my thoughts on "‘radical inclusion’ for L.G.B.T. people, women and others in the Catholic Church" by Cardinal McElroy

On January 24, 2023, an article titled Cardinal McElroy on ‘radical inclusion’ for L.G.B.T. people, women and others in the Catholic Church, written by Cardinal Robert W. McElroy, was posted at America Magazine. I am sharing some key quotes from that article here, along with the link, for two reasons:

1. Cardinal McElroy speaks frankly about the topic of radical inclusion in regard to the Roman Catholic Church, including references to patterns of racism or how church marginalizes victims of clergy sexual abuse.
2. The quotes and surrounding text resonate with some of the themes that are a key part of my thinking these days, particularly related to strategically inclusive leadership.

The five quotes and some brief comments by me (I encourage you to read the six-page article to get the full context):

Quote 1:

“Many of these challenges arise from the reality that a church that is calling all women and men to find a home in the Catholic community contains structures and cultures of exclusion that alienate all too many from the church or make their journey in the Catholic faith tremendously burdensome.”

• My comment: That’s a pretty bold statement for a Cardinal to make in the second paragraph of this article. Read on for more…

Quote 2:

“A culture of synodality is the most promising pathway available today to lead us out of this polarization in our church. Such a culture can help to relativize these divisions and ideological prisms by emphasizing the call of God to seek first and foremost the pathway that we are being called to in unity and grace. A synodal culture demands listening, a listening that seeks not to convince but to understand the experiences and values of others that have led them to this moment. A synodal culture of true encounter demands that we see in our sisters and brothers common pilgrims on the journey of life, not opponents. We must move from Babel to Pentecost.”

• It seems so common sense to me to see others as comrades in the journey, but somehow it isn’t obvious for everyone. Or we decide that certain people are not our brothers and sisters but are instead children of the devil, so that we can be justified in casting them out, oppressing them, treating them as enemies….

Quote 3:

"Faced with such patterns of exclusion in our church and our world, we must take to heart the message of Pope Benedict speaking to the people of Latin America on the wounds that marginalization inflicts: “the church must relive and become what Jesus was; the Good Samaritan who came from afar, entered into human history, lifted us up and sought to heal us.”

• I had always thought of the parable of the Good Samaritan as being a wonderful way that Jesus taught about who is my neighbour, and of expanding the moral circle of the religious leaders. Had not thought of Jesus as the Good Samaritan…  it is true that he loved and cared for those at the margins of the society in which he lived in ways that the religious leaders of his day did not.

Quote 4:

“One avenue for lifting us up and healing the patterns and structures of marginalization in our church and our world is to systematically bring the peripheries into the center of life in the church. This means attending to the marginalization of African Americans and Native Americans, victims of clergy sexual abuse, the undocumented and the poor, the homeless and the imprisoned, not as a secondary element of mission in every church community, but as a primary goal.

Bringing the peripheries to the center means constantly endeavoring to support the disempowered as protagonists in the life of the church. It means giving a privileged place in the priorities and budgets and energies of every ecclesial community to those who are most victimized and ignored. It means advocating forcefully against racism and economic exploitation. In short, it means creating genuine solidarity within our ecclesial communities and our world, as St. John Paul repeatedly urged us.”

• “Bringing the peripheries to the center” - I love that! Reminds me of what Bishop Flunder (female, black, lesbian, speaker of truth - and not Catholic) said: “An authentic ethic of inclusion must reach from the center to the farthest margin and work its way back” (from Where the Edge Gathers).
• I’d like to do a breakdown of what Cardinal McElroy says here, because this is magical. Imagine if every church did this! Imagine if every institution put this into practice!

Bringing the peripheries to the center means:

• constantly endeavoring to support the disempowered as protagonists (leading or main characters - Ed.) in the life of the church
• giving a privileged place in the priorities and budgets and energies of every ecclesial community to those who are most victimized and ignored
• advocating forcefully against racism and economic exploitation
• creating genuine solidarity within our (ecclesial) communities and our world, as St. John Paul repeatedly urged us.

Quote 5:

"It is a demonic mystery of the human soul why so many men and women have a profound and visceral animus toward members of the L.G.B.T. communities. The church’s primary witness in the face of this bigotry must be one of embrace rather than distance or condemnation. The distinction between orientation and activity cannot be the principal focus for such a pastoral embrace because it inevitably suggests dividing the L.G.B.T. community into those who refrain from sexual activity and those who do not. Rather, the dignity of every person as a child of God struggling in this world, and the loving outreach of God, must be the heart, soul, face and substance of the church’s stance and pastoral action."

• The level of hatred and vitriol that some Christian people have toward LGBTQ2S+ people really is disproportionate compared to their feelings about children dying of starvation, or toward mass shootings, or any number of other serious catastrophes and crimes in the world around them….
• I think Richard Beck might have some answers to this mystery. I’ve read his excellent book Unclean several times and I think the themes of boundary protection, expulsion, and disgust, along with the concept of scapegoating go a long way to explaining this animus (hostility and hatred). Solving it is not that easy. If you are interested, check out some of my posts about Beck’s work.

rob goetze

Read the whole article by Cardinal McElroy:

https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2023/01/24/mcelroy-synodality-inclusion-244587?s=09