith and our relationship to God, to enflesh the Beatitudes, to build up the kingdom in God's grace, to be the good Samaritan.

The call to holiness is all-encompassing in our lives, embracing our efforts to come closer to God, our sexual lives, our familial lives and our societal lives.

It also entails recognising sin where it lurks in our lives and seeking to root it out.

And it means recognizing that each of us in our lives commits profound sins of omission or commission.

At such moments we should seek the grace of the sacrament of penance. But such failures should not be the basis for categorical ongoing exclusion from the Eucharist.

It is important to note that the criticisms of my article did not seek to demonstrate that the tradition classifying all sexual sins as objective mortal sin is in fact correct, or that it yields a moral teaching that is consonant with the wider universe of Catholic moral teaching.

Instead, critics focused upon the repeated assertion that the exclusion of divorced/remarried and L.G.B.T. Catholics from the Eucharist is a doctrinal, not a pastoral question.

I would answer that Pope Francis is precisely calling us to appreciate the vital interplay between the pastoral and doctrinal aspects of church teaching on questions just such as these. Continue reading

In his 'First Things' magazine article, conservative prelate and canon lawyer Thomas Paprocki (pictured) cites an unnamed cardinal's views on how the Church should minister to LGBTQ people and divorced and remarried Catholics.

While he doesn't name Cardinal Robert McElroy, Paprocki quotes directly from a 24 January article the cardinal wrote for America magazine.

In it, McElroy called for a Church that favours "radical inclusion" of everyone, regardless of circumstances and conformance with Church doctrine.

To back his views, Paprocki's essay cites several passages in the Code of Canon Law and draws on the Catechism of the Catholic Church and St Pope John Paul II's Ad Tuendam Fidem ("To Protect the Faith").

Pointing to these, he said anyone who denies "settled Catholic teaching" on issues like homosexuality and "embraces heresy" is automatically excommunicated from the Church.

The pope has the authority and the obligation to remove a heretical cardinal from office, or dismiss outright from the clerical state, Paprocki wrote.

Referencing McElroy's critique of "a theology of eucharistic coherence that multiplies barriers to the grace and gift of the eucharist," Paprocki claimed: "Unfortunately, it is not uncommon today to hear Catholic leaders affirm unorthodox views that, not too long ago, would have been espoused only by heretics."

Although McElroy and Paprocki were both available for comment, in a 28 February interview Paprocki said he did not intend to single out a particular cardinal for criticism. Rather, he "intended the discussion to be more rhetorical.

"I think the reason I did this is because this debate has become so public at this point that it seems to have passed beyond the point of just some private conversations between bishops."

The bishop's explanation struck some observers as disingenuous.

Jesuit Fr Tom Reese, a journalist who has covered the US bishops for decades, says Paprocki's essay reflects deep divisions in the US Catholic hierarchy, plus a level of public animosity, open disagreement and strident rhetoric among bishops.

Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI would not have tolerated it, he says.

"On the other hand, there wouldn't have been this kind of discussion under John Paul II because the Vatican would have shut it down.

"Francis has opened the Church up for discussion again and [conservative bishops] just don't like it. They're trying to shut it down by using this kind of inflammatory rhetoric, even against cardinals," Reese said.

Cathleen Kaveny, a law and theology professor, says Paprocki "should know better as a canon lawyer" than to accuse someone of heresy - which is a formal charge.

Paprocki is running together statements and teachings of different levels of authority in the Church and claiming any disagreement amounts to heresy. "And that's just false," Kaveny says.

"The underlying question ... is whether development in church doctrine can take place.

"I would recommend people read John Henry Newman on that, and look at the history of the church's teaching on usury while they're at it."

Source

• NCR Online

Though Cardinal McElroy's essay touched on a number of issues about the future vitality of the church, much of the criticism focused on his call for the church to be more welcoming to L.G.B.T. Catholics and boils down to the belief that the way for the church to welcome and include gay and lesbian people is by inviting them to conversion and a life of chastity, while forthrightly teaching the sinfulness of homosexual acts.

These kinds of essays tend to pop up whenever a high-profile church leader, including Pope Francis, preach a message of welcome to L.G.B.T. people and their families.

But in addition to the critique of Cardinal McElroy's focus on welcome and inclusion, critics are also reacting to the process through which that could happen: the ongoing synod of bishops on the topic on synodality.

While Cardinal McElroy started off by noting that synodal conversations revealed significant concern about alienation from the church, much of the criticism in response to his essay is animated by the worry in some Catholic circles that the ongoing global consultation process initiated by Pope Francis in October 2021, and set to conclude in October 2024, could usher in changes to church teaching regarding human sexuality.

JD Flynn, a canon lawyer and the co-founder and editor in chief of The Pillar, wrote in a recent essay, "While the pope and other synod organisers have insisted the global synod process does not aim to focus on doctrinal changes, McElroy has suggested that it will—just as many Catholics have insisted it might since the process was announced two years ago."

If it feels like we have been here before—a debate over controversial issues linked to a global synod of bishops—that is because we have.

In the run-up to the Synod on the Family, held in 2014 and 2015, bishops from around the world were asked to consult the laity ahead of a gathering in Rome in which they would discuss the church's outreach to and support of families.

Francis declared that nothing was off the table.

Given that family life includes a host of joys and challenges, on the agenda was everything from economic opportunities to child care at Mass.

But in reality, at least in much of the Western media, two topics came to dominate the conversation: Communion for divorced and remarried Catholics and, as now, how the church ought to interact with its L.G.B.T. members and their families.

Ultimately, the bishops meeting to discuss family life in 2015 did not recommend any explicit changes to church teaching, though a footnote in the pope's apostolic exhortation responding to the synod, "Amoris Laetitia," appeared to have opened the door to divorced and remarried Catholics being welcome at Communion.

Two more hot topics would emerge a couple of years later, when bishops and lay Catholics in the Amazon region debated whether allowing married men to join the priesthood and women to be ordained as deacons could help alleviate the extreme priest shortage affecting many churches in many South American nations.

Today, the synod is again serving, in part, as a proxy for the ongoing debate over how the church maintains its traditional teaching at a time when women and L.G.B.T. people are more assertive in demanding equal treatment in society and the church.

In the context of the United States, Cardinal McElroy's argument that women and L.G.B.T. people are deserving of a more pastoral welcome in the church may feel like an outlier, but that is not necessarily the case.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops released a report last year in which they summarised the 10-month consultation process for the synod on synodality that took place in 2021.

The place of L.G.B.T. people in the church was highlighted in the report, including in a section about groups of Catholics who feel marginalised.

"In order to become a more welcoming Church there is a deep need for ongoing discernment of the whole Church on how best to accompany our LGBTQ+ brothers and sisters," the report states.

In other countries, the calls to make the church more welcoming for L.G.B.T. people have been even stronger.

Last year, Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich of Luxembourg called the church's teaching on homosexuality "no longer correct," and stated, "I think it is time for a fundamental revision of the doctrine."

Cardinal Hollerich is also the relator general of the upcoming synod, which means he will lay out the synod's theme at the start of the gathering and synthesise the speeches and reports before work begins on proposals.

Those proposals will then be delivered to the pope for his further discernment.

In short, Cardinal Hollerich will help shape the synod, which helps explain why some Catholics are fearful that the meeting could lead to changes in church teaching. Continue reading

• Michael J. O'Loughlin is national correspondent at America and author of Hidden Mercy: AIDS, Catholics, and the Untold Stories of Compassion in the Face of Fear.

James Martin, a priest who advocates for LGBT+ inclusion within the Catholic Church, commented following a Vatican statement that clergy must not bless same-sex unions.

The Vatican recently released an explanatory note insisting that clergy must not bless same-sex unions because God "cannot bless sin".

"Not since the anger over sex abuse in 2002 and 2018 have I seen so many people so demoralised, and ready to leave the church, as I have this week," Martin wrote.

He added: "And not simply LGBT+ people, but their families and friends, a large part of the church."

There has been widespread disappointment among LGBT+ Catholics when the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith (CDF) released a statement banning blessings for same-sex couples . The note, signed by Jesuit Luis Ladaria Ferrer and archbishop Giacomo Morandi, argued that same-sex unions are "not ordered to the Creator's plan".

The Vatican insisted that regardless of the sins they commit, God loves all of his children. But, they also said God "does not and cannot bless sin". This reverts to its traditional view that same-gender relationships must not be accepted by the church.

Pope Francis has faced stinging criticism for approving the explanatory note. Mary McAleese, former president of Ireland and an outspoken Catholic campaigner, criticised the Vatican's statement as "unbearably vicious".

McAleese, who has a gay son, wrote to Catholic archbishop Eamon Martin.

In it she said Pope Francis' "chummy words to the press often quite reasonably realise hopes of church reform which are subsequently almost invariably dashed by firm restatements of unchanged church teaching".

With the church facing a walkout of followers, Cardinal Kevin Farrell, head of the Vatican's laity office, said, "The church teaches marriage can only be celebrated between a man and a woman. But, I do want to insist that nobody be excluded from the pastoral care and love of the church."

Sources

• Pink News
• CathNews

His most recent comments were made in "Francesco," a new documentary on his life and ministry.

The film premiered Oct. 21 as part of the Rome Film Festival.

In the film, Francis says that "Homosexuals have a right to be a part of the family. They're children of God and have a right to a family. Nobody should be thrown out, or be made miserable because of it."

The pope then suggests that civil union laws may provide a way for countries to protect the legal rights of persons in same-sex relationships.

Although the media reported the comments as "fresh" and Francis departing from previous 'teachings', he has previously spoken in favour of civil unions.

Francis first spoke about civil unions in 2013, when Argentina and facing the near-certain passage of the gay marriage bill, and the then Cardinal Bergoglio wagered on a position of greater dialogue with society and suggested civil unions as a compromise to his fellow bishops.

He was outvoted.

Then again in 2014, in an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, he acknowledged that states passing civil union laws were primarily doing so in order to provide same-sex partners legal rights.

And in 2017, French author, Dominique Wolton asked him about marriage for same-sex couples and Francis replied: "Let's call this 'civil unions.' We do not joke around with the truth".

However, it is his most recent comment that has captured the world's attention and is welcomed by many on the progressive wing of the church.

One such is Jesuit Fr James Martin who has advocated for greater LGBTQ inclusion in the Church.

He labels Francis' comments 'historic'.

"First, he is saying them as Pope, not Archbishop of Buenos Aires, second, he is clearly supporting, not simply tolerating, civil unions. Third, he is saying it on camera, not privately," tweeted Martin.

However, Francis is under pressure from church conservatives such as Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence, Rhode Island.

"The Pope's statement clearly contradicts what has been the long-standing teaching of the Church about same-sex unions," Tobin said in a statement.

"The Church cannot support the acceptance of objectively immoral relationships."

The reaction within the LGBTQ community is similarly mixed.

"This news should send an undeniable message to Catholic families with LGBTQ people that all family members are deserving of acceptance and support," said Sarah Kate Ellis, the president and CEO of the LGBTQ media advocacy organisation GLAAD.

"Pope Francis' public approval is a fundamental step forward at a time when LGBTQ acceptance around the world and across religions is expanding and rightfully becoming the norm."

And, "It is no overstatement to say that with this statement not only has the pope protected LGBTQ couples and families, but he also will save many LGBTQ lives," said Francis DeBernardo of New Ways Ministry, which represents LGBTQ Catholics,

Others in the LGBTQ lobby, however, remain critical, saying Francis has taken too long to make the statement and not gone far enough and urge him to go further.

Shortly after becoming pope in 2013, he made big headlines when asked about reports of gays in the clergy, Francis answered, "If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has goodwill, who am I to judge?"

Sources

• NBC News
• NY Times
• James Martin SJ
• AP
• BBC
• Catholic World Report

"Hi, my name is Rory and I worship with Dignity Washington," Rory told Gregory at one of the recent archdiocesan-hosted Theology on Tap events.

"My question is what place do I have as a confirmed transgender Catholic and what place do my queer friends have here in this archdiocese?" Rory asked.

LGBT Catholics consider Gregory's response to a question was "highly supportive and understanding".

"You belong to the heart of this church," Gregory replied. "There is nothing that you may do, may say, that will ever rip you from the heart of this church."

Gregory then went on to say:

"There is a lot that has been said to you, about you, behind your back that is painful and is sinful.

"We have to find a way to talk to one another and to talk to one another not just from one perspective, but to talk and to listen to one another.

"I think that's the way that Jesus ministered. He engaged people, he took them to where they were at, and he invited them to go deeper, closer to God.

"So if you're asking me where do you fit, you fit in the family."

Gregory, who is the first African-American Archbishop of Washington, is being tipped by some to become the first US African-American cardinal.

LGBT Catholics consider that prospect remarkable given his reputation of support for the LGBT community and LGBT Catholics.

As an example, while he was Archbishop of Atlanta, Gregory established a cordial relationship with Fortunate Families group members, whose are Catholic parents of LGBT people.

He mentioned how grateful he is to the Fortunate Families group during the Theology on Tap meeting.

He said he was grateful to have been able to tell the parents "first of all that they had to love their children and that the church had to love their children,".

"The Dignity Washington community is very pleased and excited to hear the dialogue that occurred between one of our young, transgender Catholics and Archbishop Gregory," Dignity Washington President Daniel Barutta said when he heard of the conversation at the Theology on Tap meeting.

"The fact that he is reaching out to the next generation of Catholic young adults who very well may become future church leaders is very encouraging.

A spokesperson for the Archdiocese says the archdiocese regularly hosts Theology on Tap events in D.C. bars and restaurants as a means of reaching out to and engaging young professionals "around topics of faith and life."

Source

• Washington Blade
• Image: Washington Post

The working document for the 2018 Synod on the Youth noted, "Some LGBT youth…wish to benefit from greater closeness and experience greater care by the Church."

Sister Monica Astorga, an Argentinian Discalced Carmelite Nun, has been working with transgender women since 2005.

In a June 2018 interview, she recounted a similar desire for among the LGBT community for "closeness" with God and the Church

"For me, God is very present in every encounter I have with trans people," she said.

"When they arrive at the monastery, they come to ask for a hug, for someone to listen to their pain and to show them God."

Sister Monica, whose ministry has received support from Pope Francis, is not the only Catholic sister working with the trans community.

Indeed, there are multiple stories of sisters walking with and advocating for this marginalized community.

Sister Monica recounts one story demonstrating the desire for community and hope among the women she works with:

"One day in January, on a very hot day, a 27-year-old trans girl came to me crying.

"She said, ‘Sister, please tell me about God.'

"After a long talk, she asked me to help her out of prostitution.

"She told me how much of a torment it was to be on the streets.

"Now, years later, she has been working in a clinic for over a year and is studying at the university."

Sister Monica's call to work with the transgender community came when a trans woman was referred to the Carmelite Monastery after donating to her local parish.

In speaking with the woman, Sister Monica asked about her dreams for the future.

The woman's dream was simply to die in a clean bed.

From that conversation, Sister Monica knew God was calling her to walk with these women.

She began regularly inviting trans women to the monastery.

What followed was a move to uncover their dreams hidden beneath pain and abuse. Sister Monica's desire became clear: to help the women pursue their revealed aspirations.

In the beginning, she said, "Many did not have any dreams.

They lived day-to-day wondering who would be the next to die."

Through monthly prayer and support meetings, the women began to hope for a life without prostitution, going back to school, and having a safe home to live in.

Due to discriminatory hiring practices, work is hard to come by for trans people.

Sister Monica set out to create employment opportunities whereby the women would have the means to earn money outside of prostitution.

Sister Monica worked with the local bishop to find an old house that could be converted into a home for these women.

She turned part of the house into a sew-shop and beauty salon where the women work and earn money.

She's currently adding a full-time residence for drug and alcohol addiction recovery.

Recently, Sister Monica worked with her government to purchase an old apartment building which is being renovated into 12 apartments for trans women with delicate health.

Sister Monica laments the low life expectancy for transgender individuals, which in Argentina is 40 years. Continue reading

• This post is edited from its original, published on August 1, 2018 - A Beautiful Bond: Argentinian Nun Ministers to Transgender Women
• Image: Jesuit Post

But that challenge is also where grace abounds because L.G.B.T. Catholics have felt excluded from the church for so long that any experience of welcome can be life-changing—a healing moment that can inspire them to go to Mass again, return them to the faith and even help them to believe in God again.

Over the past few years, I've heard the most appalling stories from L.G.B.T. Catholics who have been made to feel unwelcome in parishes.

A 30-year-old autistic gay man who came out to his family and was not in any sort of relationship told me that a pastoral associate said he could no longer receive Communion in church.

Why?

Because even saying he was gay was a scandal.

Cruelty doesn't end at the doors of the church

Last year a woman contacted me to ask if I knew any "compassionate priests" in her archdiocese.

Why?

She was a nurse in a hospice where a Catholic patient was dying. But the local parish priest assigned to the hospice was refusing to anoint him—because he was gay.

Is it surprising that most L.G.B.T. Catholics feel like lepers in the church?

The same is true for families.

The mother of a gay teen told me her son had decided to come back to church after years of feeling the church hated him.

After much discussion, he decided to return on Easter Sunday.

The mother was overjoyed.

When Mass began she was so excited to have her son beside her.

But after the priest proclaimed the story of Christ's Resurrection, guess what he preached on?

The evils of homosexuality.

The son stood up and walked out of the church.

And the mother sat in the pew and cried.

Stories of grace

Last year, a university student told me that the first person to whom he came out was a priest.

The first thing the priest said was, "God loves you, and the church accepts you."

The young man told me, "That literally saved my life."

Indeed, we should rejoice that more and more Catholic parishes are places where L.G.B.T. Catholics feel at home, thanks to both the parish staff and more formalized programs.

My own Jesuit community in New York is next to a church called St. Paul the Apostle, which has one of the most active L.G.B.T. outreach programs in the world.

The ministry is called Out at St. Paul and sponsors retreats, Bible study groups, speaking engagements and social events for the parish's large L.G.B.T. community.

At every 5:15 p.m. Sunday Mass, when the time comes for parish announcements, an L.G.B.T. person gets up in the pulpit to say, "Hi! I'm Jason or Xorje or Marianne, and I'm a member at Out at St. Paul.

"If you're lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, we want you to feel welcome.

"Here are some events coming up this week." And I just learned that two members of that group are entering religious orders this year.

Sadly, much of the spiritual life of L.G.B.T. Catholics and their families depends on where they happen to live. Continue reading

And he says the church has also probably fallen short in fully meeting the needs of recent migrant communities.

Dew said this when he was commenting on new research by the Wilberforce Foundation which showed a sharp decline in the percentage of New Zealanders who identify as Christian.

Dew is the Archbishop of Wellington and vice-president of the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference (NZCBC).

"The findings from this survey speak to Pope Francis' latest exhortation, in which he says 'we are all called to be holy by living our lives with love and by bearing witness in everything we do, wherever we find ourselves,'" Dew said.

"As the members of the NZCBC, we are aware of our leadership role and the role of faith in the public forum.

"We welcome the opportunity to listen more intently, talk more compassionately and understand more deeply how we can walk with New Zealanders in contributing to the wellbeing of all in our society."

During the Synod in Rome in 2015, Dew talked about the need for "new language" to explain church teaching on sexuality.

He spoke of compassion and inclusion.

"When we have documents which talk about intrinsically disordered or being evil, it's not going to help people.

"We've got to find a way to express what the teaching actually says, but not putting it in ways that people feel they're being branded and being told that they're bad or evil."

Source

• Supplied: Amanda Gregan: Communications Advisor - NZ Catholic Bishops Te Huinga o nga Pihopa Katorika o Aotearoa
• www.youtube.com
• nzcatholic.org.nz
• nzherald.co.nz
• Image: youtube.com

"Building A Bridge: How the Catholic Church and the LGBT Community Can Enter into a Relationship of Respect, Compassion, and Sensitivity", was written by James Martin.

Martin is a Jesuit priest and best-selling author.

"The Church needs a book like this," Cardinal Kevin Farrell wrote in its blurb.

Farrell leads the Vatican office on laity, family, and life issues.

He says it will "help bishops, priests, pastoral associates and all church leaders more compassionately minister to the LGBT community".

"It will also help LGBT Catholics feel more at home in what is, after all, their church," he added.

Although the book calls on the Church to be more respectful and compassionate towards gay people, it does not advocate for any changes to doctrine.

Nor does it discuss same-sex marriage.

A number of senior clergy have shown support for the book in its blurb.

As an example, Newark Cardinal Joseph Tobin, wrote:

The "... book marks an essential step in inviting church leaders to minister with more compassionand in reminding LGBT Catholics that they are as much a part of our church as any other."

Bishop Robert McElory of San Diego also supports the book.

He wrote: "The gospel demands that LGBT Catholics must be genuinely loved and treasured in the life of the church. They are not."

Martin has often written about the role of gays and lesbians in the church, and about the need for the church to do more to welcome them.

Source

• The Salt Lake Tribune
• LifeSite
• Image: The University of Scranton

Glitter in the ashes, Rev. Marian Edmonds-Allen wrote on a whiteboard, is "a symbol of the gritty, glittery, scandalous hope that exists within all of us."

She propped the board up in front of the Braddock Road Metro station entrance, and offered sparkly ash to a stream of morning commuters. Continue reading

Twice a month, LGBT Catholics join the congregation at a regular Sunday evening Mass at the Jesuit Farm Street Church in central London.

A social gathering is held afterwards at the parish hall.

The initiative is an extension of Westminster diocese's pastoral care for gay people.

These occasions replaced the more controversial so-called "gay Masses" designated for LGBT Catholics at a church in Soho until 2013.

Chaplain Fr Keith Barltrop said that the cardinal would like to see the Farm Street Masses as a model for other parishes in his diocese.

He added that the idea could be taken up by parishes in other dioceses.

The Farm Street Masses are similar to those said for the LGBT community in Chicago and Los Angeles.

Martin Pendergast of the LGBT Catholics Westminster Pastoral Council said that any move to expand the model would be dependent on interested parishioners taking the lead.

Looking ahead to the October synod on the family in Rome, Mr Pendergast said his group was currently drawing up a briefing paper which it hoped Cardinal Nichols and Bishop Peter Doyle of Northampton, the delegates to the synod from England and Wales, would take with them and feed into the debate.

A major line of argument in the paper, he said, would be a move to encourage the Vatican to undertake a "serious review" of the vocabulary it used in relation to homosexuality.

"Two terms which have been used by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in regard to homosexuality are ‘objective disorder' and ‘intrinsic moral disorder'," he said.

"But these are inaccurate and theologically quite inappropriate - and the people who are most hurt by this sort of language are the parents of children who come out as gay.

"What does it mean to them to hear their children described in those terms?" he added.

Sources

• The Tablet
• Image: Westminster Diocese