Maxwell Kuzma
Today’s post is from Maxwell Kuzma (he/him), a transgender man, lifelong Catholic, and a writer who lives on a farm in rural Ohio. He writes and speaks about affirming the dignity of LGBTQ+ people in all areas of life, but particularly within the Catholic Church. To read Maxwell’s previous Bondings 2.0 posts, click here.
As a transgender Catholic man, I don’t encounter many places where it’s possible to share deeply about the spiritual journey of my gender transition and how it affirmed my authentic self just as God created me. But at a conference held in Dayton, Ohio this summer, I was able to show up fully with both my transgender and Catholic identities.
The conference, “Imago Dei: Embracing the Dignity of LGBTQ+ Persons,” was held at the Bergamo Retreat Center to commemorate the 50th year anniversary of a groundbreaking conference called “Gay and Christian” held at that center in 1974. I attended a panel where speakers recalled what it was like to be both gay and catholic during that time. And Sr. Jeannine Gramick, SL, New Ways Ministry’s co-founder, present at both events, recalled being one of only a small handful of women at the entire 1974 conference!
Many groups from the LGBTQ-inclusive Catholic world were present to share in the combined history, such as DignityUSA, New Ways Ministry, and Outreach. Individuals such as Sr. Luisa Derouen, OP, who has accompanied trans people for 25 years, was one of the faces of a deeply beautiful and truly powerful Catholic LGBTQ-affirming movement: a movement that fills me with hope.
I have needed this movement my entire life. As a child who lacked the language to communicate my transgender identity, I relied on pointing out at daycare that I wanted the blue blanket for nap time, not the pink one. In high school, the only safe option for a romantic life was not to have one, but that didn’t stop the looks and gossip–especially at my Catholic parish youth group.
At my small conservative Catholic college, I focused on out-working my peers with multiple on-campus jobs and internships so that I could avoid any social prying. But after college, when I started working with multiple Catholic nonprofit organizations, I felt that I was always on display as someone who was “different,” no matter what I said or did.
All of the messaging I received from the Catholic community over those years focused intimately on God’s love for our authentic selves–which rang deeply true in my discernment–yet, those spaces did not allow any room to express the diversity of genuine authenticity. The Imago Dei conference felt like a place where expressing our authentic selves through our Catholic identity was recognized, respected, and celebrated.
Panelists and facilitators emphasized again and again the sacred journey that LGBTQ people go through, and hearing those stories as a member of the community was deeply consoling after the complete rejection of the Catholic world I previously experienced.
“Our Lady of Inclusion” by nonbinary artist A Pollicino (credit: Maxwell Kuzma)
Over the conference’s main lectern hung a banner created by A Pollicino, a nonbinary member of the Marianist LGBTQ+ Initiative Team, who were the sponsors of the program. Entitled “Our Lady of Inclusion,” the banner evokes the Blessed Mother’s closeness to the marginalized and those who are often rejected by their families as she holds their suffering close as if it were her own. Pollicino explained the banner to me:
“As a nonbinary, trans artist I take inspiration from my LGBTQ+ elders. Social practice projects like the AIDS Quilt encourage me to speak truth to power in a time of exclusion. This banner allowed me to meditate on the radical love consistently modeled by our Blessed Mother. This is my quiet way of taking up space to spur conversation about the most pressing pro-life issues of our time (racial justice, LGBTQ+ inclusion, and the ongoing crisis in Palestine).”
The Imago Dei Conference had space for all journeys to be heard and recognized. Many participants talked about examples of anti-LGBTQ sentiment in their home states and dioceses, which made a conference like this feel even more needed. Such conferences provide an opportunity to recognize the face of God in the other, as well as to honor the LGBTQ people of history and memory as we continue to embrace the full diversity of God’s creation today.
The doctrine of the Catholic Church may take years to acknowledge or encounter what LGBTQ people have known for longer than 50 years: the LGBTQ community can strive for holiness just like anyone else. Conferences like this offer an opportunity to celebrate queer people on the journey together. Recognizing this joy is vital, as we are healed and sanctified when we encounter it, and in this joy, we see the face of Christ.
“No one comes to the father except through me,” Jesus told his followers. As we embrace the mystery of living out the Incarnation as members of Christ’s body, we understand that knowing God means loving your neighbor. To be a lover of Jesus means to be with those whom Jesus loved–and Jesus loved the undesirables, the outcasts, the marginalized. Let not our hearts be hardened when we go out into the world, and let us look for the face of Christ in the other.
—Maxwell Kuzma (he/him), August 8, 2024
