Synod Chaplain Hopes Story of Bisexual Woman’s Suicide Changed Participants

Bondings 2.0 writers Robert Shine and Francis DeBernardo are in Rome for the month of October covering the first global assembly of the Synod on Synodality, particularly LGBTQ-related developments. For the blog’s full coverage of this multi-year synodal journey, click here.

REPORTING FROM ROME—One of the two spiritual advisors to the Synod assembly said to the participants that he “hoped it changed us,” referring to a delegate’s intervention about a bisexual youth who died by suicide.

Fr. Timothy Radcliffe, O.P., one of the two spiritual assistants appointed by Pope Francis, offered a scriptural meditation yesterday during one of the assembly’s General Congregation, which are plenary sessions made public, as opposed to the private small group meetings. Towards the end of his remarks, Radcliffe stated:

“How shall we lift burdens from the weary shoulders of our brothers and sisters today who often feel ill at ease in the Church? It will not be through anything as dramatic as abolishing the Law. Nor will it be through such a fundamental shift in our identity as the admission of the Gentiles.

“But we are called to embrace a deeper sense of who we are as the improbable friends of the Lord, whose scandalous friendship reaches across every boundary. Many of us wept when we heard of that young woman who committed suicide because she was bisexual and did not feel welcomed. I hope it changed us. The Holy Father reminded us that all are welcomed: todos, todos, todos.”

Radcliffe, the former Master of the Dominicans worldwide, and who has been LGBTQ-positive for decades, focused the day’s meditation on the early church’s Council of Jerusalem, at which there were strong divisions over whether and how to welcome Gentiles into a movement that was, to that point, Jewish in nature. Though not speaking directly about LGBTQ+ issues, Radcliffe made an extremely relevant point:

“An ancient hymn begins ‘I bind unto myself today, the strong name of the Trinity.’ If we are gathered in the strong name of the Trinity, the Church will be renewed, though maybe in ways that are not immediately obvious. This is not optimism but our Apostolic faith. . .

“The new is always an unexpected renewal of the old. This is why any opposition between tradition and progress is utterly alien to Catholicism. . .The history of the Church is of endless institutional creativity.”

At Wednesday’s Synod assembly press briefing, LGBTQ+ issues once again surfaced. Asked whether the Synod assembly would produce any concrete proposals related to blessing same-gender couples and similar matters, Cardinal Leonardo Ulrich Steiner of Manaus, Brazil, responded:

“Thank you for your question. The topic has been addressed during our reflections, but also during the different rounds of interventions. This synodal session will not lead to determinations or conclusions. . .It is a good thing that a debate has come up on these topics. Let us not forget what Pope Francis said in Lisbon, that the church is for everyone. . .As far as concrete issues are concerned, they will have to be addressed in the next year’s session.”

Responding to a similar question, Archbishop Zbigņevs Stankevičs of Riga, Latvia, offered a less positive response, saying the church needed to be faithful to its traditions. He emphasized church teaching about lesbian and gay people remaining celibate, and he condemned blessing queer couples, though he noted that sexual orientation is not sinful. Stankevičs continued:

“Speaking with a homosexual in Latvia, I remember saying I’m sorry the church in the past centuries treated homosexuals not as a mother, but as a stepmother. Because the church is a mother to everyone because we are all sinners. We must welcome people with love, without judging them. We must not discriminate against them. . .

“[We need] great sensitivity and a new approach versus what was before. . .I went through a pastoral conversion, but in the past I judged these persons. . .I was enlightened in a sense. Homosexuals are my neighbor, and I must love them but how,  a true love that is not just a permissiveness?”

Bishop Pablo Virgilio David of Kalookan, the president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, said that gender and sexuality identity issues were a “real concern of the northern hemisphire,” but from his Asian and Filipino perspective, labels are not as important. He added that “even Jesus was accused of socializing with people with bad reputations,” and Catholics should do likewise.

Paolo Ruffini, prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communications who is also a Synod participant, announced that the Synod delegates voted 335-11 to release a letter to the people of God at the end of this month. According to Ruffini, the goal of the letter is to tell “as many people as possible, and especially those who have not yet been reached or involved in the synodal process” about how participants experienced this Synod assembly.

—Robert Shine (he/him), New Ways Ministry, October 19, 2023

Related Articles

Vatican News, “Briefing: A Letter for all God’s people to continue the Synodal journey”

National Catholic Reporter, “Story of LGBTQ youth’s suicide led synod delegates to cry, Radcliffe reveals“