On Giving Tuesday, Here’s a List of What Your Donations Support

Closing Eucharistic liturgy at New Ways Ministry’s 2017 Symposium

Today is Giving Tuesday, a day set aside in the midst of the commercialism of the Christmas shopping season to consider donating to non-profit organizations of your choice.  We would be very honored and grateful if you would consider making one of your donations to New Ways Ministry.

Giving Tuesday is the one day of the year that New Ways Ministry turns to our blog readers and subscribers for a donation.  Many of you may know our organization only through this free daily blog on Catholic LGBTQ+ news, opinion, and spirituality. However, this publication is but one of many projects which aim to educate, advocate, and provide spiritual development–all with the aim of making the Catholic Church a more equal and just home for LGBTQ+ people and their supporters. 

So that you know what your donations have already supported and what they will continue to support, here’s a brief summary of some of our activities over the past 48 years and up to today.

• For the last two years, New Ways Ministry brought together about a dozen bishops for two-day meetings with theologians, LGBTQ+ persons, medical doctors, psychologists, and pastoral ministers.
• New Ways Ministry has published analyses of Church documents on sexual ethics, national signature campaigns in support of civil rights, marriage equality, and lifting the ban on LGBTQ people in the military, public support for LGBTQ+ employees of Catholic institutions who were fired for their identities and relationships, and keeping in close contact with national media outlets to comment on church statements and actions affecting LGBTQ people.
• New Ways Ministry supports a host of educational programs. Seminars have been conducted in almost ¾ of U.S. dioceses; many have been held at motherhouses and retreat centers of congregations of women religious. The staff write, publish, and distribute books, articles, and other helpful resources. Our daily blog, together with other social media, provides news, commentary, and spiritual reflections on Catholic LGBTQ issues.
• Every five years, New Ways Ministry hosts symposiums for Church leaders to acquaint them with current theological developments and pastoral practices. (Our next one will be for our 50th anniversary in 2027!)
• In the pastoral arena, we sponsor retreats for gay priests, lesbian nuns, and parents who have LGBTQ children, and LGBTQ+ people themselves.
• New Ways Ministry offers two free online scriptural resources: The Word Goes Out and Journeys. These resources offer LGBTQ+ people and their allies reflective exercises and texts to help personal growth, as well as to help pastoral ministers better integrate the gifts and challenges of LGBTQ+ people into their homilies and talks.

In our contemporary world where so many issues tug at people’s hearts, minds, and wallets, we know that you probably have many causes to which you can donate.  If LGBTQ+ equality in church and society are near the top of that list of causes, we hope you will consider sending us a donation at this time of year.  We are most grateful for your support to help us build a better church and world. 

Thank you for reading about some highlights in the New Ways Ministry story. With your prayers and support, we will continue to work for justice for our LGBTQ family and friends. And we hope to continue meeting many of you as we travel around the country!

—Sister Jeannine Gramick and Francis DeBernardo, New Ways Ministry, December 2, 2025