Click here to join this online CLGS Catholic Roundtable Event via Zoom!
Join us for a conversation about the experience of LGBTQIA2S+ persons in seminaries, religious life, educational settings, and in ordained ministry. We will explore the experience of some who have discerned paths toward authenticity, accompaniment, and ecclesial integrity.
Our Presenters
Jeannine Gramick, a Sister of Loretto, co-founded New Ways Ministry to promote reconciliation between the LGBTQ+ community and the Catholic Church. In 2021, Pope Francis congratulated her on 50 years in this ministry, saying, “You have not been afraid of ‘closeness,’ and in getting close you did it ‘suffering with’ (compassion) and without condemning anyone, but with the ‘tenderness’ of a sister and a mother.”
Mark Guevarra (he/him) is a doctoral candidate at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. He has an interest in how restorative justice practices are necessary on the road to a synodal church, especially in restoring relationships between LGBTQ+ folkx and the Catholic church. Mark is co-editor of Cornerstones: Sacred Stories of LGBTQ+ Employees in Catholic Institutions published by New Ways Ministry and presented to Pope Francis in October 2024. Mark also serves as board member of Concerned Lay Catholics of Canada, member of Dignity Canada Dignité, and pastor of Edmonton Moravian Church.
Rev. Brian N. Massingale is Professor of Theological and Social Ethics and holds the James and Nancy Buckman Chair in Applied Christian Ethics at Fordham University. A priest of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, he is a leader in the study of faith-based ethics. He is a former President of the Society of Christian Ethics; a former Convener of the Black Catholic Theological Symposium, and a former president of the Catholic Theological Society of America. He regularly serves the historic Black Catholic parish of St. Charles Borromeo in Harlem (New York City). Dr. Massingale has authored two books and more than 250 articles, book chapters, and book reviews. An award-winning and internationally recognized scholar, teacher, and activist, he frequently addresses issues at the intersection of racial and sexual justice in venues such as National Public Radio, ABC News, the PBS NewsHour, MSNOW, USA Today, The New York Times, the Huff Post, BBC World News, Canadian Public Radio, Australian Public Radio, the South African Times, Reuters News Service, and the Associated Press. In 2026, he received the Catholic Theological Society of America’s highest recognition “for outstanding and distinguished achievement in Theology.”
Michael Prendergast, MTS, MA is a seasoned pastoral musician and liturgist, an adjunct instructor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Portland and the founder of Sacred Liturgy Ministries.
Bishop John Stowe is a Conventual Franciscan Friar and has been the Bishop of Lexington since 2015. He is a native of Lorain, Ohio, and holds BA degrees in History and Philosophy from Saint Louis University and a Masters of Divinity and Licentiate in Sacred Theology from the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley (now part of Santa Clara University). Bishop John is the Episcopal Moderator of the Catholic Committee of Appalachia and the Bishop-President of Pax Christi USA.