What Early Christians Can Teach Us About Inequality and Marginalization

Today’s reflection is from Bondings 2.0 contributor Mark Guevarra.

Today’s liturgical readings for the Fifth Sunday of Easter are available here.

Living in the politically fragmented situation we find ourselves in, it is imperative that we see anew and live out with courage the vision of church that we find in today’s liturgical readings. 

In our reading from Acts, we hear a complaint: the Greek speaking widows are being neglected in the daily distribution. This  exposes inequality within the community. The apostles respond not by dismissing the concern, but by conferring with the community, naming the problem, calling forth service and gifts, and empowering leaders to live out the word of God. The moment is striking because of the immediate, creative, and courageous response to those neglected. There aren’t committees struck, proposals written, or doctrinal red tape to overcome. Rather here, as elsewhere in the Book of Acts, there’s an immediate responsiveness. The moment is also striking because it affirms that the Spirit gifts the community with leadership when needs arise. And the same Spirit empowers the leaders for the work of the gospel.

This passage along with several others have shaped conversations about diaconal ministry. Dr. Phyllis Zagano is an expert and proponent of women deacons. She argues that the early church included women deacons and they functioned in a variety of ministries in the church, such as those described in Acts. Her work challenges the church to consider whether limiting the diaconate today restricts the Spirit’s movement. In a recent webinar with Concerned Lay Catholics of Canada, she challenges the church to allow for women deacons as an act of justice for women who have long been oppressed. 

If the early community expanded ministry to ensure that neglected voices were heard, what might faithfulness require now? Who today remains unseen in the distribution of care, leadership, and belonging?

An image from our reading from the first letter of Peter deepens this question: “Like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house.” Stones do not build themselves; they are gathered, shaped, and placed together. The church is not a monument made of identical blocks, but a living structure composed of diverse lives. Each stone matters. Remove one, and the structure weakens.”

Peter goes further: “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation.” These words destroy narrow boundaries around who belongs. The dignity and vocation described here are communal, not restricted to a select few. The entire people of God are called to proclaim the mighty acts of the risen Christ who called them out of darkness into light.

Yet many within the church still experience themselves as stones left outside the structure. The stories collected in New Ways Ministry’s book Cornerstones: Sacred Stories of LGBTQ+ Employees in Catholic Institutions, reveal the pain of LGBTQ+ individuals who serve faithfully in Catholic settings and yet face rejection, silencing, or dismissal.* (The book also shares the hopes and joys of LGBTQ+ individuals, some of whom have maintained their employment in institutions that have courageously recognized and found a place for them to do the work of the Gospel in their institutions.) 

Reading these stories alongside Acts 6 sparks uncomfortable reflection. The early Church did not ignore complaints of marginalization. It communally discerned, and then acted in response to  the Spirit. And so, when LGBTQ+ Catholics name experiences of exclusion, how does the Church respond? Does it listen as the apostles did? Does it creatively and courageously expand ministry? Does it recognize that healing and reconciliation within the community is part of the Gospel itself?

Jesus’ words in John 14 frame this conversation in terms of dwelling: “In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places.” Jesus speaks these words to disciples anxious about absence and uncertainty. He reassures them that they belong, that space is being prepared, that they are not being abandoned. The promise is not merely something for the future, but a promise that shapes the present. Because there is room in God’s house, the church must also make room.

Thomas’ question in the same passage — “We do not know where you are going” — leads Jesus to declare, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” The way of Jesus is not exclusion but accompaniment. Jesus consistently moves toward the peripheries: the overlooked, the misunderstood, the dismissed. To follow him is to continue that movement.

And Jesus pushes even further: “Whoever believes in me will do the works that I do.” The church is therefore called to live out inclusion and accompaniment. That means courageous truth telling, and humble listening. That means seeking new ways of ministering and healing wounds. That means recognizing gifts and making room for them in the work of the gospel. That means growing out of fear and moving into the spaciousness of God’s dwelling. 

The reading from Acts shows a church reshaped because of inequality. 1 Peter shows a church built from living stones. John shows a church called to continue Jesus’ work. Together, these readings invite us to imagine a community that listens deeply, includes widely, and builds generously. 

This is also what it means to be a synodal church. As the church continues to implement synodality, the Spirit continues to stir among the marginalized, oppressed, and the least of these. Our vocation is to hear their needs, recognize one another’s gifts, and empower each other to do the work of the gospel. 

—Mark Guevarra, May 3, 2026

*In today’s reading from 1 Peter, the author recites Psalm 118:2, the scripture verse which was the inspiration for the book’s title

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