Timely letter from Pope Francis to James Martin SJ on his ministry to gay Catholics

Pope Francis has written to the US based priest, James Martin SJ, praising his ministry to gay Catholics.

In stark contrast to the legalistic language used by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in their blessings document, the Pope’s letter stresses that God’s “style” has three elements: closeness, compassion and tenderness.

“Thinking about your pastoral work, I see that you are continually seeking to imitate this style of God,” Francis writes. “You are a priest for all men and women, just as God is a father for all men and women.”

Link to article in The Tablet:

https://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/14258/pope-praises-james-martin-s-ministry-to-gay-catholics

 

The letter is also covered in the America Magazine:

https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2021/06/27/james-martin-lgbt-ministry-pope-francis-240938?pnespid=jehztv5EWBCNyw5zpE7B3UcFjjGeWtJY_bWVQ4hn&utm_source=piano&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=10714

Similar Posts

For the birds

Blog
2 Comments

Seamus Ahearne has expanded his exercise zone as per guidelines and gets to observe to behaviour of birds on his walks. But he also considers what the pandemic may mean for us.
“It asks us big questions:  What am I about? What is important? Who matters to me?  Do I matter to anyone? … For us as ministers, it is quite dangerous and can undermine our very existence. Do we need ‘them’ (them=our faith community) more than ‘they’ need us?   We feel very ‘useful’ normally. We are very busy. Now many of us can do very little. We don’t like it.”

One Comment

  1. Paddy Ferry says:

    Letter from Pope Francis to Fr. James Martin SJ
    Dear friends: Since many of you are asking me about Pope’s letter on LGBTQ ministry, which I shared yesterday, here’s what I feel: The Holy Father’s beautiful message is an encouragement and inspiration for all those who minister to LGBTQ Catholics in our church. Moreover, it is a reminder to LGBTQ people themselves that God loves them with, in the Pope’s words, “closeness, compassion and tenderness.” Pope Francis also understands how important it is to reach out to all those on the margins–just as Jesus did during his public ministry. To that end, all Jesuits take seriously the Pope’s mission for us to “go to the peripheries,” both in society at large and within the church that we love and serve. Fr. James Martin SJ

    Reply

Join the Discussion

Keep the following in mind when writing a comment

  • Your comment must include your full name, and email. (email will not be published). You may be contacted by email, and it is possible you might be requested to supply your postal address to verify your identity.
  • Be respectful. Do not attack the writer. Take on the idea, not the messenger. Comments containing vulgarities, personalised insults, slanders or accusations shall be deleted.
  • Keep to the point. Deliberate digressions don't aid the discussion.
  • Including multiple links or coding in your comment will increase the chances of it being automati cally marked as spam.
  • Posts that are merely links to other sites or lengthy quotes may not be published.
  • Brevity. Like homilies keep you comments as short as possible; continued repetitions of a point over various threads will not be published.
  • The decision to publish or not publish a comment is made by the site editor. It will not be possible to reply individually to those whose comments are not published.