Martin's workspace is filled with objects that evoke his personal journey as a Jesuit priest who has worked with gang members in Boston as well as refugees in Kenya.

Next to his computer, there's a photo of him conversing with Pope Francis during a meeting in 2019 at the Vatican. This was the first of four one-on-one encounters the two Jesuits have now had.

"It was one of the highlights of my life," Martin recalls.

"I am not a cardinal, archbishop, bishop, or even a university president. Why would a pope want to meet me?"

Only one of many voices

He knows the answer. At 63 years old, the American Jesuit is one of the leading advocates for including LGBT people within the Catholic Church.

He has both the trust and ear of Francis.

In 2017, the pope appointed him as a consultant to the Dicastery for Communication. And last year, he asked him to participate in the Synod assembly on the future of the Church.

Ever since the publication of Fiducia supplicans, the controversial declaration the Vatican's doctrinal office issued last December that allows priests the possibility of blessing same-sex couples, Martin proudly states he has done so four times.

"I am just one of many voices speaking to the pope on this issue," he says, downplaying his role in this development.

"What does this community need to do to be recognised by the Church?"

The LGBT cause has not always been central for Martin.

Before being ordained a priest, this child of a French teacher and a businessman pursued a career in accounting and human resources at the American conglomerate General Electric.

"I was a yuppie," he says. "I made a good living, lived in New York, went to nightclubs, and spent a lot of money."

But he grew weary of that lifestyle after a few years.

He saw a documentary about the Trappist monk Thomas Merton, but he didn't even know what a monastery was.

In the end, he decided to become a Jesuit.

He first began writing about LGBT Catholics in the 1990s in the pages of America because "the issue was little addressed at the time".

He faced his first controversy in 2000 when he wrote an article about gay priests. But it wasn't until sixteen years later that he decided to make recognition of LGBT people the focus of his ministry.

The turning point was the death of 49 people on June 12, 2016 at "Pulse", a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.

"Very few bishops spoke out after this shooting, the deadliest in the country's history. And even fewer used the word 'gay'," Martin says.

"I thought to myself - ‘what does this community need to do to be recognised by the Church?' Is dying not enough?"

After the nightclub shooting, he began participating in conferences, appearing in major news media, and writing books like Building a Bridge (HarperOne, 2018).

His aim was to urge the Catholic Church to "listen" to its LGBT members rather than "treat them as sinners who need to be scrutinised for life".

He even became the subject of a 2021 documentary produced by the famous director Martin Scorsese.

And since 2022, he has been running "Outreach", a website affiliated with America that is dedicated to LGBT Catholics.

"I'm not one to seek controversy"

His notoriety has earned him enemies, including many bishops, who accuse him of wanting to distort Catholic teaching.

"Jesus welcomed the marginalized, that's what I do," he says in defense of his work.

"I'm not one to seek controversy. I would prefer to write about saints and prayer, but I've gotten used to being hated."

While he sees Fiducia supplicans as a "huge" advancement, he does not believe it marks a step towards recognising homosexual unions.

"LGBT Catholics have accepted that this point will not change. All they want is to be treated as human beings," he says.

"By excluding these people, we are also closing the doors of our churches to their parents, siblings, and friends. In the past, they would have sought their place within the Church. Now, they prefer to leave."

• First published in La Croix International
• James J. Martin SJ is an American Jesuit Catholic priest, writer, and editor-at-large of the Jesuit magazine America and the founder of Outreach.

One comment was that Pope Francis should correct and, if necessary, punish some German bishops.

Müller was referring to those who have approved "heretical texts" and "proposals directly against the Catholic faith". These proposals include offering church blessings to homosexual couples.

"I think there should be a canonical process" [against them], he claimed.

"Collegiality exists, but there is also the primacy [of the pope], and canonically the pope has the responsibility to ask for an explanation, to correct and — in extreme cases — to dismiss bishops for doctrinal questions.

"They say the understanding of doctrine can develop, but we cannot develop revelation."

God can't bless two persons of the same sex who love each other with fidelity, he said.

"To bless homosexual couples is blasphemy."

James Martin SJ, whose pastoral ministry to LGBT persons also copped Müller's disapproval.

Müller thinks Francis - well known for supporting LGBT people - should tell Martin not to "instrumentalise" him.

Another topic was the Petrine ministry.

Müller agrees with Francis on this matter - that the Petrine ministry is "for life".

He remarked that earlier in his pontificate Francis agreed with Benedict XVI and said he had "opened the door" to popes resigning.

The war in Russia and the role religion is playing was another hot topic.

Orthodox Patriarch Kirill of Moscow is a good theologian, Müller said.

"But it is not possible to justify this war [against Ukraine] with the words of Jesus, as Putin has done. Furthermore, the idea of the Great Russia is absurd."

Kirill should criticise Russian president Vladimir Putin, the cardinal said - "but that would be his end".

Orthodox bishops in Russia have been subject to the state since Peter the Great, Müller noted. But we must not justify evil, he added.

He said Francis "is right to maintain contacts" with Russia "in this difficult moment," but "the position of the church is not to justify what the emperors do".

Asked why in the past he had criticised Francis for sometimes causing doctrinal "confusion" Müller said, "Francis ... cannot change, revealed doctrine, but the task of the Supreme Pontiff is not only to avoid causing confusion but also to deny such [things]".

As to whether he thinks some popes who are saints today may have given up on holiness to some degree when it came to governing the church, Müller said:

"I cannot judge those who have been already canonised because that is an act of infallibility, but the fame of sanctity comes from the people not from ecclesiastical authority."

Despite saying he wouldn't criticise the pope, Müller seems to disagree with Francis's decision to dispense with the need for a miracle for John XXIII's canonisation, saying that decision was "too political".

He concluded by denouncing the recent criticism of St John Paul II for allegedly covering up the abuse of minors by priests.

The political intent was to damage Catholicism in Poland "by decapitating the most important figure," he said.

Source

• America Magazine

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.

While the synodal process already underway has just begun to reveal some of these paths, the dialogues that have taken place identify a series of challenges that the people of God must face if we are to reflect the identity of a church that is rooted in the call of Christ, the apostolic tradition and the Second Vatican Council.

Many of these challenges arise from the reality that a church that is calling all women and men to find a home in the Catholic community contains structures and cultures of exclusion that alienate all too many from the church or make their journey in the Catholic faith tremendously burdensome.

Reforming our own structures of exclusion will require a long pilgrimage of sustained prayer, reflection, dialogue and action—all of which should begin now.

It is important at this stage in the synodal process for the Catholic community in the United States to deepen our dialogue about these structures and cultures of exclusion for two reasons.

The first is to continue to contribute to the universal discernment on these issues, recognising that these same questions have surfaced in many nations of the world.

The second reason is the recognition that since the call to synodality is a call to continuing conversion, reforming our own structures of exclusion will require a long pilgrimage of sustained prayer, reflection, dialogue and action—all of which should begin now.

Such a pilgrimage must be infused with an overpowering dedication to listen attentively to the Holy Spirit in a process of discernment, not political action.

It must reflect the reality that we are part of a universal and hierarchical church that is bound together on a journey of faith and communion.

It must always point to the missionary nature of the church, which looks outward in hope.

Our efforts must find direction and consolation in the Eucharist and the Word of God.

And they must reflect the understanding that in a church that seeks unity, renewal and reform are frequently gradual processes.

"Enlarge the Space of Your Tent," the document issued last year by the Holy See to capture the voices of men and women from around the world who have participated in the synodal process, concluded that "the vision of a church capable of radical inclusion, shared belonging and deep hospitality according to the teachings of Jesus is at the heart of the synodal process."

We must examine the contradictions in a church of inclusion and shared belonging that have been identified by the voices of the people of God in our nation and discern in synodality a pathway for moving beyond them.

We must examine the contradictions in a church of inclusion and shared belonging and discern in synodality a pathway for moving beyond them.

Polarisation Within the Life of the Church

An increasingly strong contradiction to the vision of a church of inclusion and shared belonging lies in the growth of polarisation within the life of the church in the United States and the structures of exclusion that it breeds.

In the words of "Enlarge the Space of Your Tent," "the wounds of the church are intimately connected to those of the world." Our political society has been poisoned by a tribalism that is sapping our energy as a people and endangering our democracy. And that poison has entered destructively into the life of the church.

This polarisation is reflected in the schism so often present between the pro-life communities and justice-and-peace communities in our parishes and dioceses.

It is found in the false divide between "Pope Francis Catholics" and "St John Paul II Catholics."

It is found in the friction between Catholics who emphasise inclusion and others who perceive doctrinal infidelity in that inclusion.

Even the Eucharist has been marred by this ideological polarisation in both the debates about the pre-conciliar liturgy and the conflicts over masking that roiled many parishes during the pandemic of the past several years.

As "Enlarge the Space of Your Tent" observes, we find ourselves "trapped in conflict, such that our horizons shrink and we lose our sense of the whole, and fracture into sub-identities. It is an experience of Babel, not Pentecost."

Our political society has been poisoned by a tribalism that is endangering our democracy. And that poison has entered destructively into the life of the church.

A culture of synodality is the most promising pathway available today to lead us out of this polarisation in our church.

Such a culture can help to relativise these divisions and ideological prisms by emphasising the call of God to seek first and foremost the pathway that we are being called to in unity and grace.

A synodal culture demands listening, a listening that seeks not to convince but to understand the experiences and values of others that have led them to this moment.

A synodal culture of true encounter demands that we see in our sisters and brothers common pilgrims on the journey of life, not opponents. We must move from Babel to Pentecost.

Bringing the peripheries to the centre

"Closely related to the wound of polarisation," the U.S. report on the synod concludes, "is the wound of marginalisation.

Not only do those who experience this wound suffer, but their marginalisation has become a source of scandal for others."

The continuing sin of racism in our society and our church has created prisons of exclusion that have endured for generations, especially among our African American and Native American communities.

Synod participants have testified eloquently to the sustained ways in which patterns of racism are embedded in ecclesial practices and culture.

These same patterns infect the treatment of many ethnic and cultural communities within the life of the church, leaving them stranded on the periphery of ecclesial life at critical moments. Piercingly, the church at times marginalises victims of clergy sexual abuse in a series of destructive and enduring ways.

The poorest among us, the homeless, the undocumented, the incarcerated and refugees often are not invited with the same energy and effectiveness as others into the fullness of church life and leadership. And the voice of the church is at times muted in advocating for their rights.

Faced with such patterns of exclusion in our church and our world, we must take to heart the message of Pope Benedict speaking to the people of Latin America on the wounds that marginalisation inflicts: "the church must relive and become what Jesus was; the Good Samaritan who came from afar, entered into human history, lifted us up and sought to heal us."

Pope Benedict XVI: "The church must relive and become what Jesus was; the Good Samaritan who came from afar, entered into human history, lifted us up and sought to heal us."

One avenue for lifting us up and healing the patterns and structures of marginalization in our church and our world is to systematically bring the peripheries into the centre of life in the church.

This means attending to the marginalisation of African Americans and Native Americans, victims of clergy sexual abuse, the undocumented and the poor, the homeless and the imprisoned, not as a secondary element of mission in every church community, but as a primary goal.

Bringing the peripheries to the centre means constantly endeavouring to support the disempowered as protagonists in the life of the church.

It means giving a privileged place in the priorities and budgets and energies of every ecclesial community to those who are most victimised and ignored.

It means advocating forcefully against racism and economic exploitation. In short, it means creating genuine solidarity within our ecclesial communities and our world, as St John Paul repeatedly urged us.

Women in the Life of the Church

The synodal dialogues in every region of our world have given sustained attention to the structures and cultures that exclude or diminish women within the life of the church.

Participants have powerfully pointed out that women represent both the majority of the church and an even larger majority of those who contribute their time and talents to the advancement of the church's mission.

The report of the Holy Land on its synodal dialogues captured this reality: "In a church where almost all decision-makers are men, there are few spaces where women can make their voices heard. Yet they are the backbone of church communities."

The synodal dialogues have reflected widespread support for changing these patterns of exclusion in the global church, as well as for altering structures, laws and customs that effectively limit the presence of the rich diversity of women's gifts in the life of the Catholic community.

There are calls for eliminating rules and arbitrary actions that preclude women from many roles of ministry, administration and pastoral leadership, as well as for admitting women to the permanent diaconate and ordaining women to the priesthood.

One productive pathway for the church's response to these fruits of the synodal dialogues would be to adopt the stance that we should admit, invite and actively engage women in every element of the life of the church that is not doctrinally precluded. Continue reading

The court said it did not see evidence of a crime.

The activists had been charged with producing and distributing posters of an altered icon of the Mother of God of Czestochowa - also called the "Black Madonna of Czestochowa."

They had changed the icon so the Madonna and Child sported rainbow images as halos.

They distributed the posters in the Polish city of Plock in 2019.

They told the court their aim was to protest what they saw as the hostility of Poland's Catholic Church toward LGBT people.

When the trial opened in January, one defendant said the poster distribution was spurred by an installation at the city's St. Dominic's Church that associated LGBT people with crime and sins.

She said she was arrested in an early morning police raid on her apartment in 2019, held for several hours and questioned over the posters.

A court later said the detention was unnecessary and ordered damages of about $2,000 awarded to her.

All three defendants faced up to two years of prison if found guilty of desecration.

Poland's desecration provision in its penal code "leaves a door open to use it against people who think a bit differently," one activist said.

The conservative Life and Family Foundation, which brought the case, says it plans to appeal the ruling.

"Defending the honor of the Mother of God is the responsibility of each of us, and the guilt of the accused is indisputable," the group's founder said on Facebook.

"The courts of the Republic of Poland should protect (Catholics) from violence, including by LGBT activists."

However, the court found the activists were not motivated by a desire to offend anyone's religious feelings. Rather, they wanted to defend those facing discrimination, Polish media reports.

An LGBT rights group, Love Does Not Exclude, welcomed the ruling as a "breakthrough."

"This is a triumph for the LGBT+ resistance movement in the most homophobic country of the European Union," it said.

Because of all the attention, the altered icon has received, it is now a very recognized image in Poland, one sometimes seen at street protests.

The case was seen in Poland as a freedom of speech test. The country's "deeply conservative government" has been pushing back against secularization and liberal views.

Source

• AP
• Image: Get Your Guide

Warning the positive content of faith has become emptied, Father Tomáš Halík quotes the former Archbishop of Milan, Carlo Maria Martini; "I am not so much afraid of people who do not have faith; what disturbs me are people who do not think".

"For a large number of today's Christians, the positive content of faith has become empty.

"Therefore, they need to found their ‘Christian identity' on ‘culture wars' against condoms, abortion, same-sex marriage, etc", Halík writes in an article on "The Revolution of Mercy and a New Ecumenism."

Halík is professor of philosophy and sociology of religion at Charles University in Prague, President of the Czech Christian Academy and a recipient of the highly prestigious Templeton Prize.

He encourages the Church to not submit to the yoke of slavery, of legalistic religion.

I really cannot march under the same banner as Christians who align themselves with populist and nationalist political movements, hold to literalist interpretations of the Bible, deploy facile arguments against the ordination of women and engage in fanatical fights against abortion and LGBT+ rights writes Halík.

He struggles with "major doubt" in respect to those Christians who fall prey to what Pope Francis labels as the "neurotic obsession" of faith.

A champion of the current Pope, Halík is encouraging a "culture of spiritual discernment and fostering of those values that lead both to the heart of the gospel and a courageous and creative response to the ‘signs of the times.'"

Francis shows the way to a "Christianity of tomorrow", and understanding mercy is key to his reform.

"Pope Francis is not a revolutionary bent on changing church doctrine… rather, he is merciful", Halík explained.

"This pope does not change written standards, nor does he tear down external structures; however, he transforms praxis and life".

Halík observes that Francis is not changing the church from the outside, but he is transforming it "far more thoroughly", spiritually from the inside and through the spirit of the Gospel.

Halík calls it "a revolution of mercy".

"In his case, these words [on same-gender civil unions] are not mere empty pious phrases. Therefore, his reform has the potential to change the Church and bring it back to the heart of Jesus's message more profoundly than many reforms of the past", Halík insisted.

It is "through his personal example of Christian bravery… (Francis) calls us to act like free children of God, responsibly exercising the freedom to which Christ has liberated us and not submitting again to the ‘yoke of slavery' of legalistic religion".

Attacking those "high priests of the church of dead religion" who downplay Francis' reforms on LGBT and other matters, Halík calls on Catholics to continue the "spiritual renewal of the Church".

He asks Catholics to redouble their efforts to communicate the idea of God "as a kind, generous, understanding, forgiving, and healing power capable of transforming the human heart, the Church, and society".

Halík says Francis enfleshes John Paul II's call, "Do not be afraid".

Sources

• Novena News
• Association of Catholic Priests

The comments came in a meeting between the parents and Francis to discuss their concerns about the Church's discriminatory stance on the LGBT+ community.

The parents are members of an Italian association, Tenda di Gionata ("Jonathan's Tent"), which welcomes and provides information and formation to L.G.B.T. Christians, their families and pastoral workers.

At the brief meeting, the 40-strong group presented Francis with letters from parents explaining their children's challenging journey to find self-acceptance under the Church's anti-LGBT+ teachings.

An extract from one letter says:

"‘My son was wrong,' he could continue to be loved only if he suffocated his being himself and lived his cross in the silence of the whole family. It was kindly imposed. I could not accept it."

Tenda di Gionata's vice president Mara Grassi and her husband presented the pontiff with a booklet called Lucky Parents, a collection of stories from the LGBT+ community and Catholic Church, which was translated into Spanish.

"Taking a cue from the title of the book we presented to him, I explained that we consider ourselves lucky because we have been forced to change the way we have always looked at our children."

"What we now have is a new gaze that has allowed us to see in them the beauty and love of God. We want to create a bridge with the Church," Grassi says.

Then at the end of the meeting, Francis assured the parents: "The Pope loves your children as they are, because they are children of God."

"The church does not exclude them because she loves them deeply."

Before leaving the meeting the association gave Francis a rainbow-coloured T-shirt with the words "In love, there is no fear" emblazoned on it.

While the Catholic Church's long-standing anti-LGBT+ stance has deeply affected LGBT+ people of faith, Francis's meeting with Tenda di Gionata suggests there will be a more open dialogue moving forward.

Grassi, says she experienced "very strong emotions" in her encounter with Pope Francis.

"After I came to know that my son was homosexual, I suffered a lot because the rules of the church made me think that he was excluded from the love of God.

"Nobody helped me."

"Meeting the Holy Father in the audience as "Jonathan's Tent" means a lot", another Tenda di Gionata member commented.

"It is the recognition of the pastoral activity that the ecclesial realities scattered throughout the territory have been carrying out for many years now. A church on the way that welcomes us and meets its pastor," said Filippo M.

Source

• America Magazine
• GCN
• Image: Yahoo

"When communities will truly begin to look at people as God looks at them, then homosexual people — and everybody else — will begin to feel, naturally, a part of the ecclesial community," Zuppi says in the preface of a newly released book.

"Church and Homosexuality: An Inquiry in Light of Pope Francis' Magisterium," written by Luciano Moia, is hitting the shelves this week in Italy.

The Church considers gay and lesbian relationships as "intrinsically disordered" and does not recognise marriage between two people of the same sex.

But ever since he quoted "Who am I to judge?" in 2013, Pope Francis has promoted a more inclusive stance toward homosexuality.

In his 2016 encyclical "Amoris Laetitia" (the Joy of Love), Francis called for the need to come alongside members of the LGBT community. He has reiterated this several times since.

In the preface of his book, Moia interviews Zuppi on how best to offer spiritual guidance and welcome members of the LGBT community as Francis expects.

"The Pope, and the Church with him, isn't interested in leading people to follow external rules," Zuppi said.

"His interest is in helping people do the will of God; meaning to enter a personal relationship with God and hear from him the appropriate Word for each life."

Zuppi also said Catholic communities often fail in listening to the needs of people from different walks of life. Not defining a person based on a single characteristic is important, he stressed.

"We mustn't relativise the law, but make it relevant to the concrete person, with their own peculiarities."

In his view, it's more important to have a "specific outlook on people."

"As Christians we must look at the person as a child of God, meaning with the full right to receive, feel and experience the love of God just as any other child of God," he said.

Regardless of the Church's position on homosexuality, Zuppi pointed out that doctrine distinguishes between sexual orientation and homosexual acts.

"What we cannot ‘welcome' is the sin expressed in an act," he said.

"Sexual orientation - which nobody ‘chooses' - isn't necessarily an act. Also, it's not separable from the identity of the person; by welcoming a person we cannot overlook their (sexual) orientation."

Even if an individual leads a lifestyle that is not approved of by the Church, this cannot mean the person is not to be welcomed, Zuppi said.

"If Jesus had this criterion, he would have required the conversion of Zacchaeus."

"Before accompanying the Samaritan to the adoration of God in Spirit and Truth, he would have asked her to regularise her marital situation. … Did Jesus act this way?"

Source

• Religion News Servoce
• Image: La Croix

They spoke to each other, seated at the table where the pope meets his high-level visitors.

This is the third time Martin, who is known for his pastoral ministry to the LGBT community has met Francis.

Their 30-minute meeting this week is seen as a highly significant public statement of Francis's support and encouragement for Martin's ministry.

Although Martin would not reveal what the pope said to him he did say "we both laughed several times" and that he shared with Francis "the joys and hopes, and the griefs and anxieties, of LGBT Catholics and LGBT people worldwide.

"I also spoke about my own ministry to them and how they feel excluded.

"I saw this audience as a sign of the Holy Father's care for LGBT people.

"I felt encouraged, consoled and inspired ... [Francis's] time with me, in the middle of a busy day and a busy life, seems a clear sign of his deep pastoral care for LGBT Catholics and LGBT people worldwide.

"I was very moved by my encounter with a real pastor."

An Vatican source says Francis is aware Martin is sometimes viciously attacked in the US including by clerics, for his 2017 book "Building a Bridge: How the Catholic Church and the LGBT Community Can Enter Into a Relationship of Respect, Compassion, and Sensitivity".

He's also attacked for his lectures and ministry to LGBT people.

Last month, his views have attracted words of caution from Philadelphia's Archbishop Charles Chaput.

"Father Martin has sought in a dedicated way to accompany and support people with same-sex attraction and gender dysphoria," he said recently.

"Many of his efforts have been laudable, and we need to join him in stressing the dignity of persons in such situations.

"At the same time, a pattern of ambiguity in his teachings tends to undermine his stated aims, alienating people from the very support they need for authentic human flourishing.

"Due to the confusion caused by his statements and activities regarding same-sex related (LGBT) issues, I find it necessary to emphasise that Father Martin does not speak with authority on behalf of the Church ...".

Martin thanked Chaput for his careful tone and for encouraging people to not engage in "ad hominem" attacks. He says he's careful not to challenge Church teaching on matters of sexual morality in his writings and talks.

At the same time, he does not focus on same-sex relations and same-sex marriage.

"... I know [these relationships] are both impermissible (and immoral) under church teaching, [but] ... LGBT Catholics have heard this repeatedly. Indeed, often that is the only thing that they hear from their church," Martin says.

Source

• America Magazine
• Catholic News Agency
• Image: LifeSite

"In line with its Gospel summons, the Catholic Church respects the dignity of every person without exception - Catholics in Poland and around the world have a right to the same respect", said Fr Pawel Rytel-Andrianik, the Conference spokesman. Read more

At the same time the bishops said the Church will continue speaking out against the "deadly sin" of homosexuality.

"Violence and contempt can never be justified or accepted - acts of aggression should face unequivocal disapproval", the Conference spokesman said.

"In faithfulness to our Saviour, however, and out of love for our brothers and sisters, we must also proclaim the Gospel, without avoiding the demands it imposes or failing to identify a deadly sin".

The priest was reacting to an Equality Parade by several hundred LGBT campaigners in the eastern city of Bialystok, which was disrupted by a larger group of right-wing counter-protesters, forcing police to use teargas and baton charges.

A Bialystok council leader, Sebastian Lukasiewicz, blamed the city mayor for allowing the Parade, which resulted in police using batons and tear gas against protesters.

He thanked the nationalists for "defending" the city's cathedral and "identifying with traditional values".

However, Anna Dryjanska, a gay rights campaigner, said the cathedral had never been in danger and the counter-protesters, who also threw bottles and stones at police, had "only attacked people".

In Poland LGBT people are often subject to discrimination.

The Church opposed clauses in a 1997 constitution barring discrimination on grounds of "sexual orientation" and has since rejected repeated requests for a pastoral service for homosexuals.

The church also opposed same sex civil partnerships and backed the exclusion of LGBT staff from Catholic schools.

Before the Equality Parade, Archbishop Tadeusz Wojda told Catholics that LGBT campaigners had "insulted Christian values, profaned sacred symbols and uttered blasphemies against God" during previous rallies.

He called on Catholics to refuse to accept "the depraving of youth" and "the offending of religious feelings with impunity".

Source

• The Tablet
• Image: Yahoo News

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

Speaking on the weekend as Pope Francis made his first visit to Ireland, Varadkar noted since the last papal visit in 1979, Ireland has become more diverse.

It is less religious and has modernised its laws on divorce, contraception, abortion and same sex marriage, he said.

At the same time, Ireland has come to the "understanding that marriages do not always work, that women should make their own decisions, and that families come in many different, wonderful forms, including those headed by a grandparent, lone parent or same-sex parents, or parents who are divorced,".

Varadkar said many "devout Catholics … feel excluded … because of the treatment of women and the rules around how women can participate in the church, because they are from an LGBT background or because they are divorced, for example.

"I know that really hurts for them because there is a conflict between who they are and the rules of the faith which they follow and certainly, if I have the opportunity to speak to Pope Francis, I will want to relay that message."

A new relationship between church and state involving a new covenant for the 21st century that reflects the modern country Ireland has become is necessary "in a fashion that respects [its] freedom of religion," he suggested.

"It is not the role of the head of Government to ask any church or any religious group, Catholic, Christian or non-Christian, to change its faith."

Learning from "our shared mistakes" would be integral to this new relationship.

Focusing on the "dark aspects" of Ireland's history, Varadkar said: "The failures of both church and state, and wider society, created a bitter and broken heritage for so many, leaving a legacy of pain and suffering."

These failures included child sexual abuse, the Magdalene Laundries, mother and baby homes and illegal adoptions were "stains on our state, our society and also the Catholic church.

"People kept in dark corners behind closed doors, cries for help that went unheard," he said.

There is "much to be done to bring about justice and truth and healing for victims and survivors … We must now ensure that from words flow actions."

Source

• Irish Examiner
• The Guardian
• Image: The Irish Times

The event which Pope Francis will attend is due to take place in Ireland next month.

We Are Church Ireland (WAC Ireland), which advocates for LGBT inclusivity, says it is "being refused an exhibition stand" at the event.

It claims this is "because WAC Ireland stands for the full equality of Women and LGBTQI people."

WAC Ireland says it responded positively to the WMoF's invitation to welcome the pope to Ireland.

The WMoF says the event has already been marred by controversy over disputes about LGBT families.

Pressure from anti-LGBT Catholic lobbyists has forced WMoF organisers to remove all references to homosexuality and same-sex parents from booklets produced for the event.

WAC Ireland says although its application and deposit for an exhibition stand was submitted on 14th February, it still hasn't had a written response about its application.

"Almost fortnightly, we have rung the WMoF inquiring about the status of our application. The constant reply has been: ‘Yes, we received your application but it is on hold.'"

The group says it was told "it was up to those at the executive level to inform us."

WAC Ireland sent a registered letter in May to the Secretary General of the WMoF and copied it to the Archbishop of Dublin and President of WMoF, asking for "the courtesy of a decision on our application."

It has not had a response to these letters.

WAC Ireland says it cancelled its deposit in mid-July after the WMoF deadline passed.

"This refusal by the WMoF to engage with We Are Church Ireland and, in effect, to reject our application shows a closed and exclusive mentality which contradicts Pope Francis's constant calls for dialogue in the Catholic Church."

In response, WMoF spokeswoman Brenda Drumm said WAC Ireland was "one of a number of organisations who are on a holding list in respect of exhibition space … [many of which] are on hold because they do not meet our stated criteria which were provided to them at the time of their application."

• The criteria seek:
  • "Church-approved organisations" involved in "supporting family and marriage on behalf of the Irish Bishops' Conference"
  • organisations involved in "promoting Catholic social teaching."Source
• Pink News
• Irish Times
• Image: GCN

In it, he rebukes Morris for his attitude towards Glasgow's LGBT Pride celebrations. Read more

Yet lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people continue to face high levels of violence and discrimination across the world.

72 countries criminalise male homosexuality, with 45 also criminalising female homosexuality.

In the Commonwealth, 36 of its 53 countries maintain laws that make same-sex intimacy between men a crime and, in 16 of them, it is also punishable offence between women.

In the majority of criminalising countries, homophobic laws are a legacy of British colonisation.

Although the number of countries that criminalise LGBT+ people is slowly decreasing, with Belize and the Seychelles decriminalising in the last couple of years, deep stigmatisation persists.

A new series of photographs captures the faces of the LGBT+ rights movement in the Commonwealth.
The photos, taken by photographer Eivind Hansen, were commissioned by UK-based LGBT+ rights charity Kaleidoscope Trust.

I've always wanted my work to represent a positive change in the world. Photographing people within the LGBT+ spectrum has become something that's very important to me", East London-based photographer Hansen said.

"I hope the photos can create more visibility around LGBT+ people and their struggle for equality in the countries they come from.Queer Commonwealth: Faces of the LGBT+ Movement captures 33 members of the Commonwealth Equality Network (TCEN), which in 2017 became the first LGBT+ network to receive Commonwealth accreditation", said Paul Dillane, executive director of Kaleidoscope Trust.

As a founding member and Secretariat of The Commonwealth Equality Network, Kaleidoscope Trust strongly believes in joint advocacy.

With 36 out of 53 Commonwealth nations criminalising homosexuality, the fight for global LGBT+ rights continues.

These photos celebrate the vibrancy, positivity and diversity of LGBT+ activists from across the Commonwealth.

Making its debut in central London this week to coincide with the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), the exhibition features subjects from Belize and Tonga, Namibia and Sri Lanka, Cyprus and Malaysia and beyond.

At CHOGM, leaders of Commonwealth governments, including Theresa May, Cyril Ramaphosa and Justin Trudeau, will meet in London to decide collective policies and agree joint work.

The advocates featured in these images stand ready to ensure the concerns and the rights of the Commonwealth's LGBT+ people are heard and represented.

Donnya Piggott is an LGBT+ activist from Barbados, where homosexuality carries a potential penalty of life imprisonment.

Donnya founded Barbados Gays and Lesbians Against Discrimination (B-GLAD) in 2012. B-GLAD focuses on public education and advocacy, working on behalf of the community to increase public understanding of the needs of LGBT+ Barbadians.

"In order to create real change we have to work with the public at large. Whether it's going to churches and having those difficult conversations with people of different faiths, or reaching out to people who engage in behaviours that harm the queer community", she said.

Qasim Iqbal is an LGBT+ and HIV activist based in Pakistan.

In Pakistan homosexuality is illegal, though the sodomy ban is rarely enforced. In 2011, Qasim launched Naz Male Health Alliance (NMHA), the first and only LGBT+ community-based organisation in Pakistan, which provides support for improving the sexual health, welfare and human rights of LGBT+ people.

Seven years later, he remains the only openly gay and HIV positive activist in Pakistan.

"As a young boy I was bullied. I learned to be strong, but to this day I see many of my childhood friends who struggle with maintaining a stable self esteem because of the bullying they faced.

Seeing their struggle made me realise that I had to stand up for justice and for humanity in a country where even the government is a bully", said Iqbal. Continue reading

• Images: Indy100 by Eivind Hansen

It has branded religious views on sexuality "discriminatory."

Humanists UK, formerly known as the British Humanist Association, issued a statement backing government plans on new primary school relationships education. Read more