How Queer Theology Can Renew the Catholic Church

In a new essay, transgender Catholic Maxwell Kuzma uncovers how queer theology can help Catholicism recover its liberatory core, leading the Church back to “a Gospel rooted in dignity, solidarity and freedom rather than fear.”

Maxwell Kuzma

In a column for National Catholic Reporter, Kuzma reflects on the ways that Catholicism has always wrestled with the task of responding to the present moment, sometimes “with courage and imagination, and at other times with violence, repression and fear.” He explains: 

“Too often, Catholic institutions have aligned themselves with power rather than liberation. And yet, as we know, running alongside this history is another tradition — one rooted in resistance, justice and fidelity to the Gospel’s most disruptive claims.”

Along with pointing to the Church’s rich tradition of saints and prophetic voices in the liberation tradition such as Oscar Romero, Dorothy Day, Lawrence of Rome and Thea Bowman, Kuzma also lifts up queer liberation theology as “a lens through which the church can recover its liberatory core.” This includes not only LGBTQ+ lives and experiences, but also a shift in perspective and a way of seeing that that resists rigid norms, hierarchies, and binaries.

Liberation theology, Kuzma reminds us, emerged in mid-twentieth century Latin America, working hand-in-hand with the church’s own social teaching which emphasizes the sanctity of life, the immutability of human dignity, and the primacy of the mandate to care for the poor and vulnerable. He continues:

“Liberation theology emerged as a way of thinking about God from the ground up, shaped by real lives rather than abstract doctrine. Rather than beginning with the perspectives of those with power or social status, it centers those pushed to the margins and takes their lives seriously as places where God is already at work.”

Queer liberation theology is congruent with the Catholic social justice tradition:

“…[It] is not simply a theology about LGBTQ people, but a broader moral and spiritual perspective grounded in the very same values enshrined in Catholic social teaching: human dignity, personal conscience and deep concern for those most easily discarded. It understands authority in Christ not as domination or control, but as a call to resist evil, care for one another, and participate in God’s work of liberation through humility and service.”

Kuzma says the Church desperately needs this tradition, now more than ever, as our world continues to see increasing violence, division, and hatred and conservative and far-right Catholic movements present theological messaging designed to reinforce systems of political dominance and oppression. 

Queerness and queer theology provide an alternative: a way of disrupting rigid systems of division, questioning hierarchies, and inviting new perspectives. Kuzma turns to Queer Episcopal priest and political strategist Elizabeth Edman, whose book Queer Virtue highlights some of the foundational principles of queer liberation theology. He summarizes:

“As Edman writes, the heart of queer virtue is simple: Christianity continually calls followers of Jesus to rupture false binaries that pit people against one another. Jesus himself does this when he calls us to love our neighbor without qualification — forcing a reexamination of who belongs, who is excluded and how love must be practiced.

“The LGBTQ community has long walked a similar path, attending to those pushed to the margins and naming the lives that remain unseen and unacknowledged. In doing so, queer experience has a prophetic voice that calls out to all Christians, challenging the church to reckon with its failures, confront its complicity and recover a faithfulness rooted not in the preservation of power but in radical care, inclusion and the pursuit of justice.”

It is in this way that queerness can help the Catholic Church recover its Gospel roots. 

–Phoebe Carstens, New Ways Ministry, February 13, 2026