St. Francis and St. John Lateran: How to Rebuild the Church

Today’s post is from Sr. Donna McGartland, a regular contributor to Bondings 2.0 and one of the authors in Love Tenderly: Sacred Stories of Lesbian and Queer Religious published by New Ways Ministry.

Today’s liturgical readings for the Feast of the Dedication of St. John Lateran Basilica can be found here.

As a Franciscan woman, today’s  Feast of the Dedication of St. John Lateran Basilica in Rome  has special meaning for me.  St. John Lateran is the “Mother Church” in Rome, the Pope’s Cathedral.  I had the privilege of visiting it many years ago.  I was deeply touched, not by the church itself, but by the statue of St. Francis that was placed across the plaza from the church.  Francis stands proudly with his arms outstretched, blessing the church and all those who enter it. 

The statue of St. Francis of Assisi depicting the saint blessing the Basilica of St. John Lateran, Rome.

There is a story from 1209 about St. Francis of Assisi and his brothers traveling to this church of St. John Lateran to ask Pope Innocent III for his approval of their new way of life.  Their request was to approve their Rule which was solely based on living the Gospel. One account of this event describes:

“On hearing [Francis], the pope was greatly amazed, especially since, before blessed Francis’s arrival, he had seen in a vision the church of St. John Lateran threatening to collapse, and a religious, small and of shabby appearance, supporting it on his own shoulders. . . A few days later, blessed Francis came to him, made known his proposal, and asked him to confirm the rule he had written in simple words, using the words of the holy Gospel, for whose perfection he fully longed. As he was reflecting on how enthusiastic blessed Francis was in God’s service, and comparing his vision with that shown to the man of God, he began to say to himself: ‘This is indeed that holy and religious man through whom the church of God will be sustained and supported.’ So he embraced him and approved the rule he had written.” (Legend of the Three Companions, 51)

Francis was a simple and humble man who heard God’s call within himself to “Go and repair the church, which, as you see, is falling into ruin.”  At first thinking that this call was to fix a building, Francis set about quickly to physically repair the church of San Damiano. 

It wasn’t long before he realized that the church was not a physical building but as, Paul says in the reading today, “You [all creatures] are God’s building. … You are the temple of God.”  Francis’ true conversion happened when he embraced a leper and recognized in him the presence of God.  Soon, others were attracted by his mission.  Together, they set about to repair, embrace, heal and build up the people of God, the living church. 

We, as members and allies of the LGBTQ+ community, are called as Francis and his followers were, to embrace this Gospel invitation.  In the vision of Pope Innocent III, the Church was on the brink of collapse.  Francis, a “religious, small and of shabby appearance” was recognized as being the instrument through which God would repair and strengthen the church. Is this not our call today?  Many of us have recognized and responded to God’s call to repair a church on the brink of collapse. I’m not talking about the Catholic Church as an institution as much as us as individuals and as a queer community who have been wounded in many ways. 

The church is a living organism, not a building.  We are the church, all of us! In this Jubilee Year of Hope, we claim our voice and presence to both embrace and open our doors to welcome those who have been marginalized, knowing that many of us have so often been excluded.  We challenge the Church structure, as we proudly walk through the open Jubilee Doors, inviting others to do so.  We seek full communion, wholeness, healing and acceptance as we sit at the tables of synodality. 

More often, however, we sit with those who have been hurt or are searching for where God is in their life.  We accompany others on their journey toward wholeness and become a sanctuary for them.  We respond to God’s invitation to rebuild the church, each person at a time, as we live Jesus’ mandate to “Go out to all the world and tell the Good News!” 

We are the church, the living temple of the Holy Spirit.  In and through us, may all find a home. 

–Donna McGartland, OSF, November 9, 2025