Gay Catholic Mission Week, St. Louis, June 1-7 2024

Follow-up of interest if you are looking for formation resources faithful to Catholic doctrine.

In follow-up to the Confirmation prep request from my anonymous reader (still taking suggestions from all comers), I want to share a couple resources that came across my desk related to the pastoral situation of the family’s elder child:

Also, his beloved older sibling feels rejected by the Church and especially catechetical situations because of being queer, and chose not to pursue confirmation for that reason, and so this is an area that requires a great deal of sensitivity for our family.

As I mentioned last week, I have no details on this child’s situation.

I do know, however, that there is a dearth of solid pastoral formation for parents, catechists, and clergy who want to be of genuine help and support to young people dealing with same-sex attraction, gender incongruence, etc. etc., without making a wreck of the whole scene.

And that brings us to “Gay Catholic Mission Week” in St. Louis this coming week, June 1-7th, 2024. Eve Tushnet, one of the leaders of this mission, writes:

On Saturday, June 1, Keith, Nate Tinner-Williams, Grant Hartley and I will share a panel at St Francis Xavier (College Church), on “Gay Catholic Discipleship,” followed by q&a.

Mon - Wed, June 3 - 5, Keith and Nate and I will be hosted by the Aquinas Institute’s Center for Community Engagement and Evangelization, for a three-day workshop on accompaniment of lgbt/ssa+ people. This is our Journeys curriculum: grounded in the Siena Institute’s work on intentional discipleship, but also in hundreds of conversations with gay etc people across a wide range of relationships to the Catholic Church. This curriculum does such a great job (imho!!!!) of drawing out common themes in queer Christian experience, the obstacles we so frequently encounter in Catholic settings and the unexpected inroads that can help us find our path with Jesus. I basically think what we are doing here will ring true and also offer new insights, even for people who have been doing this work for a while. Alan Downs meets Aelred of Rievaulx! Audre Lorde meets Liane de Pougy! Lectio divina meets LUNCH!

Sign up here for what I genuinely think will feel like a first-of-its-kind, unexpected, necessary intervention. Cost is $150/person but did I mention you get lunch?

Thursday evening (time tba I believe), the Aquinas Institute will also host a devotional event for lgbt+/ssa people, likely evening prayer. Details to come but I hope many of you are able to come to that. Incorporating purely devotional events (rosary walk, Adoration, etc) is something I really hope to do in all of our “mission weeks”; we thought it might be too complicated to arrange in St Louis because this is our first week-long bonanza, but then the Institute raised it as a possibility themselves. Heart emoji, flaming emoji, flaming heart emoji.

And then Friday, June 7, we’ll be at St Stephen Protomartyr (reunited with Grant) at 7pm for a panel and q&a on “Finding the ‘Yes’es in Scripture.”

Please pass this on—tell your friends! tell your fans! tell your foes! Email me eve_tushnet@yahoo.com with any questions, and/or if you’re in the area and want to get together. And please pray for us, that we may serve Christ and all the children of the Church.

I realize this is late notice, but if you are able to be in the area for one or more of these events, I think it is worth your time. (I would be there if I could!) For clarity: the ministry of Building Catholic Futures is specifically ordered towards helping young people envision a place for them in the Catholic Church living chastely, in accordance with Catholic doctrine.

If you would a like a thorough telling from Eve Tushnet about how the goals of Building Catholic Futures developed, here is a detailed exploration at America: “Young LGBT Catholics need to know they belong in the church. I’m creating a curriculum to tell them that.”

For a perspective on what evangelizing ministry to gay adults can look like, here is a profile from The Pillar of St. Dominic’s Parish in San Francisco, written when the topic of blessing same-sex couples was in the news this winter: “‘One step forward?’ — How some American Catholics experience ‘Fiducia supplicans’”

And finally, if you are yourself a gay, lesbian, etc., Catholic adult looking to be not-so-alone in your life of faithful discipleship, registration for Eden Invitation’s fall retreat opens June 15th.

Photo: Mulberries! From my yard, May 2024. There is not a deeper meaning to this image, though I could develop a connection if that were necessary. It isn’t.