When Marianne Duddy-Burke, the executive director of DignityUSA, took the pulpit at the Church of St. Paul the Apostle in New York City last summer, it was the first time she had delivered an address at a Catholic church since 1986. Speaking through tears as she recalled the human toll of the H.I.V. epidemic and the rejection endured by L.G.B.T.Q. Catholics once exiled from their parishes, Ms. Duddy-Burke urged attendees of the Outreach conference to join together as a community and engage in the work of justice.
“We can build and strengthen the body of Christ, helping to unite people by embracing and honoring the diversity of humanity,” she said last June.
More than 300 L.G.B.T.Q. Catholics and their allies will gather at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. this weekend “to build community, share best practices and worship together,” according to the Outreach conference website. Conference organizers expect participants from 33 U.S. states and eight foreign countries—including Argentina, Italy, South Korea and Lithuania—to model an inclusive faith and discuss what it means to be an L.G.B.T.Q. person in the church today.
“We’re aiming to create a space where we celebrate, elevate and build up the L.G.B.T.Q. Catholic community,” said Michael J. O’Loughlin, the executive director of Outreach. “I hope that L.G.B.T.Q. Catholics, their friends and families, and those who minister alongside them will leave Outreach 2024 with a renewed sense that not only are they welcome in the church, but that the church needs their gifts, talents and witness.”
The conference, which begins Aug. 2, will feature theologians, scholars, educators, ministers, clergy members and L.G.B.T.Q. advocates to present on a wide range of topics. The conference schedule includes discussions on parenting L.G.B.T.Q. children, transgender Catholics in the church, homosexuality in the Bible and L.G.B.T.Q. ministry in parishes and schools.
The gathering will also feature welcoming remarks from Mark Bosco, S.J., the vice president for mission and ministry at Georgetown, and keynote speeches from Amy-Jill Levine, the popular New Testament scholar, and the Rev. William Hart McNichols, a lauded iconographer and gay priest. Father McNichols is particularly noted for his ministry among people with H.I.V. in New York during the height of the crisis; his work is detailed in Mr. O’Loughlin’s book Hidden Mercy.
Cardinal Wilton Gregory, the archbishop of Washington, D.C., will celebrate Mass for attendees on Saturday morning. “Your extensive work to share best practices and worship together represents a much-needed ministry that is undeniably building bridges and seeking to heal wounds,” he said in a letter to Outreach. “I thank you for your efforts.”
Pope Francis, in a letter addressed last month to James Martin, S.J., the founder of Outreach, wrote of his support for the conference: “I am glad that Cardinal Gregory will celebrate the Mass; I will be spiritually with him and with all of you, united in prayer.”
This February, the Associated Press noted that both the Vatican and the Society of Jesus, which oversees the work of Outreach, have “bolstered” its L.G.B.T.Q. ministry efforts in recent years (even as the group has incurred backlash from detractors). The report characterized the pontificate of Pope Francis as taking a decidedly more welcoming tone towards L.G.B.T.Q. people in the church, something that Father Martin encourages.
“It’s wonderful that L.G.B.T.Q. Catholics can feel the support not only of their friends and families, but also the institutional church,” Father Martin said. “After all, it’s their church, too.”
This year’s conference will be the third in-person Outreach conference. Virtual conferences were held in 2020 and 2021.
Outreach, the L.G.B.T.Q. resource at America Media, launched its website (outreach.faith) on May 1, 2022. It has been named among the top 20 L.G.B.T.Q. publications in the United States.
