New Film Explores Life of Pioneering Gay Catholic Theologian John McNeill

Taking a Chance on God, a new documentary on the life of pioneering Catholic gay theologian, John McNeill, will have its New York debut on Saturday, June 16th, 7:00 p.m., at the School of Visual Arts Theatre, 333 West 23rd St., Manhattan, NY.

The film’s screening, sponsored by Dignity/New York, in honor of their 40^th anniversary, will feature a panel of distinguished speakers that includes: McNeill himself and his lifelong partner, Charles Chiarelli, Mary Hunt,  James Bernauer SJ,  Bishop Gene Robinson, Kate Clinton, Ginny Apuzzo, Andy Humm, Fr. Dan McCarthy, Fr. Bernard Lynch, Ken Gomolka, Rev. Nancy Wilson.  McNeill is one of the founders of Dignity/New York.  Tickets for the screening are available at www.brownpapertickets.com/event/246908

Brendan Fay and John McNeill

The film’s publicity materials describe the documentary as:

“An inspiring portrait of a pioneer gay priest, Taking a Chance on God follows the extraordinary life of 86-year-old John McNeill from his Buffalo boyhood through his experiences as a POW in Nazi Germany, Vietnam peace promoter, leading gay rights advocate, and loving partner of forty-six years to Charles Chiarelli. McNeill – the author of groundbreaking works of gay spirituality, a founder of the LGBT Catholic group Dignity/New York, and a gay community leader during the AIDS crisis of the 1980s – refused to be silenced by the Vatican on LGBT issues, which resulted in his expulsion from the Jesuit priesthood. Chronicling McNeill’s love for the Catholic Church, the LGBT community, his Jesuit brothers, and his partner, Taking a Chance on God is a powerful story of faith, love and perseverance in the face of oppression and rejection.”

Taking a Chance on God was produced by Brendan Fay, who is also the producer of  The Saint of 9/11, a documentary on Fr. Mychal Judge, OFM, the gay NYC fire department chaplain who is died ministering to people in the attack on the World Trade Center.

In an interview with The Miami Herald, Mc Neill describes the film this way:

 “This film is about my partner Charlie and our 46-year love affair. . . . The message is that God loves gay lovers and approves of them. . . . I don’t want any part of the church’s homophobia. . . .I was bringing a message that God brought to me. God’s love is universal and includes both gay and straight people.”

In the same interview, Fay comments on why he made the film:

“John became a hero to me the way Harvey Milk and other pioneers of the gay liberation movement had. . . .John is often a hidden figure. An unknown pioneer. There are not many who are aware of the dramatic impact and significance he had on the movement for change in society and the church in the early ‘70s.”

McNeill is best known for his ground-breaking theological work, The Church and the Homosexual, published in 1976.  In 2008, New Ways Ministry presented him with the Bridge Building Award for his life-long contributions to scholarship and pastoral work with LGBT people. You can read his award acceptance speech, which sums up his mission and ministry, here.

Kingston, N.Y.’s Daily Freeman interviewed McNeill and Chiarelli when then documentary was screened in the Woodstock, N.Y. film festival in September 2011.  In that interview, McNeill sums up his life work this way:

“I wanted to take away the guilt and self-hatred of gay Catholics who believed the church’s position on homosexuality.”

For a full listing of upcoming screenings, visit the documentary’s website, www.takingachanceongod.com.

–Francis DeBernardo, New Ways Ministry

 

 

 

 

 

Round-up of Actions and Commentary on LCWR

Over the past week, actions and commentary on the Vatican’s attempt to control the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), the largest association of Catholic nuns in the U.S., have been abundant.  Because of the high volume of material, it has been difficult for Bondings 2.0 to post everything about it, while at the same trying to provide news and commentary on other Catholic LGBT stories.

To familiarize readers with actions and opinions on the LCWR case, we are providing lists of ACTIONS and COMMENTARY that may be of interest to readers.  Bondings 2.0 has a particular interest in the LCWR story because the nuns’ support of LGBT issues was a significant factor in the Vatican’s investigation of them.  Background on this story can be found in previous Bondings 2.0 articles (listed at end of this post) which include links to earlier news and commentary.

To keep up with the coverage of the LCWR case, The National Catholic Reporter (NCR) webpage has set up a special section on their site entitled “Sisters Under Scrutiny” to gather all of the newspaper’s news stories, opinion pieces, and blog posts about the controversy.  It is a very good resource.

ACTIONS

The following is a list of actions being promoted to support the Sisters:

NCR has set up a Facebook page,  Support Our Catholic Sisters,  where people can post messages of testimony, hope, and encouragement.

A group of Catholics concerned about the religious sisters have organized an online petition at Change.org.

Share-El Salvador is coordinating a signature-ad in the NCR in suppport of the nuns.  Information can be found by clicking here.

New Ways Ministry has instituted a letter-writing campaign can be found on our previous blog post, “Message to Nuns: ‘Be Not Afraid.”

COMMENTARY

The following is a list of note-worthy commentary on the case:

Mollie Wilson O’Reilly, “Moving Beyond the Church? The CDF and the LCWR,” , dotCommonweal Blog, April 19, 2012.

VIDEO INTERVIEW WITH Scott Appleby, University of Notre Dame Catholic Historian, WSBT.com,  “Notre Dame historian says Vatican crackdown on nuns ‘inappropriate and humiliating’ “ , April 21, 2012.

Francis X. Clooney, SJ, “Sister Laurie Brink OP and the CDF,” America “In All Things” Blog, April 22, 2012.

Jamie Manson, “LCWR: A radical obedience to the voice of God in our time,”National Catholic Reporter, April 23, 2012.

Michele Somerville, “Gunning for the Nuns,”  HuffingtonPost.com, April 23, 2012.

Benedictine Sisters of Erie, “Benedictine Sisters of Erie Support LCWR,”  http://www.ErieBenedictines.org, April 24, 2012.

David Gibson, “LCWR and the Beguines,”dotCommonweal Blog, April 24, 2012

Mary C. Johnson, “American Nuns Will Not Be Bullied,”HuffingtonPost.com, April 24, 2012.

Tom Roberts, “LCWR earthquake snaps tension present since Vatican II,” National Catholic Reporter, April 24, 2012.

Garry Wills, “Bullying the Nuns,” New York Review of Books, April 24, 2012.

Carol Lee Campbell, “Our Sisters in Health Care, Then and Now,”EmpowerHer.com, April 25, 2012.

Mary E. Hunt, “We Are All Nuns,” ReligionDispatches.org, April 25, 2012.

James Martin, SJ, “LCWR to ‘Move Slowly’ “America “In All Things” Blog, April 25, 2012.

Ivone Gebara,  “La inquisición actual y las religiosas norteamericanas”Adital.com.br.   English Translation: “The current inquisition and the North American nuns,”  http://www.iglesiadescalza.blogspot.com, April 26, 2012

James Martin, SJ, “What Sisters Mean to Me,”WashingtonPost.com “OnFaith” Blog, April 26, 3012.

Joshua J. McElwee, “LCWR annual assembly to go forward,” National Catholic Reporter, April 26, 2012.

Nicole Sotelo, “Resurrection, the sisters and the power of people,”National Catholic Reporter, April 26, 2012.

Maureen Dowd, “Bishops Play Church Queens as Pawns,”New York Times, April 29, 2012.

Nicholas D. Kristof, “We Are All Nuns,”New York Times, April 29, 2012.

Marian Ronan, “Rome vs. the Nuns,” ReligionDispatches.org, April 29, 2012.

Previous Bondings 2.0 posts on the CDF-LCWR story (with some of the links each post contains):

April 18:  “Vatican Action Against U.S. Nuns; New Ways Ministry’s Response“
Links: Associated Press article; CDF document.

April 19:  “Sister Joan Chittister & Sister Simone Campbell Respond to Vatican Action Against U.S. Nuns“
Links: National Catholic Reporter (NCR) article; Religion News Service article by David Gibson; New York Times article.

April 20:  “Can There Really Be “Collaboration” Between the Vatican and LCWR?“
Links:  Cardinal Levada’s letter; NCR article on how LCWR learned of the Vatican’s action; NCR article on canon law relevant to the case.

April 21:  “Support for U.S. Nuns Spreads Quickly Among Catholics and Others”                                                                                           Links:  Online petition in support of nuns; New York Times editorial supporting nuns; U.S. Catholic magazine analysis of CDF document.

April 22: “Comments on LCWR Action from National Catholic LGBT Organizations“
Links:  MSNBC interviews with New Ways Ministry’s Sister Jeannine Gramick and DignityUSA’s Jeff Stone; Washington Post article.

April 23, “Message to Nuns: ‘Be Not Afraid’ “    Link: NCR article on canon law germane to LCWR.

–Francis DeBernardo, New Ways Ministry

Transgender Catholic Woman Is Featured in “Queer Catholic Faith” Webinar Series

Hilary Howes

Transgender Catholic issues will be the subject of the next installment of  DignityUSA’s webinar series, Queer Catholic Faith, on Tuesday, April 17, 2012, 9:00 pm, Eastern Time.  The featured guest will be Hilary Howes, a Catholic transgender woman living in Maryland.

Hilary’s life journey has been an inspiring one, since she not only transitioned from living as a man to living as a woman, but her previously heterosexual marriage to a woman remained intact through that transition.  Additionally, she is an adult convert to Catholicism, having turned to her wife’s faith after the gender transition process.  The couple are active members of the Greenbelt Catholic Community, an intentional Eucharistic community in Greenbelt, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, DC.

Ms. Howes has already shared her unique life-story in a variety of Catholic venues.  She authored the article, “To Be or Not to Be: A Catholic Transexual Speaks,” in the September 2010 issue of Conscience magazine, which she concluded with this paragraph:

“I understand that my journey, though personal, touches that which is universal about gender for everyone. Perhaps your notions of father, mother, brother, sister, husband and wife get opened a little by meeting someone who has been all of those at different times in her life. Maybe you can take it from someone who has been there that looking at everything as us and them, black and white, male or female is limiting and dangerous. Ultimately, welcoming the mystery of diversity in God’s plan is the healing for our church for which I most hope.”

In September of 2011, she was a featured panelist at the first conference of the “More Than a Monologue” series, held at Fordham University, New York.  A National Catholic Reporter article on the event noted Hilary’s participation, observing that she offered her message of diversity with a strong dose of humor, with lines such as:

“I remain in my Catholic marriage of 33 years, to the most understanding woman in the world — making ours one of the few same-sex marriages affirmed by the Roman Catholic church.”

Most recently, Hilary, along with her wife, Celestine, were focus session leaders at New Ways Ministry’s Seventh National Symposium last month in Baltimore, Maryland.  Their presentation is available on CD; click here for the order form.

The DignityUSA webinar series kicked off last month with a conversation with Jamie Manson, an award-winning columnist for The National Catholic Reporter.  It will continue, Tuesday, May 22, 2012, 9:00 pm, Eastern Time, with Rev. John McNeill, theologian, psychotherapist, and pioneer of LGBT rights in the Catholic church.   The series concludes on Tuesday, June 12, 2012, 9:00 pm, Eastern Time, with Dr. Mary Hunt, theologian and co-founder of WATER (Women’s Alliance for Theology, Ethics, and Ritual).

To register for any of these webinars, go to: http://www.instantpresenter.com/PIID=EA55DC818346 or visit DignityUSA’s webpage for this event.

–Francis DeBernardo, New Ways Ministry

NEWS NOTES: March 6, 2012

Here are links to some items you might find of interest:

1) Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, senior religion editor of HuffingtonPost.com, answers a Catholic’s question: “How Can I Be a Lesbian and Stay in My Church.”

2) The recent case of the denial of communion to Barbara Johnson, a lesbian woman at her mother’s funeral is put into the historical context of the “wafer wars,” by theologian Mary Hunt in a ReligionDispatches.org column:  “Communion or Disunion?“

3) Candace Chellew-Hodge examines Maryland’s potential referendum on marriage equality with Francis DeBernardo, New Ways Ministry’s Executive Director, in a ReligionDispatches.org article: “Maryland Voters Split on Marriage Equality, So Far.” New Ways Ministry Co-Founder Sister Jeannine Gramick is also quoted in this article.

–Francis DeBernardo, New Ways Ministry