From the Margins to the Center

A Report on Spiritual Conversations Held LGBTQ People and Allies as Part of the Synod on Synodality

June 2022

To facilitate LGBTQ people and allies’ participation in the Synod on Synodality, New Ways Ministry held three Spiritual Conversations this past spring. Nearly 1,000 people from a variety of nations took part in these sessions, making it one of the most extensive consultations of LGBTQ Catholics in history. 

The fruits of those encounters have been compiled into a report that is being submitted to the Vatican, to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and to church leaders worldwide as part of the synodal process.

This report is a prime opportunity to help educate Catholics about how LGBTQ people experience the church. Participants’ “experience of abiding joy accompanied by deep pain,” as the report states, is a reality for which the church of the third millennium must account.

New Ways Ministry encourages Catholics to submit the report to their own church leaders—local bishops, pastors, and other ministers—as an educational resource.

We are deeply grateful to all who participated in the Spiritual Conversations and helped produce this report. LGBTQ and ally voices must be included at all levels of the church’s synodal reflection. We hope this report is but one step forward towards a church that listens more intentionally to and engages more deeply LGBTQ people and their allies.

Click Here to Read the Report