Reports from Synod Working Groups Reveal an Awareness of Sexuality, But Lack LGBT-Specific Discussions

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Detailed reports from the language-based working groups at the Synod on Youth were released yesterday. Most of the 14 groups at least touched on questions of sexuality, but none really engaged LGBT issues specifically. Read More

Outside Synod, Feminist Catholics Call for Solidarity Between LGBT Communities and Catholic Women

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Like openly LGBT people, Catholic women exist almost exclusively at the Synod on Youth's margins. That rejection is why solidarity between these communities will be key to winning equality, said feminist panelists at an event in Rome earlier this week. Read More

Theology or Ideology? Parsing Vatican Thinking on Sex and Sexuality

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Pope Francis’s theology of sex and gender complementarity has hardened into an ideology that uses a single strand strand of reflection about God to powerfully determine Catholic sacrament, canon law, and ethics.   Read More

Catholics Reject Bishops’ Claim that Gay Priests a Cause of Sexual Abuse

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Yesterday, Bondings 2.0 covered recent comments by several U.S. bishops that strove to link homosexuality with clergy sexual abuse. Today's post offers commentaries from Catholics who either pushed back against such bishops or who have offered a more positive assessment about gay priests and the abuse crisis. Read More

WMF Week Begins With Exciting LGBT Events and Powerful Words from Mary McAleese

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On Monday, on the eve of the opening of the WMF, the Wijngaards Institute, a Catholic think tank based in London, launched their new research project, an interdisciplinary study of the church's teaching on LGBT issues.  Read More

Laity Key to Releasing Gay Priests from “Lying Trap,” Writes Theologian James Alison

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Yesterday, Bondings 2.0 outlined the first column in Fr. James Alison's two-part series on homosexuality and the priesthood. Today's post summarizes the second column in The Tablet, which you can read in full here. Read More

Issue of Gay Priests Is the “Elephant in the Sacristy,” Writes Theologian James Alison

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Catholics in the United States are reeling after new revelations about sexual abuse that was systematically covered up for decades, including those incidents detailed in a Pennsylvania Grand Jury's report and allegations deemed credible against once-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, In the midst of this pain and anger, some Catholics have targeted gay priests and claimed homosexuality is the root cause of such abuse and maleficence. Theologian James Alison, an openly gay priest, responds. Read More

Is There a Correlation Between Closeted Clerics and Sex Abuse Scandals?

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In the aftermath of the resignation of Cardinal Theodore McCarrick following multiple accusations of sexual abuse, Robert Mickens, a veteran Vatican and church observer,  reflected upon the connection between closeted gay priests and clerical abuse of power. Read More

Top Catholic Ethicist: Do Not Assume Transgender Identities Are “Sinful” or “Disordered”

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A leading Catholic ethicist offered positive words about transgender people in a recent interview, saying it should not be assumed that someone naming their gender identity is problematic and that it could be the affirmation of how God created them. Read More

What Does Change in Church’s Death Penalty Teaching Mean for LGBT People?

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Church teaching can change While many of us knew this before, we've just received news that is contemporary proof positive. Read More