The Welcome Table
An Inclusive Spiritual Community for Marginal and Former Catholics
You Are God's Beloved Child
Mission and Opportunities
The Welcome Table inclusive spiritual community includes LGBTQ and other marginalized people who are active, struggling, or former Catholics, as well as families and allies. We are committed to bringing our whole selves to God and each other as gifts to share in love.
Catholic teaching on our common human dignity, the unconditional, limitless, and intimate love of Jesus found in the Gospels, and the primacy of the individual conscience as formed in relationship with our Creator, the Word of God, and tradition, are the foundations on which our community stands.
Those interested in cultivating their relationship with the Divine in a safe space will find information about spiritual accompaniment with Vicki Sheridan, MDiv, founder and certified spiritual director, here.
A newsletter with online events and resources is published monthly for those interested in exploring the intersection of Catholic faith and sexual orientation, gender identity, immigration status, racial designation, etc... Sign up here.
Featured Events and News
Learning the Grammar of Love
By David Palmieri, New Ways Ministry, January 13, 2026
Article Excerpt: “Welcomed. Received. Accepted. These are the Church’s own words. Properly understood, they are not vague, nor do they split hairs or sow confusion. They describe a posture that reflects Jesus’s own desire to unite himself with every person. These words belong to the “grammar of love,” a phrase Pope Francis used to describe “the language of closeness, the language of generous, relational, and existential love that touches the heart, impacts life, and awakens hope and desires.” This is how faithful Catholics ought to speak and act when human dignity is at stake.”
New Ways Ministry guest contributor, David Palmieri, is a theology teacher and founder of Without Exception, a grassroots network of secondary educators dedicated to discerning the art of accompaniment for LGBTQ+ students in Catholic high schools, and received an award from the National Catholic Educational Association in 2021.
"Puentes” - Latino LGBTQ Catholics
Jesuit priest: LGBTQ parish ministry says nothing can separate us from God’s love
By Fr. Brad Mills, SJ, Outreach January 9, 2026
Article excerpt: "A mother’s warm, embracing love is not held back from any of her children, and she often goes to great lengths to make that love known to her children who are struggling or marginalized. This was the case with Juan Diego. It is also the case for many Latino LGBTQ Catholics: the harsh, religiously fueled stigma and sense of unworthiness many feel is real and often results in depression, confusion and a perpetual sense of not being good enough for God. This is a struggle, and it only makes sense that Jesus’ mother would want, in a special way, to draw close to them and embrace them. To help them know that they belong in her son’s Sacred Heart and that nothing can ever change this. The t-shirt of the Puentes ministry proclaims this truth: “Nada puede seperarnos del amor de Dios”—nothing can ever separate us from God’s love.
I believe that the key for Puentes’ success is in the authenticity of its mission: “To help the Catholic Church to be a place where LGBTQ people and their family members know God’s unconditional love.” It’s about helping human beings draw closer to God. Puentes’ only “ideology” is Jesus Christ. Puentes often has to walk a fine line and discern deeply in order to stay true to this mission. Returning to people’s stories and examples of how LGBTQ Catholics and their parents have encountered God’s healing love through Puentes helps us accomplish this. Ultimately, any decision the ministry takes is most effective when it is pointed at Christ."
Spiritual Growth
Walking Together, Walking with Christ
A Retreat for LGBTQ+ People & Friends
Friday-Sunday March 6-8, 2026
Siena Retreat Center 5637 Erie Street Racine, WI 53402
New Ways Ministry Retreat March 6-8
On Easter Sunday, the Risen Christ met two disciples on the road to the village of Emmaus. Their hearts were burning within them when he opened the Scriptures, and they recognized him in the breaking of the bread, filling the disciples with such joy that they raced back to Jerusalem that very night.
Jesus continues to walk with us as LGBTQ+ Catholics, opening the Scriptures and breaking the bread. We still have much to learn about ourselves, about each other, and about our loving God. This retreat will explore how we walk together well with our fellow disciples in a synodal church – those we love and who have loved us and those we find more challenging travel companions – and how it is precisely along the way that the Holy Spirit will empower us to recognize Christ’s presence among us.
Our time together will combine talks, synodal conversation, silent meditation, communal prayer, and socializing.
Retreat Leader
Brian Flanagan, PhD., is the John Cardinal Cody Chair of Catholic Theology at Loyola University Chicago where he pursues research in the field of ecclesiology, focusing particularly on questions of sin and holiness in the church, on synodality and synodal structures, and on the relevance of LGBTQ+ experience in Catholic ecclesiology.
Take Action
2026 Trans Girl Scouts To Order Cookies From!
This year, consider ordering your Girl Scout cookies from a trans girl scout to make their day!
Book Club Suggestion
New book: "Theology for the Unwanted is a bold, compassionate, and faithful exploration of what it means to belong to the Catholic Church—especially when you've been made to feel like you don't. Drawing on the depth of Catholic theology, scripture, and lived experience, Daniel C. Tillson speaks directly to those who have felt pushed to the margins: LGBTQ Catholics, divorced and remarried individuals, single adults, and others who wonder if there is still room for them in the pews. His answer is clear and heartfelt: Yes, there is.
Writing with pastoral warmth and theological clarity, Tillson shows how Catholic teaching can—and must—engage with the complexity of modern life while remaining rooted in truth. He brings the reader into conversation with scripture, natural law, and contemporary moral theology, illuminating how the Church has developed over time and how it continues to grow. Without campaigning for doctrinal change, this book opens space for discernment, healing, and authentic spiritual maturity—encouraging each person to live fully into the dignity with which God created them.”
Documentary
“Wonderfully Made - LGBTQ+R(eligion)"
Description:
Have you ever experienced a queer image of God or queer icon of a holy person? LGBTQ Catholics are constantly surrounded by messaging that we and our relationships can't be holy and we absorb this from birth through our families, parishes, and schools. It permeates Catholic culture both in what we hear and see, and in what we do NOT hear or see.
But there are theologians, ministers, artists, and others who are working hard to put out a very different message: thatALL creation is holy, made purposely and lovingly by God, each creature incarnating a piece of the incomprehensible Mystery that is the Eternal. People like director Yuval David and executive producer Mark McDermott, a married couple (the latter a Catholic) who worked for five years to produce thedocumentary "Wonderfully Made: LGBTQ+R(eligion),"recently shown by the Sisters of St. Joseph in Baden, PA. To the left you will find the trailer for this incredible film, as well as links to the full movie and queer depictions of Jesus that resulted from the project.