14 Years . . . And Counting!
Fourteen years ago today, I sat down at my computer and typed into Google “how to start a blog.” As always with the search engine, I found more advice than I could digest. Yet, at the end of the day, I had created a blog and a first blog post, rudimentary as both were.
It was a fun activity, so the next day I sat down to create another blog post, also kind of rudimentary. I really didn’t know what I was doing. I was just wanted to get practice with the computer skills, hoping that one day, I might start a “real” blog.
Well, the next day, I did the same thing. And the next day, and the next day, and the next day, and the next day. . . . . . . all the way to today, 14 years later. Along the way, I sharpened the focus of the blog to reporting on Catholic LGBTQ+ news. Eventually, I added guest posts with opinion essays and personal spiritual reflections. So somewhere along the line, I added the subtitle “A daily blog on Catholic LGBTQ+ news, opinion, and spirituality.” And the commitment to being daily has certainly be kept: since November 28, 2011, we have published at least one post every single day, weekends, holidays, and vacations included.
Of course, I did not do this alone. A significant shaper of the blog was Bob Shine, who eventually became the blog’s managing editor, working with freelance contributors and developing ideas for articles. Bob worked on the blog from the fall of 2012 to the end of 2024, when he left New Ways Ministry to become the executive director of the Pax Christi International Fund, an organization committed to non-violence and reconciliation.
And there have been part-time contributors, guest bloggers–including bishops, world-class theologians, and a best-selling author. The blog has been quoted in newspapers and magazines, and at one point it was included as a link in a Washington Post editorial. I also can’t forget our commenters who often provide important facts and perspectives that make each post a little more meaningful.
So much has changed in 14 years, so many developments have occurred. We have reported on the resignation of one pope, the death of two popes, and the election of our current pope. We have seen marriage equality spread like wildfire across the U.S. and in many spots in the Western world, and now we are reporting on how this essential right is threatened with extinction. We have seen pastoral ministry blossom under Pope Francis, who met with many LGBTQ+ people, starting a never-before-seen dialogue with the Catholic Church. We’ve reported on LGBTQ+ church workers being fired from jobs at Catholic institutions, and we’ve reported on the significant protests by Catholics against these injustices. We received press credentials from the Vatican and were able to report from Rome daily at the 2015 Synod on the Family, the 2018 Synod on Youth, the 2019 Summit on Clergy Sex Abuse, and the 2023 and 2024 Assemblies for the Synod on Syondality. In 2018, we also reported daily from the World Meeting of Families in Dublin.
And we’ve provided spiritual and scriptural reflection essays all through the years. This steady stream of essays has resulted in an online collection for reflections from LGBTQ+ people on the Sundays of all three liturgical cycles, as well as for feasts and special days throughout the liturgical year, and Catholic reflections on secular observances such as Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Pride, and Thanksgiving. This collection is a one-of-a-kind treasure trove of LGBTQ+ sprituality and scripture commentary exploring the gifts and challenges that LGBTQ+ people bring to the church.
And finally, without us intending to do so, the blog has created a unique historical archives of Catholic LGBTQ+ issues for the past 14 years. The bog itself is being digitally archived by Marquette University and the University of Dayton, two leading Catholic research institutions. Journalists and scholars at all levels regularly use the blog for research.
Fourteen years ago, I started this project as a fun end-of-the-day activity. I had no idea that it would develop into the resource it has become with thousands of readers around the globe. From a side project, it has become one of the main programs of New Ways Ministry, and helping to prepare posts still remains the joy of my work day.
I firmly believe that the main “contributor” to this blog has been God who has blessed us with writers, thinkers, and readers throughout the years. So, on this Thanksgiving weekend, the most important thing I can say is a humble and grateful “Thank you.”
—Francis DeBernardo, New Ways Ministry, November 28, 2025
Am very glad and grateful you sat down at that computer i4 years ago. Congratulations and thank you.
Francis, thanks so very much for what your team has done and is doing. Your ministry is doing a great service/ministry to the gay community and its allies and our Church. Blessings and Best Wishes.
And thank you Frank DeBernardo, Sister Jeannine and all your staff for your perseverance, your love, your personalized help and for being there whenever we (I) call. You have been very giving throughout the years. Blessings, Sister Josepine Goebel, CSA
Thank you, Francis, for all the work you put into this blog!
Dear Francis,
congratulations to your wonderful inspiration to start this blog and continue all the way long until today! For me the blog is such an important source of information about the situation of LGBTIQ+ Catholics globally. I couldn’t start my mornings without it anymore…
Best wishes, Michael
Thanks, Frank, This is a very worthwhile project. Ad multos annos.
Bravo!
Congratulations! Your blog does great things for a lot of folks. Thank you.
Congratulations, Francis, on 14 years of blogging! Reading the morning post is one of the highlights of my day!
Thank you, Frank for all the years of ever going into this. If you see Bob give him our best purely truly you are the anchor.!!🥰 say hi to sister for us