Jeannine Gramick

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Jeannine Gramick
Born1942 (age 81–82)
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s)Religious sister, academic

Sr Jeannine Gramick,

lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights. She is also a co-founder of New Ways Ministry
.

In 2021,

LGBTQ community and referred to Gramick as "a valiant woman" who had suffered much for her ministry.[2] On October 17, 2023, Gramick and three other staff members of New Ways Ministry met with Pope Francis at his residence in Rome.[3]

Career

Gramick was born to a Polish Roman Catholic family in

College of Notre Dame of Maryland in the early 1970s.[5]

Having graduated in 1969 with an

Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania, obtained in 1975.[6] Her outreach to the gay and lesbian community began in 1971, and in 1972 and 1973 she co-founded chapters of DignityUSA in Baltimore, and Washington, D.C.,[7] as well as the Conference for Catholic Lesbians.[citation needed
]

Gramick co-founded with Fr. Robert Nugent, New Ways Ministry, a social justice center working for the reconciliation of lesbian/gay people and the Catholic Church.[7]

Many publications written and edited by Gramick explain her positions and ministry, including "Homosexuality and the Catholic Church," "Homosexuality in the Priesthood and Religious Life," "The Vatican and Homosexuality," and "Voices of Hope: A Collection of Positive Catholic Writings on Lesbian/Gay Issues." She is the co-author with Fr. Robert Nugent of "Building Bridges: Gay and Lesbian Reality and the Catholic Church,".[8] "Building Bridges" was translated into Italian and published as "Anime Gay: Gli omosessuali e la Chiesa cattolica" (Editori Riuniti, Rome, 2003).[6]

She has served on the boards of the National Assembly of Women Religious, the Religious Network of Equality for Women, the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, the Women's Ordination Conference and the National Coalition of American Nuns.

Controversies

Gramick's activities have not been without controversy. In 1984, because of alleged ambiguities in her presentation of church teaching on homosexuality, the

Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF).[9] In 1999, after a written dialogue with her and Fr. Nugent, the CDF issued a public notification that the two authors' writings and activities were doctrinally unacceptable and failed to correctly and fully present Catholic teaching on homosexuality and permanently prohibited them from any pastoral work with homosexual persons.[9]

In 2000, her religious congregation, the School Sisters of Notre Dame, told her to cease speaking publicly on the topic of homosexuality. Gramick rejected the request, stating publicly, "I choose not to collaborate in my own oppression by restricting a basic human right [to speak]".[8] After this, she transferred to the Sisters of Loretto, another congregation of Catholic women religious which supports her ministry of education and advocacy on behalf of the LGBT community.

In 2014, she was a signatory to an open letter to President Obama that urged him to expand U.S. funding of abortion services in the cases of rape, incest, and life endangerment in foreign countries, currently prohibited under U.S. law by the Helms Amendment.[10][11]

In April 2015, Gramick was banned from speaking in the Diocese of Charlotte by Bishop Peter Jugis. A Diocese spokesman, on behalf of Bishop Jugis, stated: "We are not going to have someone who opposes Catholic teaching to be teaching in a Catholic diocese,"[12] The event titled Welcoming LGBT People and Their Families in Faith Communities was scheduled at St. Peter Catholic Church before the Bishop intervened.[citation needed]

The documentary film In Good Conscience: Sister Jeannine Gramick's Journey of Faith, by Barbara Rick, details Gramick's decades of ministry with the LGBT community and controversies with the Vatican.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Sister Jeannine Gramick Greeting to GNRC 2017". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-17. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  2. ^ Fraga, Brian. "Pope Francis thanks New Ways Ministry in recent correspondence", National Catholic Reporter, December 8, 2021
  3. ^ "Pope Francis meets Jeannine Gramick, US sister known for LGBTQ ministry". National Catholic Reporter. Retrieved 2023-10-27.
  4. ISBN 978-0-549-46947-6.[dead link
    ]
  5. ^ ""CoFounders", New Ways Ministry". Archived from the original on 2017-09-02. Retrieved 2013-10-02.
  6. ^ a b The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Religious Archives Network
  7. ^ a b Biography of Jeannine Gramick. DePaul University
  8. ^ a b "Catholic Gay Group to Honor Nun, Priest Silenced by the Vatican", Dignity, May 16, 2001
  9. ^ a b c d "Notification regarding Sr. Jeannine Gramick, SSND, and Fr. Robert Nugent, SDS".
  10. ^ Kuebler, Joanna (May 14, 2014). "Faith-based leaders call on Obama to ensure access to abortion as part of U.S. foreign policy" (press release). Center for Health and Gender Equity / Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice.
  11. ^ Knox, Harry; et al. (14 May 2019). "FBOs Helms letter" (PDF). Letter to President Obama. Center for Health and Gender Equity / Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice.
  12. ^ Bell, Adam (April 22, 2015). "Charlotte bishop cancels church event on LGBT issues". The Charlotte Observer. Retrieved June 26, 2022.

External links

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