Nun gives talk on gay rights

Last night, the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Center pulled a sister act. Emphasizing a place for homosexuals in the Catholic Church, Sister Jeannine Gramick spoke on "LGBT Ministry and Non-Violent Love," and many of the 40 or so people who attended the event already knew each other, or Gramick, or both. Which is hardly surprising, considering that Gramick is a Penn alum and was eager to return to her alma mater. She spoke about the parallels between Martin Luther King Jr.'s words and her own life and between the Civil Rights Movement and the LGBT movement. Gramick told the story of being investigated and censored by a Vatican committee for ministering to LGBT people, only to run into the cardinal who was leading the committee on a plane. "What that happenstance meeting on the plane did for me was to put a human face on... my enemy," Gramick said. "If nothing else, one must admire someone who is committed to a cause." Gramick also spoke about some of King's strategies that pertain to her own mission, counseling the audience to remember "how far we have come" and to economically support LGBT institutions. Gramick then greeted the audience members after her speech. About ten people were from the Catholic Parents Network, a group that offers support to Catholic parents of gays and lesbians. Also attending were members of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. Even the people who arrived knowing no one, like Meghan Sullivan, a spiritual director at Chestnut Hill College, were soon schmoozing. Sullivan was Catholic but does not define herself as such anymore because she is gay. She found Gramick's speech inspirational for those in the Catholic Church, but she did not feel that the talk addressed "those of us who can no longer be complicit in our own oppression." Many of the CPN and PFLAG members said their children are also no longer practicing Catholics. "My son wouldn't go near a church if you paid him," said Melina Waldo of PFLAG. However, some find in Gramick their reason to stay in the Catholic Church. "I try to make [Gramick's talks] whenever she's in the area," said Fran Kirschner, president of the Philadelphia chapter of PFLAG. "I'm leaving the Church every other day. She's the one who encourages me to stay."