Outreach conference was spirit-filled
To the Editor:
The Outreach Conference 2024 held last month at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. was a time to celebrate and elevate the LGBTQ Catholic experience. Father James Martin, S.J., founded Outreach in 2022 and the ministry has held an annual conference since then. (Outreach.faith website offers many resources, articles and reflections.)
This year Pope Francis sent a handwritten message to the conference expressing his appreciation that Cardinal Wilton Gregory of Washington, D.C. would celebrate Mass at the conference. The pope said he would be with the cardinal and all attendees spiritually, united in prayer.
The weekend began on a Friday evening with a prayer service at Georgetown’s Dahlgren Chapel, followed by the keynote address of Georgetown’s vice president, Father Mark Bosco; dinner, socializing and Evening Prayer at nearby Holy Trinity Catholic Church.
Cardinal Gregory celebrated Mass on Saturday, followed by breakfast and three blocks of panels addressing various subjects around LGBTQ Catholics and their life in the Church. Renowned artist and iconographer Father William Hart McNichols gave his keynote address. He has produced images for many Catholic churches including “Our Lady of the New Advent” for the Archdiocese of Denver. From 1983 to 1990, Father McNichols worked as a chaplain with the AIDS hospice team of St. Vincent’s Hospital in Manhattan.
Father Martin celebrated Mass on Sunday, followed by a brunch and an address by Amy-Jill Levine, a Jewish Scripture scholar and author of “The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus.” She is the first Jew to teach a course on the New Testament at Rome’s Pontifical Biblical Institute. The conference closed with an informal conversation between Father Martin and Vatican correspondent Christopher White regarding current events in Rome. It was a great conference and spirit-filled!
Mary Lu and Bill Callahan
St. Thomas More Parish, Coralville
