This edition of From Our Eyes features Emma Niro (‘25 MFA Creative Writing). Niro attended the LGBTQ+ Spiritual Narratives as (Un)requited Love Letters (hosted by the Department of Religious Studies) featuring visiting Griset Lectureship, Dr. Brian Flanagan, a Senior Fellow at New Ways Ministry who spoke on the relationship between LGBTQ+ community and the Catholic Church.

I attended Dr. Brian P. Flanagan’s event, “LGBTQ+ Spiritual Narratives as (Un)requited Love Letters,” with a feeling of cautious hope. All my life I was told you can be queer or Catholic; you cannot be both. As a pansexual woman, who has spent years not feeling welcomed by the Catholic Church, I was anxious to hear what Dr. Flanagan had to say on the matter.

Dr. Flanagan’s presence was charismatic, reminiscent of a priest giving a homily, but he carried himself with ease as if he were talking to his next-door neighbor. He passionately preached that the Church should welcome the LGBTQ+ community and that everyone is a part of the Body of Christ. While he admitted to seeing people struggle in finding a home in the queer community and religious community, he argued that this should not be the case as “the Church’s preferred pronouns are not they/them; they’re we/us.” The Church isn’t a place; It is the people–all kinds of people.

As I looked around, I noticed the demographic in the room aligned with this quote. People of various ages, genders, and ethnicities were listening to Dr. Flanagan. Perhaps they were there for the same reason I was, filled with cautious hope. Or maybe they were there because they couldn’t wrap their heads around what it means to be LGBTQIA+ and a person of faith. Or they were there just to listen and enjoy because they had made peace within themselves, reconciling their queerness with their religion.

The most shocking moment of the event was when Dr. Flanagan revealed that he and other queer people had met Pope Francis in October 2024 to discuss equal rights for transgender and intersex people. Dr. Flanagan said the Pope spent 90 minutes with them just listening to their personal stories about their queerness, their trauma and pain, and their joy in finding a safe space to call home.

According to Pope Francis in Fratelli Tutti: “No one is useless and no one is expendable. This also means finding ways to include those on the peripheries of life.” The Pope’s words remind me of Jesus’s most basic principle: “Love one another. As I have loved you.” No one is undeserving of love and compassion. No one is useless or expendable regardless of their gender, sexuality, ethnicity, race, or beliefs.

I asked Dr. Flanagan how he reconciled with his faith and sexuality. His answer surprised me, stating, “Whenever I had fear, it was never a fear of God but a fear of people.” He admits he was a lucky kid, his Catholic teachers were his greatest allies. He acknowledged this was not the case for every individual.

Dr. Flanagan ended his talk by stating that it is time for the Church to step up and act as God would have wanted.

“We must use our voices to protect the most vulnerable.”

While I left the event feeling more frustrated than ever by the greed, selfishness, and politics of humanity, specifically in America, I am still holding on to that cautious hope. I never knew how many queer voices were in the Church, how many people were working to make the Church a safe space for not just the LGBTQIA+ community, but for all.

For the first time, I saw the potential for change. Now it’s time to put that change into action.