Building a Bridge: an Interview With Fr. James L. Martin, s . j .
by Dcn. James Smith, c.pp.s., lgbt Ministry Team Member
Editor’s note: Building a Bridge by Fr. James L. Martin, S.J. will be released on June 13, 2017.
Your past books have centered somewhat on a practi-
cal spirituality in a really accessible way. Your latest
book dives directly into a sometimes “contentious and
combative” conversation between lgbt Catholics and
the Catholic Church. What were the events or inspira-
tion leading to this book?
For many years I had been doing what you might
call informal ministry with lgbt folks, where after
talks or retreats people would come up to me and
talk about their experiences and ask questions.
I think people may have felt comfortable speak-
ing with me primarily because I had written about
it from time to time with a couple of articles in
America Magazine and elsewhere online, but noth-
ing formal. I think people maybe saw in me some-
one open to their situations.
When the Orlando massacre happened last year, I
noticed few bishops had reached out, and even fewer
bishops had said the phrase “lgbt,” which I thought
was very revelatory. I saw it as a failure to empathize.
At the time I thought that if this had been, God
forbid, an attack on, say, a Methodist Church, our
bishops would say that we stand with our Methodist
brothers and sisters. But our bishops did not say this
about lgbt people.
This prompted me to think about more strongly
speaking up for our lgbt Catholic brothers and sis-
ters. A few weeks later, New Ways Ministry asked me
if I would receive their Bridge Building Award, and
so the talk I gave at the award event became the basis
for the first part of the book. The second half of the
book is on biblical passages, meditations and ques-
tions for lgbt Catholics.
What steps do you think Church leaders can do
or are doing in continuing to reach out to the lgbt
community?
I make some suggestions for church leaders in the
book. First, church leaders need to listen to them.
The first way to get to know any community is to
listen to them. That is not done a lot in our church.
There is a lot of talking at, or talking to, but not a lot
of listening to understand their experiences. Second,
church leaders need to acknowledge that lgbt
Catholics exist, and to welcome them. They should
Fr. James L. Martin, S.J.
be welcomed and should feel welcomed. After all, it is
their church too. Third, church leaders should advo-
cate for them when they can.
I just read an article about gay men being killed in
Chechnya. Those kinds of things happen all around
the world, and church leaders are called to stand for
all people who are persecuted. But for some reason,
the fact that they are lgbt makes church leaders
sometimes reluctant to stand with them, and for
them.
The response sometimes is to say that to stand with
lgbt persons means to first tell them that they are
sinning. But that is not done with any other group.
With no other group does the question of people
sinning come up as readily as it does with lgbt
Catholics.
We have a call to stand for lgbt Catholics and to
advocate for them. Part of being a Christian is to
stand with those marginalized.
In the same line, what sort of prophetic witness do
you think Church leaders can call forth in the lgbt
community to be more sensitive, compassionate, or
respectful?
It is less church leaders calling this forth in the
lgbt community and more a question of their simply
following the Gospel. lgbt Catholics should treat
church leaders with respect. Often online you see
these sometimes supposedly funny photos of bishops,
with the implication of these bishops being effemi-
nate or gay. It is ironic that the same thing happens
to many gay men growing up. In other words, this is
a perpetuation of what some gay men experienced
May 2017 • The New Wine Press • 9