In the top floor lounge of Villiger Residence Center, residents Mac Castellano ’23 and Bailey Cafone ’23 re-organized the Post-It notes on the window overlooking City Avenue from “Go Birds!” to “Gay is OK.” 

On the street below, about 20 protestors gathered on the sidewalk, singing “Ave Maria” and holding signs that condemned James Martin, S.J., and the university’s decision to invite him to speak on campus. 

“I looked over, looked at what their message was, and me and Bailey thought of having a message ourselves,” Castellano said. 

An hour later, in the Cardinal Foley Campus Center, Martin shared the message that brought the protestors to campus⁠—that the Catholic Church, which has long been hostile against members of the LGBTQIA+ community, needs to be more open and accepting. Martin spoke about the need to invite the LGBT community into the Church.

“LGBT people are just as Catholic as Pope Francis, me, many of the sisters here tonight, our brothers, the Jesuits,” Martin said. “It is not a question of making them Catholic. They already are.”

Martin, a Jesuit priest and editor at large at “America” magazine, has faced critics both inside and outside the Church in response to his outspoken views on the Church’s lack of acceptance of the LGBT community. He also has supporters, among them Pope Francis, who appointed Martin as a consultant to the Vatican’s Secretariat for Communication in 2017.

Maggie Nealon ’20, president of SJUPride, said Martin’s words help marginalized groups, specifically the LGBT community, feel more welcomed in the Catholic Church.

“As somebody who’s a member of the LGBT community and somebody who also grew up in the Catholic Church, I grew up understanding the divide between the two, and I think writings like his serve to build a bridge,” Nealon said.

Martin’s Sept. 17 talk on campus, titled “Building a Bridge” after one of his books, was sponsored by the the Faith-Justice Institute’s Joseph William and Madeline Eberle Klein Fund and the Center for Inclusion and Diversity. It drew an overflowing crowd of university and community members.

Martin told the audience that those who push away the LGBT community are ignoring the fundamentals of the faith.

“Jesus’ main message was one of love and compassion and mercy, and he’s also reaching out first to people along the margins,” Martin said. “The people on the margins most in our church today are LGBT people.”

For Martin, part of welcoming LGBT people into the church means listening to them. 

“Do not treat other Catholics simply by repeating the catechism over and over and over and over without considering their lived experiences,” Martin said.

Despite critics, Martin maintained that nothing he says is against the teachings of the church.

“I’m not challenging any church teaching,” Martin told The Hawk in an interview. “I’m just trying to get the church to welcome LGBT people into what is, after all, their church too.”

Since beginning his fight for LGBT inclusion in the church, Martin says he has noticed change.

“Ten years ago people would come up to me and whisper ‘my child’s gay’,” Martin told The Hawk. “Ten years ago there were very little LGBT programs and now they are proliferating.”

Dan Joyce, S.J., executive director of Mission Programs, said to The Hawk after hearing Martin’s talk that he believes when members of the Church listen to people in the LGBT community, change happens.

“Everyday Catholics have had an experience of somebody who is lesbian, gay or transgender and therefore their ideas about that aren’t abstract, but they are about real people and real situations and about real peoples lives,” Joyce said. “That has really changed the conversation, and it’s really changed people’s thinking.”

Thomas Brennan, S.J., associate professor and chair of the English department, came out publicly as a gay priest many years ago. He said he appreciates Martin’s efforts but also thinks more can be done.

“The Church hasn’t changed its teaching on homosexuality,” Brennan said. “For that reason the painful history between gay people and the Church needs to be remembered.”

Nealon said she believes having Martin speak at St. Joe’s helps to increase inclusivity on campus. 

“I definitely think it’s a step in the right direction despite the hate that may be outside,” Nealon said. “I think this environment right now is definitely a place of discussion and love, as it should be.”

Cara Smith ’21 and Mitchell Shields ’22 contributed to this story.