Posts

Catholic Reform Advocates’ Response to Synod Is Largely Negative

Catholic reformers have responded largely negatively to the synthesis report from last month's General Assembly of the Synod on Synodality. The report failed to mention LGBTQ+ people directly, though a closer reading reveals sections that, if applied to gender and sexuality issues, could be helpful. Read More

Singapore’s Cardinal-Designate Seeks LGBTQ Welcome; And More News

Today's post includes news about cardinal-designate who leads the Archdiocese of Singapore made positive comments about including LGBTQ people in the church's welcome and other items. Read More

Remembering Casey Lopata Who Had a Loving Father’s Eyes

At a New Ways Ministry workshop that Casey attended, I once asked participants for their favorite scripture verse or passage which gave them strength for the journey of LGBTQ ministry.  Casey’s answer was: “Human beings look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).  Casey’s life was an example of striving to live into that virtue.  He always tried to look at people the way God looked at them—with loving parental eyes.  Our church is a better place because he lived that way. Read More

Detroit Families Group Will Continue Its Ministry Separate From National Network

This situation illustrates a tension that exists in LGBTQ ministry with regard to whether a group chooses to express their dissenting views on the church’s sexual ethics teaching or to minister while remaining neutral or expressing support for the church’s teaching on sexual ethics. Read More

Global Catholic Parents Back LGBTQ Groups Facing Sanctions by Archdiocese of Detroit

Two major Catholic opinion leaders have come out in support of LGBTQ Catholics in Detroit, where the Archdiocese continues to suppress LGBT groups’ efforts to gather and to minister to their communities.  Read More

Detroit Archdiocese Bans Group Formed to Support Families of LGBTQ Catholics

An auxiliary bishop in Detroit has told a parish group formed to support families of LGBTQ Catholics that they could not meet or hold events on church property, including the local church which had housed them for decades. Read More

Fortunate Families’ Director Has ‘Seen Miracles’ and ‘Expects More’

Fortunate Families , a national Catholic network of parents of LGBT+ sons and daughters, has appointed Stanley Francis "JR" Zerkowski to be its first Executive Director. Learn more about what shaped his vision for LGBT+ ministry in the Church. Read More

Always Our Children: 20 Years Later

Twenty years ago today, on October 1, 1997, the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Marriage and Family issued "Always Our Children: A Pastoral Message to Parents of Homosexual Children AND Suggestions for Pastoral Ministers." What did this document contribute to the discussion of LGBT issues in the Catholic Church? And what is its impact today? Read More

Sr. Jeannine Gramick “Extremely Disappointed” by Pope Francis’ Exhortation

Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia, or The Joy of Love, continues to instigate commentaries and analysis from... Read More

Homophobia By Osmosis: A Father's Story for Father's Day

This Father’s Day post is by guest blogger, Casey Lopata, co-founder of Fortunate Families, with wife... Read More