On Synodality and Awakening
Are we awake? Is the Church awake? Is the Church a foolish bridesmaid or a wise one?
Building bridges between the LGBTQ community and the Catholic Church since 1977
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Are we awake? Is the Church awake? Is the Church a foolish bridesmaid or a wise one?
Nick Fagnant, Commonweal’s Synod Writing Fellow and a doctoral student in theology, writes about how the spirit of Pope Francis’ Synod on Synodality can influence Catholic schools’ policies toward LGBTQ+ students.
The Vatican’s affirmation that transgender people should be welcomed in the church’s sacramental life signals Pope Francis’ desire for a pastorally-focused approach to LGBTQ+ issues is taking hold.
In the Synod on Synodality’s first two years, Catholics worldwide expressed a strong desire for the church to engage positively with LGBTQ+ people. Today, the final report of the Synod’s first General Assembly disappoints by simply reaffirming the hierarchy’s status quo.
My image of a synodal church, however distant it may be, includes women preaching and ministering the Gospel during the blessing of LGBTQ marriage.
The Diocese of Davenport’s new guidelines on LGBTQ+ pastoral care are “strikingly positive,” and could possibly “shift the trend of transgender-negative diocesan policies in the U.S.,” contends Robert Shine, associate director of New Ways Ministry.
Against this idea, some Catholics claim that those of us who are trans should find our identity in Christ over and against our other identities. Under this view, we should participate in synodality not on the basis of diversity as ‘trans people,’ but simply as ‘Catholics’. However, neither of these approaches properly contextualise transness.
Though the Vatican’s latest statement about same-gender couples does not provide a full-fledged, ringing endorsement of blessing their unions, the document significantly advances Pope Francis’ work to include and affirm LGBTQ+ people.
Though not phrased in these words, the question in Ezekiel has been an undercurrent in the sharings from people ostracized by the institutional church: “Are not your ways unfair?”
New Ways Ministry invites you to “The Synod and LGBTQ+ Issues: A Conversation with Fr. James Martin, S.J.,” which will be held on Zoom on Thursday, September 14, 2023 from 8:00 – 9:00 p.m. Eastern U.S. Time.