Over the past two weeks, you might have seen headlines or social media posts about a group called “New Ways Ministry” and the Vatican’s synod on synodality — first praise that the group’s video was included among synod resources, then controversy when a link to the video was taken off a synod website, then an apology from a Vatican official at the center of the controversy.

The story might have seemed a bit difficult to follow — especially because if you followed it on social media, accounts of what happened were inconsistent and politically charged. So what actually happened? And does it matter? The Pillar breaks it down.

What is New Ways Ministry?

Founded in 1977, New Ways Ministry is a non-profit which says it “educates and advocates for justice and equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) Catholics.”

In 2010, the U.S. bishops’ conference said that “like other groups that claim to be Catholic but deny central aspects of Church teaching, New Ways Ministry has no approval or recognition from the Catholic Church and that they cannot speak on behalf of the Catholic faithful in the United States.”

“No one should be misled by the claim that New Ways Ministry provides an authentic interpretation of Catholic teaching and an authentic Catholic pastoral practice,” the USCCB added.

According to its non-profit tax filings, the group had $967,125 in revenue in 2020.

Read more at The Pillar