Core Jesuit values such as care for the entire person (cura personals), the tireless pursuit of justice, recognition of each person’s inherent dignity as a child of God, concern for the marginalized, finding God in all things, being people for others, and doing all things for the greater glory of God constitute a solid foundation for outreach and ministry to LGBTQ Catholics.
The following excerpts, culled from Decree 1: Companions in a Misson of Reconciliation and Justice of the Society’s General Congregation 36, magnify that foundational point.
- “The Society of Jesus has always sought to know and to follow God’s will for us” (1)
- “In our communities and apostolates, we hear the call to rediscover hospitality to strangers, to the young, to the poor, and to those who are persecuted. Christ himself teaches us this hospitality.” (16)
- “At the heart of Ignatian spirituality is the transforming encounter with the mercy of God in Christ that moves us to a generous perusal response…This foundational experience of God’s mercy has always been the source of the apostolic audacity that has marked the Society and which we must preserve.” (19)
- “‘Mercy,’ Pope Francis reminds us, ‘is not an abstraction but a lifestyle consisting in concrete gestures rather than mere words.’ For us Jesuits, compassion is action, an action discerned together. Yet we know that there is no authentic familiarity with God if we do not allow ourselves to be moved to compassion and action by an encounter with the Christ who is revealed in the suffering, vulnerable faces of people, indeed in the suffering of creation.” (20)
- “We Jesuits are called to help heal a broken world…” (29)
- “…We must accompany and remain close to the most vulnerable.” (30)
- “All our ministries should seek to build bridges, to foster peace.” (31)
- “In faith, we know that, amidst the difficulties and challenges of our time, God never ceases to labor for the salvation of all people, indeed of all creation. We believe that God continues his work of ‘reconciling the world to himself in Christ.'” (2 Cor 5:19) (40)
- “We hear the urgent summons to join the Lord in caring for the neediest and to extend God’s mercy to where injustice, suffering or despair seem to thwart the divine plan…’Now is the acceptable time! Now is the day of salvation!” (2 Cor 6:2) (40)
All quotes taken from Decree 1: Companions in a Mission of Reconciliation and Justice of General Congregation 36
