Pope Francis meets with leaders of local LGBTQ Catholic group
In a development they called “remarkable,” four officials with the Mount Rainier, Md., based LGBTQ Catholic organization New Ways Ministry met on Oct.
17 with Pope Francis at the Pope’s official residence in the Vatican. Among those attending the 50-minute meeting at the Pope’s invitation was Sister Jeannine Gramick, a Catholic nun who co-founded New Ways Ministry in 1977 as a nonprofit group whose mission, among other things, was to build bridges between the Catholic Church and LGBTQ Catholics. “This meeting is remarkable because it reflects the steady acceptance of Catholic officials to LGBTQ+ issues and ministry,” a statement released by New Ways Ministry says. “Previous popes and church leaders have opposed Sister Jeannine and New Ways Ministry,” the statement says. “This meeting now represents a new openness to the pastorally motivated, justice-seeking approach which Sister Jeannine and her organization have long-practiced,” it says.
Those attending the meeting in addition to Gramick included Francis DeBernardo, the New Ways Ministry executive director; Robert Shine, the group’s associate director; and Matthew Myers, the group’s staff associate.
Gramick “brought greetings to Pope Francis from LGBTQ+ Catholics in the U.S. church,” the New Ways Ministry statement says. “She thanked him for his openness to blessing same-sex unions, as well as for his opposition to the criminalization of LGBTQ+ people in civil society.” According to the statement, the meeting with Pope Francis took place about two years after Gramick sent him a letter introducing herself and New Ways Ministry to him, which led to what the group said was a friendly exchange of letters between her and the Pope. “In one letter, Pope Francis called her a “valiant woman,” and later sent her a handwritten note congratulating her on her 50 years of LGBTQ+ ministry,” the statement says.
