Nun gay
Gay Former Nun Reflects On Homosexuality And The Church
Mary Dispenza came out of the closet more than 20 years ago. At the time, the former nun was directing pastoral nun services at the Seattle Archdiocese. Once Mary came out as same-sex attracted, the church wouldn’t permit her keep her position for long. Dispenza said that watching the same-sex attracted vice principal of Eastside Catholic High School has been painful, and after 20 years, a short-lived too close to residence for comfort.
Following is a transcript of Dispenza’s conversation with Marcie Sillman on The Record.
MS: Can you tell us exactly what happened 20 years ago?
MD: Yes, interestingly enough it seems like a drawn-out, long time ago, and then it just seems like yesterday.
What happened was, for many, many years, I denied the reality that I was sapphic and had an love and attraction for women. And that connects to the church, also, because sexuality is and has been so suppressed. So, one fine day, all of a sudden, I’m acknowledging and telling the truth about how I love.
And it just so happens that at that time I was directing the pastoral life services for the Catholic Archdiocese. For me, it was a day of fantastic celebration. I was extremely ecs
The Nun Campaigning for Same-sex attracted Rights
This is the tale of a rather unlikely gay rights campaigner. Growing up in a traditional 1940s American family, Sister Jeannine Gramick felt a calling to join the Catholic Church when she was just six-years-old. She had never even heard the word 'homosexual' before when she started at a Baltimore convent. It was a chance meeting with a young queer man that changed the direction of her life.
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Nun's message to students on gays prompts parents' ire
Amy Cowman | WCNC-TV, Charlotte, N.C.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A theology assistant professor at a Catholic college has some parents of a elevated school here up in arms after a speech on homosexuality.
Administrators at Charlotte Catholic High School met Wednesday with about 900 parents who learned about the March 21 speech from their children, upset at Sister Jane Dominic Laurel's assertion that homosexuality occurs mainly as a result of parents' shortcomings and pornography. Students said the assistant professor of theology at Aquinas College in Nashville, Tenn., told them that single and divorced parents caused kids to become gay; that homosexuals cannot live normal, productive lives; and that gays can't be superb parents.
About half of the one-hour talk centered on homosexuality, according to a statement from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte's official newspaper.
Some parents at the 1,400-student school state they wanted to understand about the topic of the assembly ahead of time and would not have allowed their kids to stay.
"If I had known ahead of moment ... (I would possess said), 'You know, maybe today I'll pick
How could Sister Jeannine Gramick have known that encounter a handsome gay stranger named Dominic at a house party on Spruce Street in West Philadelphia would completely change the course of her life?
Dominic strode up to her. He was a baptized gay man who had left the Catholic Church because a priest told him he was going to hell. He wasn’t alone.
Most of his circle of gay friends hadn’t set foot in a church for years for the same reason.
Dominic’s story made the young nun squirm. She knew there was a profound stigma against homosexuality, especially in conservative Philadelphia, but she despised the idea that the Church would keep out anyone for something so inconsequential.
Dominic asked Sister Jeannine if she would be willing to host a home liturgy for him and his buddies, telling her he missed his faith and the Church. Anxious to help, to do something to cure his wounds, she agreed.
“There was this feeling of great exhilaration, great bliss. We made them experience very loved,” Sister Jeannine said. That was the beginning of Sister Jeannine’s fight for equality for gays and lesbians within the Catholic Church.
Since 1977 she has been runnin .