John J. McNeill (September 2, 1925 – September 22, 2015) was an American

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

, psychotherapist and academic theologian in the United States, with a particular reputation within the field of

queer theology Queer theology is a theological method that has developed out of the philosophical approach of queer theory, built upon scholars such as Marcella Althaus-Reid, Michel Foucault, Gayle Rubin, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, and Judith Butler. Queer theolog ...

. McNeill was awarded the National Human Rights Award in 1984 for his contributions to lesbian and gay rights, and was made the Grand Marshal of the New York City Gay Rights Parade in 1987. McNeill was expelled from the Society of Jesus in 1987 at the request of the Vatican.

Biography

Early life and education

Ordained by Cardinal Spellman through the

Society of Jesus The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 ...

in 1959, he obtained a Ph.D. from the

Catholic University of Leuven University of Leuven or University of Louvain (; ) may refer to: * Old University of Leuven (1425–1797) * State University of Leuven (1817–1835) * Catholic University of Leuven (1834–1968) * Katholieke Universiteit Leuven or KU Leuven (1968 ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

in 1964 and later taught at

Le Moyne College Le Moyne College is a private Jesuit college mostly in DeWitt, New York. It was founded by the Society of Jesus in 1946, and named after Jesuit missionary Simon Le Moyne. Le Moyne was the first co-educational Jesuit college in the United Sta ...

Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States. With a population of 148,620 and a Syracuse metropolitan area, metropolitan area of 662,057, it is the fifth-most populated city and 13 ...

, and at

Fordham University Fordham University is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in New York City, United States. Established in 1841, it is named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the Bronx in which its origina ...

in New York City. In 1972, he joined the combined Woodstock Jesuit Seminary and

Union Theological Seminary Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York (shortened to UTS or Union) is a Private college, private ecumenical liberal Christian seminary in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, affiliated with Columbia University since 1928. Presently, Co ...

faculty as professor of

Christian ethics Christian ethics, also known as moral theology, is a multi-faceted ethical system. It is a Virtue ethics, virtue ethic, which focuses on building moral character, and a Deontological ethics, deontological ethic which emphasizes duty according ...

, specializing in

sexual ethics Sexual ethics (also known as sex ethics or sexual morality) is a branch of philosophy that considers the ethics or morality of Human sexual behaviour, sexual behavior. Sexual ethics seeks to understand, evaluate and critique interpersonal relatio ...

Relation with the gay community

McNeill played a part in widening the activities of

DignityUSA DignityUSA is an organization with headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts, that focuses on LGBT rights and the Catholic Church. Dignity Canada exists as the Canadian sister organization. The organization is made up of local chapters across the coun ...

, a support group for LGBT Catholics. In 1976, he published '' The Church and the Homosexual''. The ''New York Times'' described the book as "the first extended nonjudgmental work about gay Catholics, a subject that had long been taboo in official church discourse. It has been credited with helping to set in motion the re-evaluation of the religious stance toward gay people – not only among Catholics but also among those of other faiths – that continues today''.''" According to Charles Curran, the

Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) is a department of the Roman Curia in charge of the religious discipline of the Catholic Church. The Dicastery is the oldest among the departments of the Roman Curia. Its seat is the Palace of t ...

systematically attempted to silence authors critical of the teaching of the Catholic Church concerning homosexuality, citing the "highlighting" of errors by the Congregation in McNeill's ''The Church and the Homosexual''. McNeill was expelled from the

in 1987 at the request of the Vatican, but remained officially a priest.

Death

He died at a hospice in

Fort Lauderdale, Florida Fort Lauderdale ( ) is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and most populous city in Broward County, Florida, Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the ...

, on September 22, 2015, at the age of 90.

Personal life

He was openly gay, and in 2008, he married Charlie Chiarelli, his long-term partner.

In popular media

McNeill was the subject of a 2011 documentary film, ''Taking a Chance on God'', by director Brendan Fay.

Published works

Honors

*Grand Marshal of the New York City Gay Rights Parade in 1987 *The National Human Rights Award in 1984 for his contributions to lesbian and gay rights *The 1989 Distinguished Alumnus Award from Blanton-Peale Institutes of Religion and Health *The Humanitarian Award in 1990 from the Association of Lesbian and Gay Psychologists *The 1993 Distinguished Contribution Award of the Eastern Region American Association of Pastoral Counselors for outstanding contribution to pastoral counseling *The United Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches Special Award for his "dedicated work in spreading the Gospel to the lesbian/gay community" *The 1997 Dignity/USA Prophetic Service Award "In Recognition of over 25 years of extraordinary work on behalf of the

Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered Community" *The 1999

Metropolitan Community Church The Metropolitan Community Church (MCC), also known as the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches (UFMCC), is an international LGBT-affirming Christian denominations, LGBT-affirming mainline Protestant Christian denomination. The ...

of San Francisco "Living Saint" Award *The 2005 "Roger Casement and Eva Gore Booth leadership Award" presented by the New York Irish LGBT group Lavender and Green Alliance

References

External links

John J. McNeill websiteArchived
from the

Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by Internet Archive, an American nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, California. Launched for public access in 2001, the service allows users to go "back in ...

on Jan 2022 *http://takingachanceongod.com/ {{DEFAULTSORT:McNeill, John J. 1925 births 2015 deaths 20th-century American Jesuits 21st-century American Jesuits Dissident Roman Catholic theologians Fordham University faculty Former Jesuits American gay writers LGBTQ people from New York (state) LGBTQ Roman Catholics LGBTQ Roman Catholic priests Queer theologians