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A Network to Support LGBTQ+ Ministry in Catholic High Schools

Catholic faith professes that all of creation was formed in a state of journeying. Along the line of salvation history, through the grace of the Incarnation, God became man in the person of Jesus Christ to journey with us and show us the path to holiness. "The way" includes a commitment to faithfulness and justice, a commitment to God and others, as a means of building up the Kingdom of God, which reigns among us. But discipleship is a choice.

The sacramental worldview of Catholic faith offers us the choice to participate in the fullness of God's creation or not. How can we love a God we cannot see if we are not able to love the neighbor we can see? This requires humility and vulnerability, but also sacrifice. The grandeur and frailty of our own humanity invites us to hold these complexities in tension: visible and invisible; human and divine; faith and works; honesty and discretion; truth and love; mercy and justice.

Without Exception seeks to walk the narrow ridge between right belief and right practice, between the Catholic intellectual tradition and Catholic social teaching, between what Pope Francis calls "desk-bound theology" and "field hospital ministry." In this state of journeying, we desire to walk with all of God's people—including our LGBTQ+ children—as missionary disciples.

MISSION STATEMENT

Without Exception is a network of Catholic secondary educators dedicated to discerning the art of accompaniment for LGBTQ+ students in Catholic schools. Through a commitment to faithful dialogue and peer collaboration, we seek to understand what it means to share the love of Jesus Christ with every person, without exception.

name

The name Without Exception is born from the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

Jesus knew and loved us each and all during his life, his agony, and his Passion and gave himself up for each one of us: “The Son of God . . . loved me and gave himself for me.” He has loved us all with a human heart. For this reason, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, pierced by our sins and for our salvation, “is quite rightly considered the chief sign and symbol of that . . . love with which the divine Redeemer continually loves the eternal Father and all human beings” without exception (478).

This sentiment is echoed by Pope Francis in Fratelli Tutti: “we are called to love everyone, without exception” (241).

The liturgical color purple is used as a symbol of prayer and preparation.

tag line

Hope is the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ's promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit . . . . Christian hope unfolds from the beginning of Jesus’ preaching in the proclamation of the beatitudes (CCC 1817, 1820).

The tagline “give rise to hope” echoes Pope Francis in his opening address for the Synod on Young People (2018): “The meeting between generations can be extremely fruitful for giving rise to hope.”

This theme reemerges in the Vademecum document for the Synod on Synodality:

Give rise to hope: Doing what is right and true does not seek to attract attention or make headlines, but rather aims at being faithful to God and serving His People. We are called to be beacons of hope, not prophets of doom.

Primary logo

The circle in our logo represents the universal (catholic) call to be witnesses to the gospel

+ in all places, “to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8),

+ in all times, as symbolized by the colors of the liturgical year, and

+ to all people, as we “look upon our neighbor (without any exception) as another self” (CCC 1931).

The heart at the center of the logo is an interpretation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

The colors of the liturgical year symbolize glory (gold); Mary and water (blue); blood and fire (red); penance and preparation (purple); life and hope (green); and joy (rose).

secondary logo

As a symbol of the Holy Spirit, the flame recalls the preaching of John the Baptist on the coming of Jesus Christ: “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Matthew 3:11).

The flame also presents a creative interpretation of our monogram: We.

membership

Without Exception welcomes allies who work in Catholic high schools and other related fields of ministry to young people. To inquire about joining, please contact us. There is no cost for membership. All membership information is kept strictly confidential.

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