Congregation for the Doctrine
of the Faith
Notification regarding
Sister Jeannine Gramick, SSND,
and Father Robert Nugent, SDS
Sister Jeannine
Gramick,
SSND, and Father Robert Nugent, SDS, have been engaged in pastoral
activities directed toward homosexual persons for more than twenty
years. In 1977, they founded the organisation New Ways Ministry
within territory of the Archdiocese of Washington in order to promote
"justice and reconciliation between lesbian and gay Catholics and the
wider Catholic community".1 They are the authors of the book
Building Bridges: Gay and Lesbian Reality and the Catholic Church
(Mystic: Twenty-Third Publications, 1992) and editors of the volume Voices
of Hope: A Collection of Positive Catholic Writings on Gay and Lesbian
Issues (New York: Center for Homophobia Education, 1995).
From the beginning, in presenting the Church's teaching on
homosexuality, Father Nugent and Sister Gramick have continually called
central elements of that teaching into question. For this reason, in
1984, James Cardinal Hickey, the Archbishop of Washington, following
the failure of a number of attempts at clarification, informed them
that they could no longer undertake their activities in that
Archdiocese. At the same time, the Congregation for Institutes of
Consecrated Life and for Societies of Apostolic Life ordered them to
separate themselves totally and completely from New Ways Ministry,
adding that they were not to exercise any apostolate without faithfully
presenting the Church's teaching regarding the intrinsic evil of
homosexual acts.
Despite this action by the Holy See, Father Nugent and Sister Gramick
continued their involvement in activities organised by New Ways
Ministry,
though removing themselves orn leadership positions. They also
continued to maintain and promote ambiguous positions on homosexuality
and explicitly criticised documents of the Church!s Magisterium on this
issue. Because of their statements and activities, the Congregation for
the Doctrine of the Faith and the Congregation for Institutes of
Consecrated Life and for Societies of Apostolic Life received numerous
complaints and urgent requests for clarification from Bishops and
others in the United States of America. It was clear that the
activities of Sister Gramick and Father Nugent were causing
difficulties in not a few Dioceses and that they were continuing to
present the teaching of the Church as one possible option among others
and as open to fundamental change.
In 1988, the Holy See established a Commission under the Presidency of
Adam Cardinal Maida to study and evaluate their public statements and
activities and to determine whether these were faithftil to Catholic
teaching on homosexuality.
After the publication of Building Bridges, the
investigation of the Commission focused primarily on this book, which
summarised their activities and thinking. In 1994, the Commission
issued its findings, which were communicated to the two authors. When
their responses to these findings were received, the Commission
formulated its final Recommendations and forwarded them to the
Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and for Societies of
Apostolic Life. While not overlooking the presence of some positive
aspects in the apostolate of Father Nugent and Sister Gramick, the
Commission found serious deficiencies in their writings and pastoral
activities, which were incompatible with the fullness of Christian
morality. The Commission, therefore, recommended disciplinary measures,
including the publication of some form of Notification, in
order to counteract and repair the harmful confusion caused by the
errors and ambiguities in their publications and activities.
As the problems presented by the two authors were primarily of a
doctrinal nature, in 1995, the Congregation for Institutes of
Consecrated Life and for Societies of Apostolic Life transferred the
entire case to the competence of the Congregation for the Doctrine of
the Faith. At this point, with the hope that Father Nugent and Sister
Gramick would be willing to express their assent to Catholic teaching
on homosexuality and to correct the errors in their writings, the
Congregation undertook another attempt at resolution by inviting them
to respond unequivocally to certain questions regarding their position
on the morality of homosexual acts and on the homosexual inclination.
Their responses, dated February 22, 1996, were not sufficiently clear
to dispel the serious ambiguities of their position. In these, Sister
Gramick and Father Nugent demonstrated a clear conceptual understanding
of the Church's teaching on homosexuality, but refrained from
professing any adherence to that teaching. Furthermore, the
publication, in 1995, of their book Voices of Hope: A Collection of
Positive Catholic Writings on Gay and Lesbian Issues had made it
clear that there was no change in their opposition to fundamental
elements of the Churclfs teaching.
Given the fact that certain of the statements of Father Nugent and
Sister Gramick were clearly incompatible with the teaching of the
Church and that the wide dissemination of these errors through their
publications and pastoral activities was becoming an increasing source
of concern for Bishops in the United States of America, the
Congregation decided that the case should be resolved according to the
procedure outlined in its Regulations for Doctrinal Examination
(chapter 4).2
In the Ordinary Session of October 8, 1997, the Cardinals and Bishops
who make up the Congregation judged that the statements of Father
Nugent and Sister Gramick, which had been identified through the
above-mentioned procedure of the Regulations for Doctrinal
Examination, were in fact erroneous and dangerous. After the Holy
Father had approved the formal contestatio
of the authors, the abovementioned erroneous statements were presented
to them through their respective Superiors General. Each was asked to
respond to the contestatio personally and independently from
the other, to allow them the greatest freedom in expressing their
individual positions.
In February 1998, the two Superiors General forwarded the responses to
the Congregation. In the Ordinary Sessions of May 6 and May 20, 1998,
the Members of the Congregation carefully evaluated the responses,
after having received the opinions of members of the Episcopate of the
United States and of experts in the field of moral theology. The
Members of the Congregation were unanimous in their decision that the
responses of the two, while containing certain positive elements, were
unacceptable. In each case, Father Nugent and Sister Grarnick had
sought to justify the publication of their books and neither had
expressed personal adherence to the ChurcWs teaching on homosexuality
in sufficiently unequivocal terms. Thus, it was decided that they
should be asked to formulate a public declaration, which would be
submitted to the judgement of the Congregation. In this declaration
they were asked to express their interior assent to the teaching of the
Catholic Church on homosexuality and to acknowledge that the two
above-mentioned books contained errors.
The two declarations which arrived in August 1998 were examined by the
Congregation in the Ordinary Session of October 21, 1998. Once again,
they were not sufficient to resolve the problems associated with their
writings and pastoral activities. Sister Gramick, while expressing her
love for the Church, simply refused to express any assent whatsoever to
the teaching of the Church on homosexuality. Father Nugent was more
responsive, but not unequivocal in his statement of interior assent to
the teaching of the Church. It was decided by the Members of the
Congregation, therefore, that Father Nugent should be given yet another
opportunity to express unequivocal assent. For this reason, the
Congregation formulated a declaration of assent and, with its letter of
December 15, 1998, forwarded it to Father Nugent, through his Superior
General, for his acceptance. His response, dated January 25, 1999,
showed that this attempt had not met with success. Father Nugent would
not sign the declaration he had received and responded by formulating
an alternative text which modified the Congregation's declaration on
certain important points. in particular, he would not state that
homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered and he added a section
which calls into question the definitive and unchangeable nature of
Catholic doctrine in this area.
Given the failure of the repeated attempts of the Church's legitimate
authorities to resolve the problems presented by the writings and
pastoral activities of the two authors, the Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith is obliged to declare for the good of the
Catholic faithful that the positions advanced by Sister Jeannine
Gramick and Father Robert Nugent regarding the intrinsic evil of
homosexual acts and the objective disorder of the homosexual
inclination are doctrinally unacceptable because they do not faithfully
convey the clear and constant teaching of the Catholic Church in this
area. 3
Father Nugent and Sister Gramick have often stated that they seek, in
keeping with the Churcifs teaching, to treat homosexual persons "with
respect, compassion and sensitivity'.4 However, the
promotion of errors and ambiguities is not consistent with'a Christian
attitude of true respect and compassion: persons who are struggling
with homosexuality no less than any others have the right to receive
the authentic teaching of the Church from those who minister to them.
The ambiguities and errors of the approach of Father Nugent and Sister
Gramick have caused confusion among the Catholic people and have harmed
the community of the Church. For these reasons, Sister Jeannine
Gramick, SSND, and Father Robert Nugent, SDS, are permanently
prohibited from any pastoral work involving homosexual persons and are
ineligible, for an undetermined period, for any office in their
respective religious institutes.
The Sovereign Pontiff John Paul 11, at the Audience of May 14, 1999,
granted to the undersigned Secretary, approved the present
Notification, adopted in the Ordinary Session of this Congregation, and
ordered its publication.
Rome, from the Offices of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith, May 31, 1999.
+ Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Prefect
+ Tarcisio Bertone, S.D.B., Archbishop emeritus of Vercelli, Secretary
1 Voices of Hope: A Collection of Positive Catholic
Writings on Gay and Lesbian Issues (Now York: Center for
Hornophobia. Education, 1995) ix.
2 Cf. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Agendi
ratio in doctrinarum examine, art. 23-27: AAS 89
3 Cf. Gn 19: 1 -11; Lv 18:22; 20:13; 1
Cor 6:9; Rom 1: 18-32; 1 Tim 1: 10; Catechism
of the Catholic Church 2357-2359, 2396; Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith, Declaration Persona humana 8: AAS
68 (1976), 84-85; Letter Homosexualitatis problema: AAS 79
(1987), 543-554.
4 Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2358.
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