There are men and women whose attraction is to the same sex, who just get on with their lives, often with the support of others of the same disposition, and in many cases living chastely. This essay is not about them. Rather, it is about those who have an ideological agenda. Yet, in either case, Read more
Pope Francis’ recent “mini-interview” on the topic of LGBTQ Catholics provides some of the building blocks for a re-imagined ministry to gay people. “A ‘selective’ church, one of ‘pure blood,’ is not Holy Mother Church, but rather a sect,” the Pope explained in a handwritten reply to questions from Fr James Martin, a Jesuit priest Read more
The United Methodist Church has delayed its General Conference meeting for a third time due to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic. In response, some conservative United Methodists have announced they will preemptively leave the denomination rather than wait for the long-anticipated meeting. Delegates to the General Conference were expected to take up a proposal to split Read more
Like most of his fellow Italians, Mattia Nanetti, 25, from the northern city of Bologna, grew up with the teachings and sacraments of the Catholic Church in parochial school. Even his scouting group was Catholic. But in September 2019 he decided the time had come to leave the church behind. He filled out a form Read more
Why should Catholics reach out to L.G.B.T.Q. Catholics or, more broadly, to LGBTQ people? We should reach out not simply because they are Catholics—meaning LGBTQ Catholics, who are part of the Body of Christ—but because we are Catholic. Part of being Catholic, part of being Christian, is standing on the side of those who are Read more
With a few months to the first session of the long-awaited Australian Plenary Council (PC2020), we are finally headed down the home stretch. The initial phase of listening drew nearly 220,000 people across Australia and 17,500 individual and group submissions. These submissions were distilled into the six national theme papers and then further distilled again Read more
A new Vatican statement that has provoked widespread criticism for sharply rejecting the blessing of same-sex unions is the latest example of why it’s hard for many people to take the Catholic Church’s own professed values of equality and dignity seriously. The decree, which notes God “cannot bless sin,” reiterates traditional Catholic teaching on sexuality. Read more
Pope Francis, who made headlines in the first months of his papacy by responding, “Who am I to judge?” when asked about gay priests, has now signed off on a Vatican decree that priests cannot bless same-sex unions since God “cannot bless sin.” The decree, issued by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Read more
Since the Catholic Church forbids celebrating marriage between people of the same sex as a sacrament, some Catholics, and even some bishops, have discussed having a blessing for such couples as an alternative. On Monday (March 15), the Congregation for Doctrine of the Faith, the chief doctrinal office in the Vatican, responded to queries about Read more
Every year hundreds of thousands of children send letters to Santa through the United States Postal Service’s (USPS) Operation Santa, a program that seeks to put those letters in the hands of organizations and individuals who can respond and send a thoughtful gift on Santa’s behalf. And each year, the USPS shares some of the Read more