Jeannine Gramick

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Sister Jeannine Gramick, IBVM, PhD (b. 1942), is a dissident Roman Catholic religious sister and activist and one of the founders of New Ways Ministry to gay and lesbian Roman Catholics in the United States.

Gramick joined the School Sisters of Notre Dame in 1960 and taught Mathematics in Roman Catholic high schools. She earned a doctorate in Mathematics Education from the University of Pennsylvania and in the 1970s taught at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland. While pursuing doctoral studies, Gramick became involved with ministry to gays and lesbians.

In 2000, Gramick and fellow New Ways co-founder Fr. Robert Nugent were ordered by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (under Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI) to cease ministrering to gays and lesbians due to their refusal to do so on the assumption that same-sex partnerships are sinful. While Nugent formally acquiesced to the decision by resigning from New Ways, he continued his ministry and activism as an individual priest, and Gramick defied the order altogether. For this reason, the SSND revoked Gramick's standing in the order and she transferred to the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which was willing to support her ministry at New Ways.

Gramick is the author of several books on gay and lesbian Catholic issues and has received several awards and recognitions. Filmmaker Barbara Rick made the documentary In Good Conscience: Sister Jeannine Gramick's Journey of Faith about Gramick's sentence of silencing and her decision to disregard it.

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