For 50 years, Sister Jeannine Gramick has been ministering to LGBTQ Catholics, sharing her faith with a group leaders of her church wanted to shun, not embrace.
In the late 1990s she was more or less censured for her work and told to stop. She didn鈥檛 listen.
Even in 2010, the U.S. Conference of Bishops spoke out against New Ways Ministry, based in Mount Rainier, saying the group she cofounded shouldn鈥檛 be considered Catholic even as they worked to share the faith. But that was then.
In the last year, Gramick and the director of New Ways, Francis DeBernardo, have been exchanging handwritten letters with Pope Francis, whose attitude toward homosexuality isn鈥檛 as disapproving as other church leaders.
The most recent letter, , even thanked Gramick for her half-century of work.
鈥淲e get a lot of commendations, but not from people so high up in the hierarchy of the Catholic church,鈥� Gramick said. 鈥淵ou couldn鈥檛 go much higher than the pope.鈥�
She said the recent exchange of letters even led Cardinal Wilton Gregory, the archbishop of Washington, to joke about how the two had become 鈥減en pals鈥� over the last year.
It鈥檚 a dramatic turn of events, considering the amount of pressure she faced up the ladder of the church as leaders tried to get her to stop her ministry to gay Catholics, which started in the 1960s. But she鈥檒l argue that her work has always been more in line with the example taught by Jesus in the Catholic gospel.
鈥淚 am not advocating departing from any teachings. I am saying we need to follow the basic teachings which is the message of Christ, which is to have faith in our hearts,鈥� she said. 鈥淚f you view membership in a faith community as something based on faith, one鈥檚 heart, one鈥檚 life, one鈥檚 following the beatitudes, reaching out to the poor, those who are on the fringes, those who are marginalized, visiting the sick, visiting those in prison, following the beatitudes of Jesus. That鈥檚 being a Christian.”
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think it鈥檚 ‘Catholic-lite’ at all,鈥� she added. 鈥淭o me it鈥檚 very Catholic-heavy.鈥�
She admits her point of view doesn’t get as much attention among the faithful.
鈥淵ou can have a message that is not a good message, not a true message, but if you say it loud enough and long enough and repeat it and it becomes repeated, people start to believe it,鈥� she said.
And she lamented the push by more conservative Catholics to exclude others of the faith who take a different stance on matters of sexuality.
鈥淭hose who in the church want to apply a litmus test, I just ask them to read the gospel,鈥� said Sister Jeannine. 鈥淛esus did not apply any litmus test. Jesus welcomed everyone and so the church of Jesus has to be modeled on its founder. On Jesus. Not on any human person who wants to exclude another.鈥�
She鈥檚 hoping the words of Pope Francis, whose most recent letter said her 50 years of ministry was marked by closeness, compassion and tenderness in the 鈥渟tyle of God鈥� will help change more attitudes about LGBTQ members of the church. 鈥淭hank you, Sister Jeannine, for all your closeness, compassion, and tenderness,鈥� wrote the pope.
鈥淚鈥檓 hoping it will change a lot of people鈥檚 hearts, because there are many people who, when someone in a position of religious authority makes an affirmation, that helps them to look at that and change their minds,鈥� she said.
She conceded the pope鈥檚 critics in the church won鈥檛 be swayed, but says 鈥渢here are very sincere Catholics who look to the magisterium, the bishops, for guidelines. Having a guideline from the highest authority in the church saying that this is a good ministry, that we need to reach out to LGBTQ and welcome them, I think that will open their hearts.
鈥淲hat I believe will happen is that there will be more of an openness to LGBTQ people,鈥� she added. 鈥淲e have to embrace them. We have to learn from them. There are gifts that lesbian and gay people bring to the church.
鈥淭he basic message is love,鈥� she concluded. 鈥淚f we violate love, we have sinned. If we are loving, then we are in the graces of God.鈥�
