Outreach 2024
LGBTQ Catholic Ministry Conference
Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., August 2-4
About Outreach
Outreach is an LGBTQ Catholic resource. We offer news, essays, resources and community for LGBTQ Catholics and those who minister with them in the Catholic Church worldwide. Outreach also highlights welcoming parishes, schools and other Catholic organizations.
Our website features original articles from theologians, scholars, church leaders, family members and many others, both lay and clergy. It also provides information about our conferences and gatherings.
Outreach operates under the auspices of America Media, a Jesuit ministry, and is rooted in the love of Jesus, who reached out to all those who felt excluded.
James Martin, S.J., Founder
James Martin, S.J., is a Jesuit priest, the editor at large at America Media and founder of Outreach. He is also a consultor to the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication and a member of the Synod of Bishops. Father Martin is the author of several books, including the New York Times bestsellers The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything, Jesus: A Pilgrimage and Learning to Pray. His most recent book is Come Forth: The Promise of Jesus’s Greatest Miracle. His book Building a Bridge, about LGBTQ Catholics, has been translated into nine languages.
Michael O'Loughlin, Executive Director
Michael J. O’Loughlin is the executive director of Outreach. He is the author of “Hidden Mercy: Catholics, AIDS, and Untold Stories of Compassion in the Face of Fear,” which is based on the America podcast series, “Plague: Untold Stories of AIDS and the Catholic Church.” He also authored The Tweetable Pope: A Spiritual Revolution in 140 Characters.
Mike has won awards from the Catholic Media Association, the National LGBT Journalists Association and the Religion News Association. In 2023, he was a nominee for the GLAAD Media Awards for his reporting on H.I.V. and AIDS.
Previously, he was national correspondent for America and a staff writer for The Boston Globe’s Catholic site, Crux. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, Foreign Policy and The Advocate. He has been interviewed by a number of media outlets, including NPR, the BBC, ABC, CBS, Fox News and MSNBC. He frequently gives talks on a range of Catholic issues.
A graduate of Yale Divinity School and Saint Anselm College, he lives in Rhode Island.
A message of welcome from our founder, James Martin, S.J.
On behalf of many people involved in this effort, welcome to Outreach, an LGBTQ Catholic resource.
As you’ll see by exploring our site, we hope to offer news, resources and community for LGBTQ Catholics, for their families and friends, and for those who minister to them in the Catholic Church around the world. Through our website and conferences, we also aim to raise up people, parishes, schools and other Catholic ministries and organizations that offer inspiring stories and provide a home for LGBTQ people.
Reflecting on LGBTQ ministries in the church, we realized that there was no one place that served as a clearinghouse. So, we decided to bring all these resources together and make it easier for people to find what’s already being done, offering them some new things as well.
Outreach, which operates under the auspices of America Media, is rooted in the love of Jesus, who, during his public ministry, reached out to all those who were excluded. It’s inspired by the saints and blessed and holy men and women who, in every age, cared for those who were neglected. And it’s grounded in the church’s call today to treat LGBTQ people with “respect, compassion and sensitivity” (Catechism #2358).
Outreach also hopes to offer a place where church leaders, both clergy and lay, can encounter the LGBTQ faithful, in their “joys and hopes” and “griefs and anxieties” as well as engage in respectful dialogue (Gaudium et Spes, #1). Pope Francis’s model of “closeness, compassion and tenderness” towards the LGBTQ community inspires us in our ministry of outreach.
Overall, we hope to help LGBTQ Catholics know that God loves them, that they are at the heart of their church and that they have many gifts to offer the People of God. You’ll see a few main parts to our website. First, news, which will include (obviously) news stories about LGBTQ Catholics and those who minister them, as well as personal essays and reflections from around the world. Second, a resource page, which includes links to as many worldwide resources as we could identify: articles, books, videos, websites and Catholic organizations that we hope will help you.
We hope you’ll find this resource helpful, and we ask for your prayers. Enjoy Outreach!
—James Martin, S.J.
A prayer to St. Joseph, patron of Outreach
(CNS photo/Gregory Shemitz)
St. Joseph, patron of the home,
Help us to build a welcoming home
for LGBTQ people in the church.
St. Joseph, foster father of Jesus,
help us to remind all our brothers, sisters and siblings
that they are beloved children of God.
St. Joseph, patron of the family,
help us to nurture families
where all children feel loved for who they are.
St. Joseph, craftsman and laborer,
help us to work to spread
God’s justice in the world.
St. Joseph, patron of builders,
help us to build a society
where all are safe from violence.
St. Joseph, loving husband of Mary,
help us to lead lives
of care and devotion to those we love.
St. Joseph, patron of chastity,
help us to be models of selfless love
and boundless charity.
St. Joseph, patron of the hidden life,
help us to carry out our work with
grace, patience and humility.
St. Joseph, pray for all LGBTQ people
who find in you a loving parent,
protector and guardian.
St. Joseph, pray that all those
who feel lost, rejected or excluded,
will come to know that God loves them
as much as you loved Jesus.
St. Joseph, pray for all of us,
no matter who we are,
where we come from or
where we are going.
Amen.
Outreach, which is part of America Media, is made possible by your prayers and the generosity of our donors.
Raskob Foundation for Catholic Activities
George Konnight Charitable Trust
ConferenceDirect Foundation
E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation
America House Jesuit Community
Mark A. McDermott, Esq.
Deacon Jim Knipper
Laura and Brian Hull
Massiello Weyant Charitable Fund
William Q. Derrough
Mary J. Donnelly Foundation
Kim Bepler, Fordham University Trustee
Edward C. and Colleen Roohan
Miguel Gonzalez
Christopher Butler
Carolyn and Charles Buscarino
USA East Province of the Society of Jesus
Madeleine and Philip A. Lacovara, Esq.
Levecke Family Foundation
Founder:
James Martin, S.J.
Executive Director:
Michael O’Loughlin