“U.S. Catholic” Advances Church Media in Exploring Queer Theology and Contemplation

What is queer theology? How can queer spirituality contribute to Catholics at large? Why do LGBTQ+ people find hope in the church? While many Catholic publications continue to shy away from the LGBTQ+ movement’s vanguard, in recent years U.S. Catholic has addressed new questions and even controversial ideas with a remarkable openness.

This fall, U.S. Catholic published two podcasts and an essay on these topics. Below is brief information about each with a link provided for listening and reading further.

First, in September, U.S. Catholic interviewed Cassidy Hall, an LGBTQ+ scholar and minister in the United Church of Christ, who focuses on queer spirituality and contemplation. In the extensive article, Hall offers her approach to queer spirituality, which is based on the content of her new book, Queering Contemplation: Finding Queerness in the Roots and Future of Contemplative Spirituality. Hall explains:

“‘Both contemplative life and queer bodies live in this kind of liminal space,’ she says. ‘There’s a depth of connection to our own becoming, our own expansiveness.’ In her book, she explores how queerness and contemplation overlap and envisions how applying a queer perspective to contemplative prayer can enrich spirituality. . .

“The way I define queer in the book is not just related to my sexuality: It is the way I tilt my head to look at the world. I think contemplation and contemplative life invite us to do the same thing—to tilt our heads to look at the world. To look curiously, differently, more openly, and more expansively.

“One of the beautiful things about queerness and contemplation is that both permeate the world with that weirdness, oddity, and strangeness and allow it to flourish as it is, whatever that means for our own lives. So when we queer contemplation, we give it this expansive permission and, in turn, give ourselves permission to grow and evolve toward wholeness.”

Hall also argues that monasticism is fundamentally queer from this vantage point, that silence in contemplation can at times be toxic silence as LGBTQ+ people sometimes experience, and that a queer contemplative practice can be a way to move towards welcoming communities. She also critiques the Trappist monk Thomas Merton, about whom she once made a film, for his disparagement of homosexuality. Tying together contemplation with action, including LGBTQ+ advocacy, she concludes:

“What’s crucial is that all these moments allow me to discern and move me toward both who I am as my true self—which also means what I’m to speak to and how I’m to show up in the world. So maybe that moves me to go to the Indiana State House to protest the most recent anti-trans bill. Maybe it means going to volunteer at Habitat for Humanity. Or maybe it means writing a letter to a friend or making sure I’m in touch with my community in some way. But, for me, contemplation is always tethered to action.”

Elsewhere, the U.S. Catholic podcast, “Curious Spirits,” a collaboration with the Spirit Alive Institute sponsored by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Brentwood, hosted a gay Catholic to discuss his experience of church. A description of the episode states:

“Matt Devine joins Zoe this week for an incredibly important conversation on LGBTQ+ Catholics and the church. This conversation is fueled by Matt’s strength and poise as he offers insights on his lived experience as a gay Catholic man and how his mantra of ‘staying’ has served him in all areas of his life. In 2022 Matt published a testimonial talk on YouTube through the Stanford Business School where he received his MBA. Matt’s talk garnered responses from many and was the catalyst for this great conversation between Zoe and Matt. You can listen to that talk here.”

On the podcast, “Glad You Asked,” offer primers on Catholic theology and practice, hosts Emily Sanna and Rebecca Bratten Weiss talked with Shannon Kearns, a transgender author and priest in the Old Catholic Church, about queer theology. An introduction to the episode explained:

“To many practicing Catholics, terms like queer theology might seem overly academic or unhelpful. Does queer theology refer to theology done by and for people who are LGBTQ+? Is it focused primarily on arguing for inclusion of queer people and perspectives in the church? Or is it something arcane and academic, along the lines of queer theory? And why should people who don’t identify as queer care what it means at all?

“Some might also be uncomfortable with the idea of breaking theology up into specific groups. If we’re all human relating to God, shouldn’t plain old theology be good enough for everyone? Why worry about feminist theology, ecotheology, and liberation theology, when one could just talk about God?”

—Robert Shine (he/him), New Ways Ministry, November 15, 2024