Two British Catholic gay and lesbian organisations and a national network for Catholic parents of lesbian, gay, and bisexual people, have issued a statement of support for Sister Jeannine Gramick SSND and Father Robert Nugent SDS, whose writings and pastoral ministry were censured in a strongly worded Vatican statement, issued on 13 July 1999. Sister Jeannine and Father Nugent founded New Ways Ministry in 1977, near Washington DC. Over the years they have facilitated a number of workshops in the UK for superiors of religious communities, clergy, pastoral workers, gay and lesbian people and their parents.
CALLED TO BE ONE – a national pastoral and peer-support network for Catholic parents of lesbian, gay, and bisexual people – QUEST, and the ROMAN CATHOLIC CAUCUS in the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement, have welcomed the contributions of Sister Gramick and Father Nugent to “the development of pastoral support and increasing understanding of Church teaching.”
The Vatican’s doctrinal “watchdog”, the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), formerly the Inquisition, released a public “Notification”, approved by Pope John Paul II on 14 May 1999. The CDF has permanently barred School Sister of Notre Dame Jeannine Gramick and Salvatorian priest Robert Nugent “from any pastoral work involving homosexual persons.” It has also declared the two “ineligible, for an undetermined period, for any office in their respective religious institutes.” Father Nugent, 62, and Sister Gramick, 57, have been under Vatican investigation since 1988, but only in 1996 learned informally that the case had been transferred from the Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and Secular Institutes (CICL) formerly the Congregation for Religious, which deals with members of religious communities, to the CDF.
The “Notification” alleges that the two have advanced “doctrinally unacceptable” positions, adding that “‘errors and ambiguities’ have caused confusion among the Catholic people and have harmed the community of the Church.”
The joint statement of support by Called To Be One, Quest, and the Roman Catholic Caucus is attached.
CRUSHING BROKEN REEDS – A JOINT STATEMENT IN SUPPORT OF SISTER JEANNINE GRAMICK SSND, AND FATHER ROBERT NUGENT SDS.
We have been deeply distressed by the Notification issued by the Vatican’s Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) concerning the writings and ministries of Sister Jeannine Gramick, School Sister of Notre Dame, and father Robert Nugent of the Society of the Divine Saviour.
We wish to place on record our gratitude for their inspirational leadership in ministry with lesbian, gay, and bisexual Catholics, their parents and families, over the past 25 years. Within the United Kingdom, they have made a unique contribution to the development of spiritual and pastoral support for lesbian, gay, and bisexual Catholics, by means of their writings, workshops, and retreats. In more recent times their support for the Catholic parents of lesbian, gay, and bisexual people has been unparalleled.
Far from sowing confusion, they have led people to a greater understanding of Church teaching on homosexuality, always expounding clearly such teachings, yet recognising the diversity in current debates, within and beyond the Church.
We have considerable reservations regarding the lack of transparency, preoccupation with secrecy, and lack of respect for human rights involved in the processes to which Sister Jeannine and Father Robert have been subjected since 1988. Far from strengthening the Catholic community which the CDF claims to have been weakened by their activities, we believe that the penalties questionably imposed by the Congregation create new wounds of scandal in the Body of Christ.
We cannot help but be reminded of words in the homily delivered at the funeral of Cardinal Basil Hume, who did so much to interpret Catholic teaching on homosexuality in a gentler and more pastoral framework. Referring to the complementary ministries of the Cardinal and the late Archbishop Worlock of Liverpool, we were reminded that they “kept our Church out of the clutches of extremists, to right and left, and far away from those who, by harsh judgements, might easily crush the broken reed so conscious of those on the outside, of those feeling abandoned by the church. Their Christ-like instinct was to count the stragglers in, and never out.”
Such a description could well apply to the pastoral ministries and writings of Sister Jeannine Gramick and Father Robert Nugent. The harsh judgements of the CDF harm not only their intended recipients but countless numbers of lesbian, gay, and bisexual Catholics, their parents, families, and children, as well as those seeking fullness of faith within the Catholic community. It is a deep paradox that as the Church approaches the celebration of the Great Jubilee time of forgiveness, it should add to itself yet another cause for repentance.
Susan Haley
Steering Group
CALLED TO BE ONE
Charles Keal
Chair
QUEST
Michael Egan
Convenor
ROMAN CATHOLIC CAUCUS
