Since 2023, New Ways Ministry has hosted three such gatherings at Georgetown University, St. Louis University, and the Siena Retreat Center in Racine, Wisconsin, with seventeen bishops attended these programs, many attending more than one conference.
In an interview early in his pontificate, Pope Leo XIV commented that it was “highly unlikely” that Catholic teaching about sexuality and marriage would change very soon. He also said that “we have to change attitudes” as a prelude to any future doctrinal change. That statement is accurate not only for doctrinal change, but also for change in pastoral practice.
Pastoral changes have been happening at varying rates among reform-minded Catholics in the U.S. and around the world. Turn on the television, read a newspaper, listen to a podcast, visit a local school, go to a political debate — in every aspect of modern cultural and civic life, LGBTQ+ issues are being widely discussed and better understood. Except for some Catholic church leaders who have roundly condemned LGBTQ+ issues, the majority seem to ignore the topic, brush it aside or give it the smallest amount of lip service.
Almost every document about LGBTQ+ people issued from the Vatican, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and a number of individual U.S. bishops reflects incomplete knowledge about the lives of sexual and gender minorities. Absent is an awareness of developments in science about gender and sexuality. Also absent are related discussions from the theological community. It is painfully obvious that most official statements and documents were produced without conversing with LGBTQ+ people — an easily completed preliminary step.
In more than 30 years as executive director of New Ways Ministry, a national Catholic ministry of justice, dialogue and reconciliation for LGBTQ+ people and the wider church, I’ve witnessed repeatedly the impact of poor information and lack of understanding on the church’s handling of LGBTQ+ issues. To address the need for knowledge about LGBTQ+ people, to promote good pastoral care by our bishops, and to walk forward in synodality, New Ways has been sponsoring a series of two-day meetings, in which bishops interact with theologians, scientific professionals, other scholars, pastoral ministers and, most importantly, LGBTQ+ people themselves.
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