LGBTQ Catholics: a guide to inclusive ministry

Abstract

In LGBTQ Catholics: A Guide to Inclusive Ministry, Yunuen Trujillo explores and outlines different ways Catholic parishes might best support LGBTQ Catholics through ministry and community. Grounding her work in the reality that many LGBTQ Catholics have often had to hide in fear of losing their faith community and connections to God, and speaking from her own vocation and context of ministry in Los Angeles, Trujillo aims to help parishes begin an LGBTQ ministry. In her guide, Trujillo offers useful insights into the dynamics in Catholic parishes that can help foster a culture of acceptance and communitybuilding for LGBTQ Catholics. LGBTQ Catholics begins with basic information for those not familiar with the experiences of LGBTQ people: offering information about the coming out process and relevant dynamics of which leaders should be aware for effective ministry, providing basic definitions, and naming and challenging common stereotypes within Catholic contexts. Trujillo offers comprehensible statements that dispel a range of myths around LGBTQ people. For example, when describing a friend’s experience of discernment into religious life, Trujillo noted that ‘a religious sister mistakenly told her that she could not be a religious if she was gay’ (16). Trujillo also distinguishes a gay sexual orientation from pedophilia – a mention that, for some, may seem out of place at best. However, in the Catholic context, it is not uncommon for some church leaders to conflate the two, as Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone did in 2010. Given these occurrences, it is unfortunate yet necessary that she include this distinction. Trujillo offers narratives familiar to many readers and succinctly calls out incorrect assumptions. While Trujillo does the important work of dispelling harmful myths, her framing in the initial section does risk harm through erasure. In the first half of the guide, Trujillo discusses ‘sexual orientation and identity,’ only naming gender identity in the latter half. Catholics with non-cis gender identities may feel unseen due to this terminology. Trujillo goes on in the latter half of the guide to mandate an equal pastoral approach to matters of sexual orientation and gender identity, but it may be possible, particularly given trends of conflating and omitting certain vocabulary within Catholic contexts, that this linguistic choice could be read as subtly exclusionary. While the omission of some words may make topics of sexuality more