The Word Goes Out

A podcast from New Ways Ministry sharing insights from LGBTQ+ Catholics and their allies about the Sunday scripture readings

We at New Ways Ministry believe that LGBTQ+ Catholics bring unique spiritual gifts to the world and the Church: the courage to be truth-tellers, a deep sensitivity to those on the margins, and the vital reminder that we are all wonderfully made.

Each weekend on this podcast, LGBTQ+ Catholics and their allies will share their own stories and insights on the Sunday scripture readings, offering a perspective rooted in the truth of lived experience. These reflections reveal the deep faith and spirituality that LGBTQ+ people have discovered and nurtured, even if sometimes in challenging situations. They are an invitation to find God’s word within the reality of our own lives, whether LGBTQ+ or not.

To listen to The Word Goes Out, click the title of the episode you want to hear in the feed below. Or visit the show’s page on Spotify or Youtube.

RSS The Word Goes Out | Episode List

  • My Gay, Catholic Wedding (And Other Times I Recognize Myself in the Bible) October 9, 2026
    How do LGBTQ+ Catholics navigate the pain of religious rejection while reclaiming their rightful place at God's table of radical inclusion? In this episode, guest contributor Allison Connelly-Vetter, a graduate student studying liberatory disability theology, reflects on the Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Examining the Parable of the Wedding Feast in Matthew 22 alongside the […]
    New Ways Ministry
  • Witnessing Poverty, Patience, and Faith in the LGBTQ+ Community October 1, 2026
    How can the 800-year-old wisdom of Saint Francis of Assisi guide and empower LGBTQ+ Catholics navigating modern injustice and institutional resistance? In this episode, guest contributor Brother Jay Woods, OFM—a Franciscan friar of Holy Name Province and transitional deacon—reflects on the Feast of Saint Francis. Drawing on the Franciscan call to preserve poverty, patience, and […]
    New Ways Ministry
  • How I Got to Know Tax Collectors and Prostitutes September 24, 2026
    What happens when being pushed to the margins of society becomes the very grace that opens our eyes to God's boundless mercy? In this episode, Dr. Brian Flanagan, John Cardinal Cody Chair of Catholic Theology at Loyola University Chicago and Senior Fellow at New Ways Ministry, reflects on the liturgical readings for the Twenty-Sixth Sunday […]
    New Ways Ministry
  • You Have Made Them Equal to Us September 17, 2026
    How do we reconcile our deep-seated human impulse to build hierarchies with a God who insists on radical equality and boundless mercy? In this episode, Francis DeBernardo, Editor of Bondings 2.0 and Executive Director of New Ways Ministry, reflects on the liturgical readings for the Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Examining the parable of the […]
    New Ways Ministry
  • The Benefit of the Doubt September 11, 2026
    How do we maintain inner freedom and mercy when facing hostility, injustice, and bigotry? In this episode, guest contributor Sr. Donna McGartland, OSF—author and contributor to Love Tenderly: Sacred Stories of Lesbian and Queer Religious—reflects on the Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Examining the opening Collect prayer alongside the Book of Sirach's call to set […]
    New Ways Ministry
  • Do We REALLY Believe That God Loves Us? September 3, 2026
    How do we experience the reality of God's passionate love when institutional teachings make it feel almost inaccessible? In this episode, guest contributor Chris Kellerman, SJ—a Jesuit deacon in Louisiana—reflects on the Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time. Drawing on Saint Paul's Letter to the Romans and his own transformative moment on a rainy sidewalk, Chris […]
    New Ways Ministry
  • The Two Sides of Being Prophetic August 28, 2026
    What happens when answering God's call to authenticity brings both profound joy and the heavy weight of rejection?In this episode, Francis DeBernardo, Executive Director of New Ways Ministry, reflects on the Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time. Drawing on the compelling parallels between the prophet Jeremiah's inner fire and the coming out experience of LGBTQ+ Catholics, […]
    New Ways Ministry
  • When Darkness Engulfs and Suffocates the Light of Life August 20, 2026
    How do we choose life and hope when profound personal loss threatens to plunge us into despair?In this episode, guest contributor Dr. Claire Jenkins—a trans woman, Catholic convert, and Senior Fellow at the Margaret Beaufort Institute at the University of Cambridge—reflects on the Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time. Juxtaposing Peter's declaration of faith in Matthew […]
    New Ways Ministry
  • A House of Prayer for ALL Peoples August 13, 2026
    How do we respond when the very religious institutions meant to offer sanctuary make us feel unwanted? In this episode, guest contributor Sr. Donna McGartland, OSF—author and contributor to Love Tenderly: Sacred Stories of Lesbian and Queer Religious—reflects on the Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Examining the tension between Isaiah's prophecy of a house of […]
    New Ways Ministry
  • Sweat the Small Stuff August 6, 2026
    What if the quietest, most subtle acts of affirmation are where God's transformative power truly resides?In this episode, guest contributor Laurel Potter—theology instructor at the University of St. Thomas—reflects on the Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Juxtaposing the grand spectacle of Jesus walking on water with Elijah discovering God in a "tiny whispering sound," Laurel […]
    New Ways Ministry