 | |
| Formation | 1977 |
|---|---|
| Purpose | Inclusive Catholicism |
| Headquarters | Maryland |
Founder | Jeannie Gramick |
New Ways Ministry is a ministry of advocacy and justice for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Catholics. [1] The national organization is primarily based in the state of Maryland. It was one of the earliest groups attempting to broaden the way Catholics have traditionally dealt with LGBT issues, and was established by Sister Jeannine Gramick and Father Robert Nugent.
New Ways Ministry was founded in 1977 by Sr. Jeannine Gramick, a Catholic religious sister, and Fr. Robert Nugent, a Catholic priest. The ministry expanded their existing work of writing and speaking on homosexuality in the years following 1971, with the aim of creating acceptance for gay and lesbian Catholics within the Roman Catholic Church. [2]
It adopted its name from the pastoral letter of Bishop Francis Mugavero of the Diocese of Brooklyn, "Sexuality: God's Gift". Written in 1976, the letter addressed gay and lesbian Catholics, as well as the widowed, adolescents, the divorced, and those having sexual relations outside of marriage, stating: " ...we pledge our willingness to help you ...to try to find new ways to communicate the truth of Christ because we believe it will make you free." [3] These sentiments inspired the pastoral efforts by the co-founders to build bridges between differing constituencies in Catholicism. [4]
In 1975, Nugent left the Archdiocese and joined the staff of the Quixote Center in Maryland. In 1977, he joined the Salvatorians, [5] that same year he founded New Ways Ministry with Gramick. "We knew it was risky," he told the St. Petersburg Times in 1999, "because Catholics weren't talking and writing about sexuality." [6]
Nugent served as a consultant for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on its 1997 pastoral document on homosexuality, "Always Our Children." [7]
New Ways Ministry advocates for acceptance of LGBT people among Catholics and among the general population. [8] In the belief that homophobia and transphobia stem from a lack of understanding, New Ways Ministry focuses on educating families, churches, and communities through dialogue, publications and research, and educational programming. Publications have included responses to Vatican Instructions, "Homosexuality: A Positive Catholic Perspective" and "Marriage Equality: A Positive Catholic Approach," and symposia on the issue of homosexuality in the Catholic church have hosted speakers including Bishop Thomas Gumbleton of the Archdiocese of Detroit and Bishop Matthew Clark of the Diocese of Rochester. They also organize Catholics nationally in support of marriage equality initiatives.
New Ways Ministry partners with Equally Blessed, [9] a coalition of Catholics who support full LGBT equality, and the Global Network of Rainbow Catholics. [10]
In 1984 Cardinal James Hickey barred the organization from the Archdiocese of Washington because of its dissent from traditional Catholic teaching on the issue of homosexuality, which condemns sexual activity between people of the same gender. [11] The same year, the Vatican ordered co-founders Nugent and Gramick to resign from New Ways Ministry. Both continued publishing, speaking, and ministering around gay and lesbian issues within the Catholic Church until 1999.
That year, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, then under the leadership of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, condemned the organization’s positions on homosexuality, [11] and ordered co-founders Gramick and Nugent to cease pastoral ministry within the gay and lesbian community. [12] Fr. Nugent returned to parish-based ministry, but Sr. Gramick refused to comply. While he stepped back from public ministry, Nugent continued to counsel gay and lesbian Catholics privately, and advised theologians and scholars working on issues of homosexuality. [6] He also wrote of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and Thomas Merton. [13]
In 2010, Cardinal Francis George, Archbishop of Chicago and President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), stated New Ways did not present an authentic view of Catholic teaching. Instead he insisted that it "confuses the faithful about the Church’s efforts to defend traditional marriage and to minister to homosexual persons". [14] In March 2011, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops affirmed George's statement and reiterated "...that in no manner is the position proposed by New Ways Ministry in conformity with Catholic teaching and in no manner is this organization authorized to speak on behalf of the Catholic Church or to identify itself as a Catholic organization." [11]
Nugent retired in June 2013, and died of lung cancer at the age of 76 on January 1, 2014 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, location of the US Province of Salvatorians. [6] Some of Nugent's papers are in the Special Collections of Marquette University. [15]
In 2015, a group of 50 LGBT activists and pilgrims were given first row seating at a Wednesday papal audience in St. Peter’s Square, Rome. [16]
In 2021, Pope Francis addressed two letters to New Ways Ministry, in which he commended the organization for its outreach to the LGBTQ community and referred to one of its co-founders, Loretto Sr. Jeannine Gramick, as "a valiant woman" who had suffered much for her ministry. He also said he is aware that New Ways Ministry's "history has not been an easy one," but that loving one's neighbor is still the second commandment, tied "necessarily" to the first commandment to love God, while thanking them for "their neighborly work". [17]
In October of 2023, Pope Francis received Sr. Jeannine Gramick and three other staff from New Ways Ministry in the Vatican. The meeting was held in Pope's residence; Sr. Gramick stated the meeting was emotional, thanking Pope Francis for his allowance for blessing of same-sex couples, and opposition to LGBTQ+ criminalization laws. [18]
Francis Eugene George was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He was the eighth Archbishop of Chicago in Illinois (1997–2014) and previously served as bishop of the Diocese of Yakima and Archbishop of Portland.
The canon law of the Roman Catholic Church requires that clerics "observe perfect and perpetual continence for the sake of the kingdom of heaven". For this reason, priests in Roman Catholic dioceses make vows of celibacy at their ordination, thereby agreeing to remain unmarried and abstinent throughout their lives. The 1961 document entitled Careful Selection and Training of Candidates for the States of Perfection and Sacred Orders stated that homosexual men should not be ordained. In 2005, the Church clarified that men with "deeply rooted homosexual tendencies" cannot be ordained. The Vatican followed up in 2008 with a directive to implement psychological screening for candidates for the priesthood. Conditions listed for exclusion from the priesthood include "uncertain sexual identity" and "deep-seated homosexual tendencies".
DignityUSA is an organization with headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts, that focuses on LGBT rights and the Catholic Church. Dignity Canada exists as the Canadian sister organization. The organization is made up of local chapters across the country, and functions both as a support and social group for LGBT and LGBT-accepting Catholics to worship together. "The goal of 'Dignity' is to serve as an advocate for change in the Roman Catholic Church's stance on homosexuality", and as an activist group for LGBT rights and education about LGBT issues.
William Edward Lori is an American prelate of the Catholic Church who has served as the 16th archbishop of the Archdiocese of Baltimore in Maryland since 2012.
Courage International, also known as Courage Apostolate and Courage for short, is an approved apostolate of the Catholic Church that counsels "men and women with same-sex attractions in living chaste lives in fellowship, truth and love". Based on a treatment model for drug and alcohol addictions used in programs like Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), Courage runs a peer support program aimed at helping gay people remain abstinent from same-sex sexual activity.
Sr Jeannine Gramick, SL is an American Catholic religious sister and advocate for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights. She is also a co-founder of New Ways Ministry.
James J. Martin is an American Jesuit Catholic priest, writer, and editor-at-large of the Jesuit magazine America and the founder of Outreach.
The Catholic Church condemns same-sex sexual activity and denies the validity of same-sex marriage. While the Church opposes "unjust" discrimination against homosexual persons, it supports what it considers "just" discrimination in the employment of teachers or athletic coaches, in adoption, in the military and in housing. The Catechism of the Catholic Church promulgated by Pope John Paul II considers sexual activity between members of the same sex to be a grave sin against chastity and sees homosexual attraction as objectively disordered. However, the Catechism also states that homosexuals "must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity". This teaching has developed through papal interventions, and influenced by theologians, including the Church Fathers.
Francis John Mugavero was an American Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Brooklyn from 1968 to 1990.
Leonard Paul Blair is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church, serving as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Hartford in Connecticut since December 16, 2013.
The National Coalition of American Nuns (NCAN) was founded in 1969 by Margaret Traxler and Audrey Kopp. The organization is known for its advocacy for women's rights, support for the Equal Rights Amendment, opposition to the Catholic Church hierarchy, including Pope Francis, as well as its positions on abortion, LGBT rights, and women's ordination.
Joseph William Tobin, CSsR, is an American prelate of the Catholic Church. A member of the Redemptorist order, he has been the Archbishop of Newark since 2017. He previously served as the Archbishop of Indianapolis from 2012 to 2016 and as secretary of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life from 2010 to 2012. He has been a cardinal since November 19, 2016.
Robert Walter McElroy is an American prelate of the Catholic Church who has served as the sixth bishop of the Diocese of San Diego in California since 2015.
Rainer Maria Woelki is a German Cardinal of the Catholic Church. He has been Archbishop of Cologne since his installation on 20 September 2014 following his election by the Cathedral Chapter to succeed Joachim Meisner in that position. He previously served as Archbishop of Berlin.
The Third Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, the first of two synods popularly referred to as the Synod on the Family, was held in Vatican City on 5–19 October 2014 on the topic of Pastoral Challenges of the Family in the Context of Evangelization. The Synod was a gathering of 253 bishops and other participants in preparation for a larger synod with the same theme in October 2015. The participants discussed problems facing the family today, including the effects of war, immigration, domestic violence, sexual orientation, polygamy, inter-religious marriages, cohabitation, the breakdown of marriage, and divorce and remarriage. In particular, the synod was marked by debate regarding the pastoral care of Catholics living in "irregular unions", including those civilly remarried after divorce, unmarried cohabitating couples, and especially gay Catholics. The synod was also noted for a new prominence of African bishops.
The Christian tradition has generally proscribed any and all noncoital genital activities, whether engaged in by couples or individuals, regardless of whether they were of the same or different sex. The position of the Roman Catholic Church with regards to homosexuality developed from the writings of Paul the Apostle and the teachings of the Church Fathers. These were in stark contrast to contemporary Greek and Roman attitudes towards same-sex relations which were more relaxed.
Pastoral care for LGBT Catholics consists of the ministry and outreach the Catholic Church provides to LGBT Catholics.
Dissent from the Catholic Church's teaching on homosexuality has come in a number of practical and ministerial arguments from both the clergy and the laity of the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church teaches that while being gay is not a sin in and of itself, any sex outside of marriage, including between same-sex partners, is sinful, and therefore being gay makes one inclined towards this particular sin.
The political activity of the Catholic Church on LGBT issues mainly consists of efforts made by the Catholic Church to support or oppose civil government legislation on issues of importance to LGBT people. The Church generally condemns all forms of violence against gay and lesbian people. However, the Church in certain countries has occasionally resisted efforts to decriminalize homosexuality or to introduce measures to tackle discrimination. The Catholic Church also supports legally defining marriage in civil legislation as the union of one man and one woman, therefore generally opposing efforts to introduce gay civil unions and gay marriage – although some clergymen have expressed support for same-sex unions. The Church teaches that not all discrimination is "unjust," and that discrimination against gay people in some spheres of life serves the common good.
Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church since 2013, has marked a significantly more accommodative tone on LGBT topics than his predecessors. In July 2013, his televised "Who am I to judge?" statement was widely reported in the international press, becoming one of his most famous statements on LGBT people. In other public statements, Francis has emphasised the need to accept, welcome, and accompany LGBT people, including LGBT children, and has denounced laws criminalising homosexuality. While he has reiterated traditional Catholic teaching that marriage is between a man and a woman, he has supported same-sex civil unions as legal protections for same-sex couples. Under his pontificate, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has confirmed that transgender people can be baptised, and allowed the blessing of same-sex couples in the document Fiducia supplicans. Francis has privately met many LGBT people and activists. In 2013, Francis was named as Person of the Year by The Advocate, an American LGBT magazine.
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