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CV NEWS FEED // New Ways Ministry (NWM), which describes itself as a “Catholic outreach,” is set to give Bishop John Stowe of the Diocese of Lexington, Kentucky, the organization’s Bridge Building Award in recognition to what they describe as of his “pro-LGBTQ+ efforts.”
According to a September 17 NWM article, the award “honors those individuals who by their scholarship, leadership, or witness have promoted discussion, understanding, and reconciliation between the LGBT community and the Catholic Church.”
In 2010, then-President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Cardinal Francis George, O.M.I, archbishop of Chicago, issued a statement clarifying that NWM has “den[ied] central aspects of Church teaching” and is not approved by the Catholic Church.
“New Ways Ministry has recently criticized efforts by the Church to defend the traditional definition of marriage as between one man and one woman and has urged Catholics to support electoral initiatives to establish same-sex ‘marriage,’” Cardinal George wrote:
No one should be misled by the claim that New Ways Ministry provides an authentic interpretation of Catholic teaching and an authentic Catholic pastoral practice. Their claim to be Catholic only confuses the faithful regarding the authentic teaching and ministry of the Church with respect to persons with a homosexual inclination.
Accordingly, I wish to make it clear that, like other groups that claim to be Catholic but deny central aspects of Church teaching, New Ways Ministry has no approval or recognition from the Catholic Church and that they cannot speak on behalf of the Catholic faithful in the United States.
The September 17 NWM article states that the Bridge Building Award “[recognizes Bishop’s Stowe’s] compassionate ministry, courageous witness, and inspiring leadership on behalf of LGBTQ+ Catholics.” The award will be presented to Bishop Stowe at a November 15 ceremony at Trinity Washington University in Washington, D.C.
The article highlighted several actions of Bishop Stowe, including how “[h]e has stood alongside the LGBTQ+ Catholic community by accepting a transgender man as a hermit in his diocese.”
As CatholicVote reported in May, the Diocese of Lexington issued a statement in which it used male pronouns when referring to a woman who identifies as a “transgender man.”
“On Pentecost Sunday, Brother Christian Matson, a professed hermit in the Diocese of Lexington, has made it public that he is a transgender person,” the Diocesan statement reads:
Brother Christian has long sought to consecrate his life to Christ in the Church by living the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience…
Bishop John Stowe, OFM Conv., accepted his profession and is grateful to Brother Christian for his witness of discipleship, integrity and contemplative prayer for the Church.
Later that month, the editors of Our Sunday Visitor decried the Diocesan statement, writing that it “betrays the truth in a way that ultimately hurts Matson and sets a disturbing and dangerous precedent for the local and national Church.”
As CatholicVote previously reported, the editors of OSV “wrote that showing love and respect to all people is a major part of Church teaching, but ‘this does not equate to a universal acceptance of every lifestyle or even belief about oneself.’”
The editors also wrote, “We encourage Matson to remain close to God in prayer and believe this can be accommodated within the Church in a pastorally sensitive way that does not cause confusion. She is a beloved child of God and her life can be holy and fulfilled.”
The September 17 NWM article also highlighted that Bishop Stowe “supported… the federal Equality Act, although this act was opposed by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.”
The USCCB has a statement on its website describing the Equality Act as “well-intentioned but ultimately misguided,” warning that it “discriminates against people of faith” for their beliefs on marriage. Additionally, the USCCB pointed out that the bill is dismissive of sexual difference and purports that gender is merely a social construct.
The USCCB also listed six main points of concern about the Act’s implications, which include that it “jeopardizes existing prohibitions on the use of federal taxpayer funds for abortion,” infringes on freedom of religion, and “requires women to compete against men and boys in sports, and to share locker rooms and shower facilities with men and boys.” According to the USCCB, the Act also “hinders quality health care, by forcing health care professionals, against their best medical judgment, to support treatments and procedures associated with ‘gender transition.’”
According to a March 2021 article in the Jesuit publication America Magazine, Bishop Stowe sent a letter to the chair and a ranking member of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee in support of the Act. In the letter, he also addressed the topics of religious liberty and abortion in relation to the Act, writing:
I naturally must insist that the right to practice and live in accord with the teachings of one’s faith must be protected and churches should not be forced to enact practices in violation of their tenets… [I] cannot condone any expansion in abortion access or threats to the sanctity of life… [but I] must be forthright in stating this, I do not believe that the Equality Act would compromise our beliefs on this matter.
The September 17 NWM article also noted that Bishop Stowe supported a statement the Tyler Clementi Foundation posted for Catholic bishops to sign.
According to its website, the Foundation is named after Clementi, whose college roommate, in 2010, cyberbullied him while Clementi was on a “date” with another man. A few days after this, at age 18, Clementi committed suicide. Clementi’s family started the Foundation the next year. According to its website, “In 2015 the Tyler Clementi Foundation adopted the mission statement: To end all online and offline bullying; in schools, workplaces, and faith communities.”
The Foundation launched the “True Faith Doesn’t Bully” campaign, which included a statement against bullying of young people who identify as LGBT titled: “God Is On Your Side: A Statement from Catholic Bishops on Protecting LGBT Youth” which the Foundation invites Catholic bishops to sign.
