Gary Adler recently mentioned his research finding that a majority of Catholic parishes in the U.S. allow full membership for openly gay and lesbian couples in a committed relationship. He ended his post with two points for consideration– first he noted how his research suggests many parishes are open to homosexuality “in a way that is in tension with Vatican teaching,” then he added that gay and lesbian couples may still not feel fully welcome in most parishes. He asked followers of the Catholic Conversation to reflect on this in light of their own experiences and asks how they have seen sexuality addressed in local parishes. Continue reading →

I am currently working on a Master’s Thesis project at Loyola University Chicago examining parish cultures around politics. The study focuses on two ethnographies in the Archdiocese of Chicago[1] – 1) an ethnography of St. Mary Magdalene Parish, a self proclaimed social justice parish with a collective narrative of “All are Welcome,” and  2) St. Pius Parish, an active parish in the Archdiocese working on issues regarding respect for life. A finding I am currently working through is an unexpected focus at both of the parishes on human sexuality. Continue reading →

On this blog, there have been numerous posts in the last couple of weeks about the new Mass Translations issued last Advent.  As we already know, many Catholics have had difficulty adjusting to the change.

I remember learning that a new translation was coming actually a couple of years ago from college seminarians who talked about the “great Roman Missal Three.” Their excitement puzzled me – I was unsure what the need for a new translation was – my 20 ish years of Mass experience made me think that our current version seemed to work just fine.
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