Though we are surrounded by images of perfect family celebrations for Thanksgiving and Christmas, it is impossible to ignore the pain so many of us hold inside, as we go about our business, doing our best to maintain the positive outward appearance that the season seems to demand. My heart goes out to those families who struggle through the holidays.
I first attended a Courage meeting when I was 24 years old and a student in the Master of Theological Studies program at the University of Notre Dame.I was told I could find like-minded Catholics to support me in the struggle against my sexuality.
My daughter, Marsha, is the mother of identical twins. Both were born with the bodies of girls. Marsha always wanted to name a daughter after my mother, Mary, so she named the twins Joanne and Mary. Joanne always loved to wear tutus and Mary wanted to wear camouflage type outfits.
Australia’s Melbourne Archdiocese has released a document which encourages its 330 schools to approach LGBT students with support and tolerance. The resource is an alternative to a government program, Safe Schools, with which church officials disagreed. However, the new document is not without its own controversies.
Seattle University’s LGBTQ+ community and allies are left outraged and concerned about what kind of school environment the administration is fostering after a Jesuit faculty member admitted removing student newspapers which contained a cover photo from the campus drag show. The remarks of the school’s president have added to the controversy.
On April 22, 2018, Professor Patricia Beattie Jung delivered the Father Robert Nugent Memorial Lecture,…
As a Christian I always cringe when I read articles concerning LGBT people by Peter Espeut, a Jamaican Roman Catholic deacon and sociologist. As an office-holder in a church ostensibly built on the “rock” (or “Peter” in Latin) of Christ’s example and command to reach those on the margins of society, this modern Peter’s writings display a dangerous hostility towards vulnerable LGBT people.
Following a report that Philadelphia’s Catholic Social Services agency (CSS) does not place foster children in the care of same-sex couples, that city’s Department of Human Services (DHS) decided that it will not sponsor future placements of children through CSS, which receives funds from the city.
On March 8, 2018, I attended a workshop sponsored by the Archdiocese of Baltimore at Saint Michael’s Catholic Church, Mount Airy, Maryland, entitled “The Catholic Church and Gender Identity.” . . . . I left demoralized.
“He made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area.” This image from today’s gospel is not the way I like to imagine Jesus.