What Does Pope’s New Bishop Appointment Tell Us About Future of LGBTQ+ Ministry?

Since the beginning of Pope Leo XIV’s papacy, very little has been known about the pope’s approach to LGBTQ+ issues. However, Leo’s latest episcopal  appointment may provide insight into the pontiff’s leanings on LGBTQ+ pastoral care. 

Bishop-elect Thomas Hennen

The appointment of Fr. Thomas Hennen as Bishop of the Diocese of Baker, Oregon, is Leo’s first episcopal selection who has some sort of record on LGBTQ+ issues.  Hennen, a priest of the Diocese of Davenport, Iowa, is only 47, and will become the youngest bishop to lead a U.S. diocese.

A Religion News Service (RNS) article referred to a “mixed reaction” to Hennen’s LGBTQ+ outreach, while the National Catholic Reporter characterized the bishop-elect as an “LGBTQ+ inclusion champion” when running RNS’ article. 

Hennen’s LGBTQ+ record includes participation at a 2023 diocesan assembly on LGBTQ+ ministry. At the meeting, Hennan alluded to his work with the apostolate Courage, sharing how that collaboration was his first real pastoral exposure to LGBTQ+ people. Courage is an apostolate that has as one of its goals  promoting celibacy  for gay and lesbian Catholics. This ministry is controversial, with many Catholics criticizing its narrow approach. Dignity/Detroit executive director Frank D’Amore compared the group to an “insulting” 12-step program, while former Irish Prime Minister Mary McAleese called Courage “Machiavellian, dangerous and deliberately specious”. 

Discussing his work with Courage, Hennen shared that he was initially afraid of stigma and unsure how he would relate to a group made up primarily of gay men. But after meeting the attendees, Hennan learned that “I am not very different from these people. I am very much like these people.” Hennan added that he was “amazed” and “edified” by their faith. In his remarks, Hennan used the acronym “LGBTQ+” as well as the term“same-sex attraction,” often seen by gay/lesbian people as a belittling term.

While the bishop-elect’s long-affiliation with Courage gives pause to LGBTQ+ advocates, when Hennan was the Vicar General of the Davenport diocese, he was highly instrumental  in composing the diocese’s 2023 statement “Guidelines for Pastoral Accompaniment of Sexual and Gender Minorities,” which New Ways Ministry praised at the time as “strikingly positive” and “synodality in action,” and many others saw as the most helpful recent set of such guidelines.

The guidelines embody an alternative approach to the common defensive posture of the Church, suggesting instead that wide consultation and sensitivity can empower ecclesial communities to respond on a case-by-case basis to the pastoral challenges of diversity in the modern world. They remain perhaps the single most affirming official statement on transgender inclusion to arise from the U.S. Catholic hierarchy. 

At the time they were issued Brennan explained to the Davenport diocese’s newspaper, The Catholic Messenger, that the process of listening to transgender people transformed the entire endeavor:

“The more we talked about it and met with people who are transgender or whose loved ones are transgender, we came to understand them a little better and how they were feeling. It was very humanizing. Our approach to this issue has evolved. We’re probably leaning toward developing a statement rather than a policy.” 

Interestingly, those comments align with the bishop-elect’s description of his time with Courage, where personal encounters with LGBTQ+ people released him from pre-conceived notions and defensive stances. 

The ability to “evolve” one’s approaches to issues  and to listen to human stories exemplifies Pope Francis’ vision of a Catholic theology “capable of reading and interpreting the Gospel in the conditions in which men and women live daily.”  If Bishop-elect Hennen continues in those modes, he may be good news for LGBTQ+ Catholics. 

In his first words as pope, Leo XIV re-committed the universal Church to synodality. His formation in the Latin American Church, some argue, informs his reception of the Second Vatican Council. With his appointment of a young priest who learns from listening, Leo might be sending a message to the U.S Church about how he wants bishops to handle LGBTQ+ issues in the public square. Let’s hope that the bishop-appointee’s ability to listen will help him to see that LGBTQ+ ministry is about much more than sexual activity, and that ministry must include the entire life of an LGBTQ+ person, including conscience decisions one makes about becoming whole and integrated and being in relationship with others. 

—Jeromiah Taylor, New Ways Ministry, July 12, 2025