{"id":194,"date":"2018-11-18T12:59:46","date_gmt":"2018-11-18T04:59:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jesus4lesbians.com\/?p=194"},"modified":"2018-12-06T11:47:49","modified_gmt":"2018-12-06T03:47:49","slug":"new-ways-ministry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/Jesus4lesbians.com\/?p=194","title":{"rendered":"New Ways Ministry"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 1977, Sr. Jeannine Gramick, SSND, and Fr. Robert Nugent, SDS, founded New Way Ministries, \u201ca gay-positive ministry of advocacy and justice for lesbian and gay Catholics and reconciliation within the larger Christian and civil communities.\u201d\u00a0 They took this bold step because their experience with LGBTQ Catholics had demonstrated to them that the gay-negative approach was miserably failing.\u00a0 Gays were being daily threatened and abused by civil forms of discrimination (“gay-bashing”).\u00a0 It was criminal that the Church added to and reinforced this abusive situation by preaching that homosexual activity was always seriously sinful and, if not repented and confessed to a priest, automatically doomed them to eternal hellfire.<\/p>\n

Gays, more often than not, were socialized into either pitying or despising their own homosexual urges.\u00a0 Most instinctively were repulsed by the fact that they were the rejects of society and, apparently, God’s rejects just as well.\u00a0 They urgently wanted public approval and divine approval, even if it meant denying their psycho-sexual orientation.\u00a0 Many spent years to convince themselves that their “homosexual attractions” were only a “passing phase.”\u00a0 Thus they entered into heterosexual dating scene and, with a little good luck, many of them gained social and divine approval by entering into lawful marriages.\u00a0 Not a day or night passed, however, when they did not have “doubts” and “disturbing nightmares.”\u00a0 They were getting the approval they hungered for, to\u00a0 be sure; yet, in their heart of hearts, they feared that “they were living a lie.”<\/p>\n

This is the situation experienced by light-skinned African-Americans who decide to pass themselves off as White in an attempt to escape racial prejudice that circulates in American society. \u00a0 This is the situation of some Jews known to me who, in an attempt to escape the unsettling stigma of “being preferred by God but, at the same time, being hated by all men,” decide to conceal their blood line in order to pass as goy <\/strong>(a Gentile, a non-Jew).\u00a0 They end up getting the approval they hungered for, to\u00a0 be sure; yet, in their heart of hearts, not a day passes when they don’t fear being exposed as “an imposter.”<\/p>\n

In a nutshell, the “gay-positive” Gospel begins in these terms:<\/p>\n

In all cultures and in every period of history, a certain percentage of men and women develop as gays and lesbians.\u00a0 These individuals should be considered as part of God\u2019s creative plan.\u00a0 Their sexual orientation has no necessary connection with sin, sickness, or failure [neither their own or their parents]; rather, it is a gift from God to be accepted and lived out with gratitude. God does not despise anything God has created.[i]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Notice that the “gay-positive” approach enables homosexuals and heterosexuals to equally lay claim to being created by God and being loved by God.\u00a0 Moreover, everyone is called to serve God through the unique gifts and callings that God has written on their hearts.\u00a0 What this means for gays is that, instead of hating their condition and denying it vigorously at every turn, gays and lesbians were invited to accept their sexual orientation “with gratitude” and to work out their vocation within their God-given and God-sanctioned sexual orientation.<\/p>\n

The immediate result of this was two-fold.\u00a0 First, lesbians and gays could no longer escape their sexual orientation and conceal it to themselves and to everyone else as well.\u00a0 “Living a lie” was no longer a viable option because this would thwart “God\u2019s creative plan.”\u00a0 Second, lesbians and gays were not required to shut down their sexuality and live the whole of heir lives as celibates in order to be approved by God on the day of judgment.\u00a0 Quite to the contrary, they were being called to work out their patterns of sexual bonding in such a way as to discover “God creative plan” for them.\u00a0 Instead of burying their treasure, they were required by God to invest it for the betterment of themselves and for the betterment of society.<\/p>\n

Here is a further expression of a “gay-positive” approach:<\/p>\n

The church\u2019s traditional position has been that since every homosexual act is sinful and contrary to God\u2019s plan, the love that exists between gay and lesbian people is [inherently] sinful and alienates the lover from God.\u00a0 [If God gives each of us a unique face, a unique calling, a unique sexual orientation; then it must be] argued that the love [in all its aspects] between two lesbians or gay men, assuming that it is a constructive human love, is not sinful. . . .\u00a0 On the contrary, it can be a holy love, mediating God\u2019s presence in the human community as effectively as heterosexual love.[ii]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Year after year, New Way Ministries gradually gained increasing enthusiastic support by\u00a0LGBTQ Catholics.\u00a0 The “gay-positive” approach brought faith acceptance and holistic healing into the lives of hundreds of gay Catholics.\u00a0 This made “coming out of the closet” much easier since each member was in contact with a network of faith-filled supporters that demonstrated the grace of being authentic with oneself and with one’s Creator.\u00a0 Being relieved of the “fear of eternal hellfire” is no small matter in the life of a Catholic.\u00a0 Moreover, once one became authentic with oneself, with one’s Creator, and with a group of supportive Catholics, then it became possible to be bold and to stand up for oneself in the face of both civil and ecclesiastical “gay bashing.”<\/p>\n

In 1988, Cardinal Ratzinger, the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, launched an official investigation into the theololgy of Sr. Jeannine Gramick and Fr. Robert Nugent because of concerns that the pair had \u201callowed \u2018errors and ambiguities\u2019 into their discussions of Catholic teaching on homosexuality.”\u00a0 Cardinal Ratzinger said the two had not sufficiently emphasized the official church teaching to the effect that homosexual acts were “intrinsically disordered.\u201d\u00a0 The inquiry closed some ten years later with a directive ordering the pair to stop their pastoral ministry to gays and lesbians and their families.\u00a0 \u00a0In 1999 Fr. Nugent was further required to remain silent on issues of homosexuality\u2014no more speaking or writing.\u00a0 After submitting, he distanced himself from New Way Ministries and returned to full-time work in parish ministry.<\/p>\n

Sr. Gramick took a different tack with her response.\u00a0 As with Fr. Nugent, the CDF prohibited her from further ministry to homosexuals.\u00a0 And while she had long performed this ministry with the blessing of her order, the School Sisters of Notre Dame, it\u2014under pressure from the CDF and the Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life (CICLSAL)\u2014ordered her in 2000 to remain totally silent about the Vatican investigation and on matters of homosexuality more generally.\u00a0 This meant that she could not \u201cencourage the faithful to publicly express their dissent from the official Magisterium, nor protest decisions of the Holy See, nor criticize the Magisterium in any public forum whatsoever concerning homosexuality or related issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

After much deliberation, Sr. Gramick decided that her conscience and commitments carried more weight than the Vatican pressure to force her hand by have her submit by virtue of the fact that she had made a vow of obedience to the School Sisters of Notre Dame.\u00a0 Under threat of dismissal from her religious order, she insisted on speaking out and honoring her commitments actively,[i]<\/a> eventually transferring to the Sisters of Loreto in 2001.[ii]<\/a><\/p>\n

Conclusions<\/h6>\n

In a healthy organization, someone in management might create a position paper and then give it to the people down the line who have lots of experience with which to critique and to improve it. \u00a0As a result, the original position paper gets revised and improved by working experts in the field.\u00a0 In a dysfunctional organization, someone in management creates a position paper and then mandates that it must be implemented on all levels.\u00a0 Those disagreeing or dragging their feet when it comes time for implementation are \u201cwritten up\u201d for insubordination and, the next time around, if they persist, they are shown the door.<\/p>\n

The latter case describes Cardinal Ratzinger in his 26-year tenure heading up the CDF.\u00a0 He produced the official position papers on homosexuality.\u00a0 No one knows whom he may have invited to write the first draft.\u00a0 Once he had the document prepared, no one knows whether he consulted anyone and asked them to make improvements.\u00a0 What we do know, however, is that Cardinal Ratzinger did not solicit feedback from Fr. John J. McNeill, S.J., Sr. Jeannine Gramick, SSND, or Fr. Robert Nugent, SDS, well-known persons who had years of experience with Catholic gays and lesbians, their troubles, their hopes, their fears, their victories.<\/p>\n

???We have already observed that Cardinal Ratzinger formulated his analysis of homosexuality and of same-sex marriage without any intention of consulting the world-wide bishops for their input or for their approval.[i]<\/a>\u00a0 Furthermore, we observed that he never organized theological or pastoral commissions that were charged to investigate the contemporary homosexual phenomena and to offer theological, psychological, and sociological guidelines for responding charitably and justly in the name of the Gospel.\u00a0 Rather, he took the course of publishing his own views, getting John Paul II to sign on, and then distributing a fait accompli<\/em> to the bishops scattered throughout the world.<\/p>\n

How do we judge this?\u00a0 Cardinal Ratzinger is a very intelligent and dedicated man, but no matter how intelligent, his gut reactions to homosexuality were formed in his personal experiences (which, following the Germanic scholarly tradition, he hides from his readers).\u00a0 Moreover, he wrote in complete isolation from the very priests and religious who had dedicated their lives to bring healing and holiness to gays and lesbians.\u00a0 Surely these persons would have to be consulted and their views taken into account if the Church was to have a safe and sure guide to assess the challenge of correctly understanding and ministering to gays and lesbians within the modern Church.\u00a0 But, for reasons unknown to us, Cardinal Ratzinger decided that he could not trust these people.\u00a0 Their compassion must have led them astray.\u00a0 He could not even trust the input of bishops who were dealing with this issue in widely diverse cultural and sociological contexts.\u00a0 Hence, taking the burden upon himself and trusting his Germanic training, he moved ahead with the dogged determination to bring gays and lesbians and their allies back on track.\u00a0 But this is exactly the arrogance that comes with fundamentalism that the Pope warns us against.<\/p>\n

With such a defective process, is it any wonder that it produced such a misguided and misleading doctrine?\u00a0 Is it any wonder that such a one-sided and misinformed policy would rip into the soul of Catholic communities and tear them apart?\u00a0 And we judge this as the evil that comes in the wake of the Ratzinger Doctrine.<\/p>\n

[i]<\/a> This closed-door mode of operating was not always Cardinal Ratzinger approach.\u00a0 When it came to the preparation of the universal catechism, for example, the bishops throughout the world were brought in on the project.\u00a0 Theological and catechetical institutes were invited to make suggestions to improve the preliminary drafts.\u00a0 Throughout, Ratzinger worked in collaboration with other experts.\u00a0 For details, see Cardinal James Hickey<\/em><\/a>, \u201cLaunching the Catechism for Australia,\u201d address presented at the National Press Club in Canberra, 22 June 1994 (https:\/\/www.catholicculture.org\/culture\/library\/view.cfm?recnum=5241<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Nor did he consult the world-wide Catholic bishops on this important issue.\u00a0 This would have given him an international and intercultural perspective on homosexuality and open up an exchange on the varieties of pastoral practice currently being used.\u00a0 Nor was the Pontifical Biblical Commission<\/a> or the Vatican\u2019s International Theological Commission<\/a> brought into the picture.\u00a0 These groups were already formed and they would have been an excellent sounding board to explore how the bible treats homosexuality and how the history of the church offers diverse instances when disciplinary decrees and moral theology addressed various aspects of homosexual activity.<\/p>\n

Once published, Cardinal Ratzinger used his office to harass and punish anyone who disagreed with him.\u00a0 He was their judge and jury.\u00a0 He had no intention to give anyone disagreeing with him a fair hearing.\u00a0 If they couldn\u2019t learn to obey, then they deserved to be silenced, humiliated, and eventually thrown out of their orders and, if necessary, thrown out of their Church.<\/p>\n

Was the CDF functioning as an unjust and dysfunctional system in this period?\u00a0 You bet it was.<\/p>\n

I offer three reflections:<\/p>\n

#1 As for the repressive conduct of Cardinal Ratzinger and a large segment of the hierarchy in this matter, one would do well to remember the cautionary words of President Harry S. Truman:<\/p>\n

Once a government [or a Church] is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens [believers] and creates a country where everyone lives in fear.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Some might think that a tyranny cloaked in the garb of Jesus can hardly be a tyranny. The truth, however, is just the opposite. The insistence of Cardinal Ratzinger and his allies that they were merely implementing the sovereign will of our Savior in these matters fundamentally distorts the person, the teaching, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.[iii]<\/a><\/p>\n

#2 Recently, John J. McCoy wrote a very thoughtful biography of Archbishop Hunthausen, a pastor who was powerfully transformed during his participation in Vatican II.\u00a0 In his biography he laments how Hunthausen was hounded out of office and was replaced by a series of \u201cautocratic monarchs who had little concern for transparency or accountability.\u201d\u00a0 Then he writes this:<\/p>\n

Under John Paul II and Benedict XVI, we became a church that censured, excluded, and punished to protect what was defined as universal Catholic Church.\u00a0 I abhorred Benedict\u2019s notion that for the sake of the truth, if would be better if the church dwindled to a small, faithful, and orthodox remnant.\u00a0 Such an idea presumes that doctrine is unchanging.\u00a0 Yet Vatican II recognized that doctrine evolves and develops in its encounter with the world.\u00a0 How could a church that once justified slavery and called Jews \u201cChrist-killers\u201d hold that its teaching on marriage, sexuality, ordination, or any issue\u2014save Christ\u2019s divinity, love, and promise of eternal life\u2014are immutable and unchangeable?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

#3 When Pope Benedict XVI was elected in 2005, the Jesuit magazine, America<\/em>, published an editorial wherein the editors presented \u201cChallenges for the New Pope\u201d as they saw them:<\/p>\n

During the last couple of decades, there have been too many issues taken off the discussion table.\u00a0 This has been very unhealthy for the church.\u00a0 By some estimates, over 100 theologians have been silenced or reprimanded by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.<\/p>\n

A church that cannot openly discuss issues is a church retreating into an intellectual ghetto.\u00a0 And the issues are many: birth control, divorce, women priests, married priests, homosexuality, the selection of bishops, the over centralization of decision making in the Vatican, inclusive language, enculturation of the liturgy, catechetics, intercommunion and the role of the laity in church governance.\u00a0 There are no simple answers to these issues, and reformers must recognize that every change has both positive and negative effects.\u00a0 But without open discussion, church life will become more and more dysfunctional.[iv]<\/strong><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As we now know, Benedict XVI was incapable of allowing, much less encouraging, open discussion and collective decision-making.\u00a0 In fact, once Cardinal Ratzinger was elected as the pope, he showed his true authoritarian colors.\u00a0 He wasted no time in using his new position to his advantage.\u00a0 With an unquenchable will to power, he pushed forward a retrenchment on a whole series of Vatican II reforms.\u00a0 The hope of the Jesuits, however, was not entirely spoken in vain.\u00a0 Benedict resigned on 11 Feb 2013[v]<\/a> and Pope Francis, himself a Jesuit, was elected to fulfill, in steady measured steps, the shattered hopes of his Jesuit brothers.<\/p>\n

A church that cannot openly discuss issues is a church retreating into an intellectual ghetto.<\/h5>\n

~~ “[Jesuit] Challenges for the New Pope”<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"Those who want to interact with this blog are invited to “Leave a Reply” below.\u00a0 A solid way to begin doing this is to offer “readback lines.”\u00a0<\/span> To do this, quickly glace back over the entire blog and pick out the one or two lines that have made a deep impression upon you.\u00a0 Copy them [CTRL-C] and then paste them\u00a0[CTRL-V] into an empty comment box below.\u00a0 If you wish, signal the emotion that you feel when reading your readback lines.\u00a0 The primary emotions are anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, surprise.\u00a0\u00a0 No need to further explain yourself.\u00a0 It is enough to identify the text important to you and to name the emotion(s) that it evokes.\u00a0 All of this normally takes less than a few minutes.<\/span><\/p>\n

I and others will “thank you” for your contribution.\u00a0 If you are tempted to say more, I urge you to hold back.\u00a0 Your sense of safety and the safety of others is best protected by not getting overly wordy in the beginning.\u00a0<\/a> This will come after a few days or weeks.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Endnotes and Leave a Reply~~~~~~~~<\/p>\n

[i]<\/a> I discovered an extended statement presented by Sr. Jeannine Gramick following a public debate with Bishop Thomas Paprocki in 2013.\u00a0 Her statement is very balanced, very compassionate, and very persuasive.\u00a0 See \u201cSister Jeannine\u2019s Debate with Bishop Thomas Paprocki on Marriage\u00a0Equality,\u201d Bondings<\/em><\/strong> (https:\/\/newwaysministryblog.wordpress.com\/2013\/07\/15\/sister-jeannines-debate-with-bishop-thomas-paprocki-on-marriage-equality\/<\/a>).<\/p>\n

[ii]<\/a> The two short biographies here are reprinted from Catholics for a Free Choice, \u201cCardinal Joseph Ratzinger\u2019s Preparation for the Papacy: How \u2018the Vatican\u2019s Enforcer\u2019 ran the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (1979 – 2005),\u201d April 2006, pp. 10-11.\u00a0 (https:\/\/www.catholicsforchoice.org\/topics\/reform\/documents\/2006movingforwardbylookingback.pdf)<\/p>\n

[iii]<\/a> For a balanced analysis of when and how the bishops overstep their authority and overestimate their competence, see Richard R. Gaillardetz, ed., When the Magisterium Intervenes: The Magisterium and Theologians in Today\u2019s Church (Collegeville, Liturgical Press, 2012).<\/p>\n

[iv]<\/a> Editors, \u201cChallenges for the New Pope,\u201d America<\/em><\/strong>, 25 April 2005<\/p>\n

[v]<\/a> The significance of this date and the personal impact of Pope Benedict\u2019s resignation just after it happened can be seen here: Archbishop Leo Cushley<\/a>, \u201cA monsignor sobbed, then silence fell: an eyewitness account of Pope Benedict XVI\u2019s resignation,\u201d Catholic Herald<\/em><\/strong> 11 Feb 2015 [two years after the event] (http:\/\/www.catholicherald.co.uk\/commentandblogs\/2015\/02\/11\/a-monsignor-sobbed-then-silence-fell-an-eyewitness-account-of-benedict-xvis-resignation\/<\/a>).<\/p>\n ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 1977, Sr. Jeannine Gramick, SSND, and Fr. Robert Nugent, SDS, founded New Way Ministries, \u201ca gay-positive ministry of advocacy and justice for lesbian and gay Catholics and reconciliation within the larger Christian and civil communities.\u201d\u00a0 They took this bold step because their experience with LGBTQ Catholics had demonstrated to them that the gay-negative approach … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “New Ways Ministry”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/Jesus4lesbians.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/Jesus4lesbians.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/Jesus4lesbians.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/Jesus4lesbians.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/Jesus4lesbians.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=194"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/Jesus4lesbians.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":360,"href":"https:\/\/Jesus4lesbians.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194\/revisions\/360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/Jesus4lesbians.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/Jesus4lesbians.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/Jesus4lesbians.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}