LGBTQ+ Advocates Forge Ahead in Seeking Inclusion from Synodal Process

The countdown to the Synod on Synodality’s final global assembly in October 2024 has begun, and there are many questions concerning what has already taken place, as well as what might be possible for the future. An article in U.S. Catholic provided some analysis about the Synod and change as it relates to issues of church reform.

The article, written by Heidi Schlumpf, who regularly writes for the National Catholic Reporter, focused in on what has happened in the Synod when it comes to LGBTQ+ issues, women’s ordination, and clergy sexual abuse—particularly after there was much disappointment about the first global assembly’s synthesis document released last fall. Schlumpf writes of LGBTQ+ issues. Schlumpf writes:

“The document also does not substantially acknowledge the need for greater inclusion of LGBTQ Catholics; in fact, unlike the previous synod documents, it does not even use the phrase ‘LGBTQ.’ . . .

“The lack of a more positive statement about LGBTQ Catholics in the document is ‘very disappointing’ to Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, a Catholic outreach and advocacy organization that works for equity, inclusion, and justice for LGBTQ people. ‘I was not expecting that there would be a great change in doctrine or practice from this meeting, but I was hoping that there would at least be some positive movement, however small, given that in every phase of the synod up to now, Catholics around the globe let it be known that they want a more inclusive church,’ he says.

“More than half of the reports from the two-year process of diocesan and continental consultation mention LGBTQ people, and they are not just from Western countries, according to Jesuit Father James Martin, a synod delegate and advocate for LGBTQ Catholics.”

Elsewhere, Marianne Duddy-Burke, executive director of DignityUSA, described the “erasure” of LGBTQ+ people in the synthesis document as “sobering.” She commented further, “The fact that in the synod assembly room there was such resistance to even using the acronym ‘LGBT’ in the report shows just how cut off too many church leaders are from the people they are supposed to be shepherding.”

Despite this absence, Schlumpf noted that some LGBTQ+ advocates and other church reformers remain hopeful about the Synod as “the success of the process itself—of deep listening, nonhierarchal community, and attempts to find convergences despite differences—is the most significant change coming out of the October meetings.” And, specific to gender and sexuality, she reported:

“‘Now is not the time to give up,’ says DeBernardo of New Ways Ministry. ‘We’ve been given a great opportunity, even if at this phase the results did not turn out as we wished. We need to continue to work with the process, perhaps even harder than before, to make sure that we do not give up our place at the table.”

“[Sr. Jeannine Gramick, co-founder of New Ways Ministry, stated:] ‘The fact remains that our church, like society in general, is now very divided in its approach to and knowledge about LGBTQ issues. . .The synod report impels me to continue to forge ahead and continue in hope.'”

TONIGHT: Two Synod delegates, Dr. Cynthia Bailey Manns and Julia Osęka, will join New Ways Ministry for an online panel about how LGBTQ+ people and allies can further engage the Synod on Synodality this year. (To register, click here.)

The panelists will offer insights about how issues of gender and sexuality have been addressed in the Synod so far, and how LGBTQ+ people and allies can participate in lead up to this October. There will also be a question and answer period. 

The panel will be held Tuesday, January 30, 2024 at 7:30 – 8:45 p.m. Eastern U.S. Time on Zoom. A suggested donation is $15, more if you can, less if you can’t—all are welcome regardless of a donation.

For more information or to register, click here.

—Robert Shine (he/him), New Ways Ministry, January 30, 2024