... of deep faith, I ask the Pennsylvania State Assembly and Senate to support the Pennsylvania Fairness Act. Sister Jea
NEW WAYS MINISTRY
4012 29th Street • Mt. Rainier, Maryland 20712-1800 Phone: 301-277-5674 • www.NewWaysMinistry.org E-mail:
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Statement to Support the Pennsylvania Fairness Act I have been a Roman Catholic nun for more than 50 years and am a member of the Sisters of Loretto. I grew up in Northeast Philadelphia. While doing my doctoral work at the University of Pennsylvania in the early 1970s, I met members of the lesbian and gay community. I was subsequently assigned by my religious superiors to a pastoral ministry of justice and reconciliation for LGBT persons for many decades. I also serve as a National Coordinator for the board of the National Coalition of American Nuns, a voluntary association of women religious who speak out on issues of social justice in church and society. While my church’s theology has not been kind to people of variant sexual orientation or gender identities, Pope Francis has ushered in a new era of welcome and respect for all people. Pope Francis preaches the Catholic Church’s social justice teaching, which is based on the principle that all persons are created by God with an intrinsic human dignity, regardless of one’s actions, appearance, or any circumstances in one’s life. Because we all share in a common humanity, all persons must be accorded equal respect and dignity. This includes lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons. Catholic social teaching does not single out people according to sexual orientation or gender identity as unworthy of any human right. On the contrary, it emphasizes commitment to the poor and to those who are marginalized in society. In his apostolic exhortation, The Gospel of Joy, Pope Francis said that we must have “concern for the vulnerable” and those who are “increasingly isolated.” Pope Francis noted the need to create “new forms of cultural synthesis” (par. 209-216). That is, we need to incorporate vulnerable individuals, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender children of God, into the fabric of our social laws and customs. All persons need to feel welcome in our institutions. Because lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons often experience harassment in public places or discrimination in securing a job or a place to live, they need civil protections. There should be no room for being treated unfairly in Pennsylvania merely because of sexuality or gender identity. As a Catholic nun and as a person of deep faith, I ask the Pennsylvania State Assembly and Senate to support the Pennsylvania Fairness Act. Sister Jeannine Gramick, SL October 8, 2015
