Telling Your Truth
“A valiant woman” is the lovely complement that Pope Francis gives to Sister of Loretto Jeannine Gramick in a handwritten note to New Ways Ministry last June. NCR reports: “I know how much she has suffered,” the pope wrote. “She is a valiant woman who makes her decisions in prayer.”
New Ways Executive Director Frank DeBernardo released two communications from Francis in response to the Vatican Synod Office’s removing a New Ways webinar from the resources on their website. “The removal was reportedly prompted by an intervention from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops,” Robert Shine noted on the New Ways blog.
New Ways, Gramick, and her co-founder, the late Father Robert Nugent, certainly have generated official disapproval over the years, yet it warms my heart to know that Francis recognizes the pain such criticism causes. All of us are workers in the same vineyard, bringing the message of love that is the core of the Gospel. None of us deserves such condemnation.
I got to know Jeannine Gramick well when we both served on the WOC Board in the 1990s. Now both of us are on the WOC Advisory Board. I know how deeply committed to both these causes Jeannine has always been, and how fearless in the face of opposition. This collage circulated by New Ways ministry to celebrate her 50 years of LGBTQ ministry gives you some idea of the joy she has shared, as well as some of the pain – if you read
between the photographs.
How many sisters do you know who have professed vows in two communities? How painful is that? That’s a lesson in Gospel solidarity as well as pain, and the Sisters of Loretto are to be commended for their welcome.
I also commend Father James Martin, S.J., who sent a tweet drawing attention to that New Ways webinar: “A small but historic step forward for #LGBTQ Catholics: The Synod of Bishops @Synod_va includes the organizing work of @NewWaysMinistry, an LGBTQ ministry, on its resource page. As Pope Francis has said, all voices must be heard at the Synod…” The next day, that “historic step” was removed.
Martin has spoken at New Ways; his best-selling book, Building a Bridge, began as a talk there. He’s an editor-at-large for America Media and a consultor for the Vatican’s Secretariat for Communications. His helpful publicity apparently aroused his foes, and the Synod office capitulated.
Martin responded, according to NCR: “At the beginning of the synod, the Holy Father asked, ‘Do we allow people to express themselves, to walk in faith even though they have had difficulties in life, and to be part of the life of the community without being hindered, rejected or judged?’ For LGBTQ Catholics, that is still an open question. There is no Vatican Dicastery for LGBTQ People or USCCB Office for LGBTQ People, so official channels are more or less nonexistent.”
DeBernardo, by releasing the two communications from Francis, puts the responsibility where it belongs. As I have written before, the question of how open the Synod will be is one everyone is asking. This week, it’s Phyllis Zagano in NCR, in an article about the unpopularity of the that same USCCB. Those criticisms are deserved, but she’s giving the Pope too easy a pass.
Just this year, he formalized Canon Law to affirm the sin of women’s ordination. I connected the Synod and that Canon 1379 in a blog way back in June, and quoted WOC Executive Director Kate McElwee: “A synodal church demands the full participation of women as equal partners in ordained ministry, and nothing less.” We have to show up and state our truth, as Jeannine Gramick has always done.
There are lessons everyone can use in the video “From the Margins to the Center: LGBTQ Catholics & Synodality,” still available from New Ways. I heard the presenter, Robert Choiniere, at the Catholic Organizations for Renewal meeting in November. He teaches theology at Fordham and directs adult formation at St. Francis Xavier Church in Manhattan – again, not exactly outside the Church. I’ve been quoting him ever since; his words are relevant to all of us in the Catholic reform movement: “We are the leaven in the process. Diversity is critical. It would be a tragedy if the Synod becomes an echo chamber. Let it not devolve into polarized politics. Attend multiple meetings.” He’s using the video to train Jesuit alumni and students to facilitate the “spiritual conversations” and is collecting information on any synod meetings, official or not.
DeBernardo’s concluding comments illustrate the position of New Ways relative to the heirarchy: “Despite what some church leaders might say or think of us, it appears that Pope Francis is happy that we’re reaching out and helping to bring LGBTQ people into the church, and helping those who are here to stay. . .We at New Ways Ministry have made a commitment to promote the synod experience, and we’re going to continue to do so.”
WOC also makes a commitment to promote participation in the Synod by all those who work for women’s ordination within the Church, in small faith communities, in RCWP, as deacons – everywhere. On December 1, McElwee announced “JOURNEY TOGETHER TO GET HER ORDAINED.” New Ways’ experience above justifies what she says: “We know that the consultation process outlined by the synod documents leaves open the strong possibility that feminist voices, or voices that challenge current Church teaching, will be left out of the documents that are produced by each diocese.”
Yet your strong participation can help subvert that result. You can download WOC’s 24-page resource kit here. It includes information about EVERYTHING you might need, from things you might say at diocesan meetings to an independent feedback form where you can contribute your own ideas to WOC’s response. For encouragement, there are monthly meetings, a Facebook group, and terrific graphics that will make great posters.
As McElwee says:
“With your help, we will insist at every level that ordination justice is a vital part of the conversation and the future of the global Church. Together, we will ensure that there will be no synod about us without us.”
Tell your truth.