Newman OKS group that’s ANTI-LGBTQ
I thought nothing could surprise me when it comes to Christian organizations excluding and marginalizing queer Christians. But the recent actions of Bishop Earl Fernandes, the Diocese of Columbus, and the St. Thomas More Newman Center have me baffled.
For nearly 70 years, the Paulist Fathers have courageously and prophetically nurtured a community of faith at the St. Thomas More Newman Center at Ohio State.
During that time, the Newman Center became a haven for LGBTQIA+ Catholics seeking to honor their faith and their identity. The Newman Center has been well-regarded by the faith community of Central Ohio because of its inclusivity and commitment to affirming its LGBTQIA+ members.
On June 30, the newly appointed bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Columbus, Earl Fernandes, announced that the ministry of the Newman Center would be transferred to a local priest, Father Adam Streitenberger.
The confusion, the outrage, and the pain of Bishop Fernandes’ decision have been well-covered by The Dispatch over the last two months, including reporting on the Paulist Fathers’ last mass and sports reporter Adam Jardy’s piece on being a member of the Newman Center community.
On Aug. 16, I caught a post by the Newman Center on their @buckeyecatholic Instagram account.
The post showed several photos of two people painting the Center’s sign, which previously read “All Are Welcome,” with battleship-gray paint. More than cosmetic, this change begs the question: Who is welcome at the Newman Center and, perhaps more importantly now, who is not welcome?
Around the same time, I learned that the Newman Center would soon begin to hold meetings sponsored by or through Courage International.
Courage is a conservative organization that advocates for LGBTQIA+ people to live in celibacy in accordance with their interpretation of the Bible and a strict reading of Catholic teachings.
But more than celibacy, they advocate the rejection of a person’s LGBTQIA+ identity using language often found in ex-gay organizations – though Courage is quick to call themselves a “pro-chastity” group.
And though they note that they are not a therapeutic organization and do not refer people to therapy, they have been associated with the largely discredited work of reparative therapy seeking to change a person’s sexual orientation.
Approximately two months ago, the Newman Center was a bastion of support for queer Catholics. Now it is preparing to welcome and sponsor an ANTILGBTQIA+ organization.
Two months.
Loveboldly and a coalition of organizations, churches, and individuals, including past and present members of the Newman Center community, Faith in Public Life, Equality Ohio, King Avenue United Methodist Church, Hilliard United Methodist Church, Central City Church, and others, have issued an open letter to Bishop Fernandes urging him to restore the affirming ministry of the Newman Center.
We also call on him to end hosting Courage meetings anywhere in the Diocese of Columbus.
We encourage the Central Ohio community to contact Bishop Fernandes and express their support for the Newman Center community and concern about what is happening there.
In a video posted on Monday, Streitenberger told the Newman Center community that he wanted them to feel at home at the Center.
Who can feel at home, Father, when you exclude God’s people from God’s community?
Ben Huelskamp is the executive director of Loveboldly, a Central Ohio faith-based nonprofit working to create and develop spaces where LGBTQIA+ people can flourish in Christianity.