LGBTQ+ Educators in Catholic Schools: Embracing Synodality, Inclusivity, and Justice

Since 2007, a Catholic LGBTQ+ organization called New Ways Ministry has documented over 60 cases of LGBTQ+ educators and allies who have been fired from Catholic schools throughout the US. The firings are met with significant local and national public outcry, resulting in fragmented, polarized, and wounded Catholic school communities throughout the nation. Who are these educators? Why are they fired? And is there a better way to respond to the presence of LGBTQ+ employees (as well as students and families) in Catholic education? Dr. Ish Ruiz responds to this controversy with a new theological framework, based on Pope Francis's vision for a synodal Church, that will aid Catholic schools in an effort to include LGBTQ+ educators while remaining faithful to the Catholic tradition. His framework offers a multifaceted approach to this issue by examining the fields of pastoral ministry, sexual morality, ecclesiology, and Catholic social teaching to craft an inclusive synodal vision for Catholic education. More importantly, Ruiz answers Pope Francis's calls for a Church that listens by lifting up the stories of LGBTQ+ educators and their invaluable contributions to Catholic schools. This book calls upon Catholic school leaders (including bishops, diocesan officials, school administrators, and other stakeholders) to treat LGBTQ+ educators with compassionate justice and to foster a school environment where all people, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, can feel respected, welcomed, and cherished as beings made in the Image of God.

Dr. Ish Ruiz(he/him/his) is an assistant professor of Latinx and Queer Decolonial Theology at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, CA, and holds a PhD in Theology and Ethics from the Graduate Theological Union. He has previously taught courses in the fields of Catholic studies and sexuality at Candler School of Theology of Emory University and at the University of Dayton. Ruiz's research intersects queer theology, Latinx theology, ecclesiology, sexual ethics, liberation, human rights, and Catholic education. Prior to his academic appointments, he worked for eleven years as a religion teacher in Catholic high schools in California, Hawaii, and Ohio, where he served as a mentor to LGBTQ+ youth. He has also ministered to LGBTQ+ people in parishes throughout the US and offered numerous workshops and presentations in pastoral conferences.