New Books Explore Past, Present, and Future of Catholic LGBTQ+ Ministry
Catholic publishers have released three new books that focus on or include LGBTQ+ issues, highlighting the faithful’s demand for more resources on building an inclusive church and equal society.
LGBTQ Catholic Ministry: Past and Present
Jason Steidl Jack, a gay theologian and Bondings 2.0 contributor, offers in this book from Paulist Press a history of the Catholic LGBTQ+ movement—about its earliest roots, longstanding groups like DignityUSA and New Ways Ministry, and newer initiatives, like the work of Fr. James Martin. The publisher notes of the book:
“Sometimes, the history of these relationships is hard to recount. The church’s mistreatment of LGBTQ Catholics is heartbreaking. Nevertheless, this painful history opens up to hope for the future. LGBTQ Catholics and their allies are tenacious. Decades of ministry provide a vision for what is possible in communities committed to justice and mercy. This book will amplify their stories to inspire LGBTQ people and allies today.”
Sr. Jeannine Gramick, co-founder of New Ways Ministry, said Steidl Jack’s work offers “stirring examples of how the Church can walk together with LGBTQ Catholics in Pope Francis’s call to synodality.” Marianne Duddy-Burke, executive director of DignityUSA, said the book allows readers to “enter into the hopes, challenges, determination, and persistence of those toiling away in this always-challenging vineyard.” For more information about the book, click here.
Sam Albano, a national leader in DignityUSA, as well as writer and educator, presents a “compelling, challenge, and joyful vision for living” as a lesbian, gay, or bisexual Catholic in this new book also from Paulist Press. The publisher’s description explains:
“[The book] draws from the deep well of traditional theology, Catholic teaching, and Sacred Scripture while also challenging assumptions that exclude LGB Catholics from the possibility of sexual expression, married life, and participation in the life of the Church.”
In a foreword, Bishop John Stowe, OFM, Conv., comments that Albano “presents not so much a dismissal of what the Church teaches as a critical engagement with that teaching that will point out its insufficiencies and calls for further refinement and reflection.” For more information about the book, click here.
Welcome All as Christ: Reimagining Parish Hospitality
While not focused specifically on LGBTQ+ issues, John T. Kyler’s new book includes the queer community as part of its general focus on improving parish life. Fr. Dan Horan, OFM, a prominent advocate, describes the book as an “excellent” and “accessible” resource for pastoral workers such that “St. Benedict’s instruction to ‘welcome all as Christ’ might become the true motto of pastoral ministry today!”
Welcome All as Christ is the introductory text in Liturgical Press’ new book series, “Contemporary Topics in Parish Leadership.” Kyler is the general editor for parish resources at Liturgical Press, and he authored the award-winning Search Me: A Way of the Cross in Solidarity with the LGBTQ Community, published by Clear Faith Publishing.
Two additional installments in the parish leadership series will be released later this year:
- Becoming the Good News: A New Approach to Parish Evangelization byMichael J. Sanem will be released in April 2023.
- New Ways and Next Steps: Developing Parish LGBTQ+ Ministry, by Francis DeBernardo, executive diector of New Ways Ministry will be published in Fall 2023.
For more information on Kyler’s book and the entire series, click here.
For more of Bondings 2.0’s coverage of Catholic LGBTQ+ books, including reviews published on the blog, click here. To learn more about New Ways Ministry’s own publications, click here.
—Robert Shine (he/him), New Ways Ministry,
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