"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

"To be a member of the Church means you've got to get in and get your hands dirty in the mix of the whole arena of faith from what we believe and profess to how we live and treat one another. … You can't not invest yourself into this family."

Gregory shared his distress over the priestly abuse scandals that have beset the Washington archdiocese over the past year and encouraged the young adults to turn to the Eucharist as a source of healing.

"I'm not quite as young as you, but I, too, am let down by the leadership in the Church," Gregory said.

"I've been embarrassed. I've been embarrassed as a Catholic, as a priest and as a bishop because of the behaviour by some of my fellow clerics."

He went on to explain to those present his views on belonging to the church family.

It means "you are invested in the life, the struggles, the pain, the joys that belong to being a member of this family, and that includes our faith, what we hold as true, and also it involves our investment in social justice dimensions of our faith" he said.

You can't be a good Catholic invested in Eucharistic adoration, but unconcerned about the poor, those waiting to be born, those on death row. You've got to buy the whole lot."

During his wide-ranging discussion that moved from his unexpected appointment as Washington's archbishop to Pope Francis's encyclical on the environment, Laudato Si, Gregory made a commitment to restore the trust in his archdiocese.

He would do this mainly by being an "ordinary member of this local Church," he said.

"That is, someone who identifies with the people, demonstrates that he is comfortable with his people, enjoys being with his people, and I will try to the best of my ability to continue doing that, to be available and immersed in the life of this local Church."

Source

• CNS
• Catholic Sun
• Image: The Evangelist