About Us

"Spirituality has to do with critiquing the present. . . . Follow the example of Jesus to question, question, question authority. . . . The tradition is being courageous enough to ask the right questions along the way. The courage to question the seemingly unquestionable is the essence of spiritual leadership. . . ."

Sister Joan Chittister, OSB
Closing Address
Annual Convention of the National Catholic Educational Association
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
April 20, 2001

Our Mission

The Catholic Pastoral Committee on Sexual Minorities (CPCSM) is a grassroots, self-supporting, and independent coalition dedicated to promoting ministry to, with, and on behalf of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) persons -- primarily of a Roman Catholic background -- and their families and friends.

CPCSM seeks to create communities that are images of justice and inclusiveness, both in the Church and in society at large; to foster safe and affirming spaces for GLBT youths, adults, families, and their friends as we help them to integrate their sexual identities with their Catholic heritage; to combat violence, abuse, injustice, and prejudice; and to cultivate a world in which all human beings are regarded as worthy of love and respect.

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CPCSM Board of Directors

Leadership Team

Michael Bayly Executive Coordinator, Safe Schools Project    Coordinator

An educator, activist, and artist, Michael holds a Masters in Theology from the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul. His thesis explored the coming out process as a spiritual journey and involved the creation of a performance/arts piece entitled In the Footsteps of Spring -- a piece that has subsequently been performed throughout the Twin Cities area and as far away as San Antonio, Texas.

Michael has been involved with CPCSM for over 9 years -- beginning with serving on a committee that brought Bishop Thomas Gumbleton to the Twin Cities in October 1994. Michael was the editor of the first issue of CPCSM's Rainbow Spirit in 1998 and continues to serve as the coordinator of the Safe Schools Project.

Prior to his theology studies at St. Catherine's, Michael was an elementary school teacher in a Catholic school for six years -- an experience he recalls with great fondness. More recently, Michael taught as an adjunct professor at the College of St. Catherine's Minneapolis campus.

He currently works as the director of the Education for Liberation Program at Spirit of the Lakes United Church of Christ and recently graduated from United Theological Seminary (UTS) of the Twin Cities with a second masters degree -- this one in Theology and the Arts. Michael's focus throughout his studies at UTS was film and theology, and his thesis involved the writing of a screenplay. (See the following link: http://www.cpinternet.com/mbayly/filmandtheology.htm.)

Michael is active in the wider justice and peace community -- particularly in the anti-corporate globalization and anti-war movements. He has helped organize numerous national and regional conferences including Committing to Peace -- Generation to Generation in 1999 and ReVisioning: Building Community for a Sustainable Future in 2002. Many of the people and issues he has encountered in the justice and peace movement are documented in his online photographic exhibit, Faces of Resistance. (See the following link:
http://www.cpinternet.com/mbayly/facesofresistance.htm.)

Michael has also created and maintains a website entitled Woman of Repute -- dedicated to the late, great British soul singer Dusty Springfield.(See http://www.cpinternet.com/mbayly.)

Leadership Team (cont.)

Beverly Barrett
Secretary and
Community Solutions Fund Liaison

Paul has previously served as CPCSM's treasurer in the early 1990s and is a board member of Quatrefoil Library. He is also an active member of the local DFL Party.

Paul Fleege
Treasurer

Mary Lynn is the past president and a current board member of PFLAG, a past board member of Cretin-Derham Hall High School, and a life-long social justice activist.

 

Mary Lynn Murphy
President

Other Board Members

Bro. Michael Lee Anderson, FSC
Board Member

Mary is the mother of eight children -- including a gay son -- and has 15 grandchildren, having been married for 46 years to the late Deacon Bill Beckfeld, who passed away in 2001. Now a retired chaplain, she was a member of the Diaconate Community Class of 1994 and a member of the Deacon Council. In addition to her work with CPCSM, Mary is also active with the Archdiocesan Commission on Women and is currently enrolled in the Sacred Ground Spiritual Direction Program.  

Mary Beckfeld
Board Member

Sue Kramp
Board Member

Tom Murr
Board Member

Bill Kummer (with CPCSM mascot, "Skipper")
Board Member and Co-Founder (deceased)
Recipient of John Ireland Award, 1989
Recipient of Catholic Schools Award, 1999

A co-founder and the general coordinator, since 1989, of the Catholic Pastoral Committee on Sexual Minorities (CPCSM), Bill Kummer has 20 years of experience in various pastoral ministries and nine years of teaching and administrative experience at the elementary and secondary levels. A Benedictine monk for nine years, Bill holds an MA in Theology from the School of Divinity at St. Louis University, and has presented workshops on gay-lesbian ministry at several national Catholic conferences.

From 1988 to1995, Bill was a cofounder and publisher--on a volunteer basis--of PWAlive, a quarterly holistic journal by and for persons living with or in someway affected by HIV/AIDS. The first of its kind in the Midwest and distributed to over 400 local and national AIDS-related agencies, this journal was unique in that it offered, for the first time since the start of the AIDS crisis, a holistic message of hope, healing, and community solidarity.

In 1993, as a volunteer, Bill single-handedly created a Catholic-supported lobby initiative to promote the passage of the bill that added GLBT persons as a protected class to the Minnesota Human Rights Act. Bill coordinated the lobbying of 100 legislators, and, with the help of a clerical volunteer, also created a 75-page Catholic lobbying resource manual, that was widely used and acclaimed by a number of legislators. Karen Clark, a co-author of the bill later stated that the lobbying of the Catholic legislators was crucial to the bill's passage.

In 1989 Bill received the 21st Annual Archbishop Ireland Award, presented each year by the Catholic Commission on Social Justice of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, for his dedicated work on behalf of lesbian and gay persons and their families and on behalf of persons living with AIDS. Also, in June of 1998 Bill was the recipient of a recognition award from the schools of the Archdiocese for his work in setting up and coordinating a safe schools initiative among Catholic secondary schools.

Throughout his life, Bill's personal convictions and belief in Gospel values have inclined him to be involved in a number of social justice issues, including immigrant rights, affordable housing, AIDS advocacy, animal rights, childhood sexual abuse, safer schools, and other environmental issues.

David J. McCaffrey
Co-Founder and Board Member
Web Site Coordinator

Along with her three CSJ siblings -- Kate, Jane, and Rita --Brigid is a longtime justice and peace activist and member of Women Against Military Madness (WAMM). The four McDonald "sisters" were recently featured in the new video, entitled Four Sisters for Peace, in which they share about their passion and life-long journeys as activists for peace and justice.

Brigid McDonald, CSJ
Board Member and
Hospitality Coordinator

Theresa O'Brien, CSJ
Board Member


Rob Peick
Board Member

Gerry Sell
Board Member
( Photo Not Available)
Gerry is a longtime civil justice activist and grandmother. She was the chair of the Governor's Task Force on Lesbian and Gay Minnesotans (1990-1994), which led to the inclusion of sexual orientation in the Minnesota's Human Rights Act.

Other Major Volunteers

Dr. William C. Hunt, STD
Theological Advisor

John is a Professor in the English Department at the University of Minnesota, a parishioner at the Basilica of St. Mary and the former academic director of the Steven J. Schochet Center for GLBT Studies at the University of Minnesota. He and his partner of sixteen years, Andrew Elfenbein, live in South Minneapolis with their 8-year-old son Dmitri.

John Watkins

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Bishop Thomas J. Gumbleton

The Bishop Gumbleton Peace and Justice Award was created in 1997 in honor of Bishop Thomas J. Gumbleton, retired auxiliary bishop of Detroit, and his tireless work as a advocate for peace and justice on behalf of GLBT persons and their families. The award also acknowledges his lifelong advocacy work against war and for social justice, especially in support of the human rights of other marginalized and voiceless groups throughout the world, many of whom are experiencing inhumane physical and psychological treatment.

The award is given periodically by the Board of CPCSM to a special person or group whose work on behalf of GLBT persons and their families reflects the same commitment to the Gospel call for peace and justice as exemplified by Bishop Gumbleton.

Previous recipients of the Bishop Gumbleton Peace and Justice Award have included: Paula Ruddy and Jacob Reitan in 2006; State Representative Karen Clark, Kathy Itzin, and Mary Lynn Murphy in 2004; Frank Reilly, PhD, and Craig Barrett in 1999; Tom and Darlene White in 1998; and the Cretin-Derham Hall High School Safe Staff, the Hill-Murray High School Safe Staff, and Sister Mary Ellen Gevelinger, OP, Director of Personnel and Planning in the Schools Program of the Catholic Education and Formation Ministries Division of the local archdiocese, in 1997.

(Click here for the complete article.)

 

The Father Henry F. LeMay Award

Father Henry F. LeMay 1919 - 1981

The Father Henry F. LeMay Award was created in 1984 to honor the memory of the late Reverend Henry F. LeMay, a priest of the Diocese of New Ulm and previously of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, who co-founded Dignity/Twin Cities and was a local and national leader in the creation of a ministry to gay men and lesbians and in championing their human rights.

Previous recipients of this award have been: Joan Bednarczyk and Marty Dohmen in 1999, Chuck and Alice Rice in 1998; Bill Hunt in 1992, Paul Fleege in 1991, Beverly Barrett in 1990, Sue Marks in 1989, Rev. Leo Tibesar in 1988, Jim Maurer in 1987, Bill Kummer in 1986, Roger and Donna Urbanski in 1985, and David McCaffrey in 1984.

(Click here for the complete article.)

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Founded in 1980, CPCSM was incorporated as a nonprofit [501(c)(3)] organization in 1982, CPCSM is a member organization of the Community Solutions Fund (CSF), a collaboration of more than 40 Twin Cities service agencies, neighborhood groups, and advocacy organizations dedicated to meeting community needs and creating lasting, positive change, and of the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits.

Although since its inception CPCSM has had an informal mutual working relationship with the Archdiocese, it has no official ties to it. Underlying the Committee's work is the assumption that one's sexuality can be affirmed as a gift and integrated holistically into one's faith life. Over the past 20 years, CPCSM has established itself as a leader in the pastoral field through its development of innovative models that bridge the gap between the institutional Church and its alienated members.

In response to the Archdiocese's call to develop outreach ministries for lesbian and gay persons, in 1988, CPCSM embarked on its Parish-Based Gay and Lesbian Ministry Program (PBGLMP) with the development of its seminar experience Sharing Silent Journeys of Faith: Embracing Our Exiled Gay Brothers and Lesbian Sisters.

A ministry outreach to the Catholic High Schools was begun in 1995. This effort is dedicated to promoting an environment within Catholic education where all, regardless of sexual orientation and identity, are affirmed, valued, respected, and safe, as well as a knowledgeable, accepting, reconciling, and healing attitude toward GLBT persons in Catholic education. The bulk of the work with the high schools primarily involved hundreds of hours of faculty and staff training and consultation.

Want to Know More?

• For details and anecdotes of CPCSM's founding and subsequent history, link to the article entitled CPCSM and Its Roots in Dignity/Twin Cities: Looking Back After 20 Years

• For a chronology of the major milestones in CPCSM's history, please click here.

Heterosexism: Another Pillar of the Power Structure
(See the graphic below.)

At the root of homophobia is heterosexism, the system of oppression that reinforces the belief in the inherent superiority of heterosexuality and heterosexual relationships thereby negating the lives of GLBT persons. CPCSM has always attempted to combine its conceptualization of heterosexism with all of the other "isms" that are based on prejudice and injustice (e.g., racism, ageism, and classism). Put another way, all persons who suffer injustice because of any of the "isms" represent the marginalized persons whom the Gospel challenges us all to love and to whom it calls us to minister. When homophobia is viewed in this bigger picture, we can see how it is one more source of the oppression that serves to hold up society's power structure and to keep the powerless downtrodden.

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