(LifeSiteNews) — A Catholic university has announced it will host a talk about “Queering Spirituality” titled “Finding Home: LGBTQ+ Journeys of Faith,” presented by a man who describes himself as a “Two-Spirit” storyteller.
The event will occur at the University of San Diego (USD) just a few days after Easter.
“Join us for a powerful conversation with Juan Reynoso as we explore what it means to navigate faith, identity and belonging at the intersections of queerness and spirituality,” urges a post by the USD News Center.
Reynoso — also known as “nemuuly” (Grizzly Bear), a “2Spirit Ipai-Kumeyaay from the San Pasqual Band of Kumeyaay Indians; the original stewards of present-day San Diego County, California” — describes himself as an “Indigenous-2Spirit Storyteller, Advocate, Teacher, and Culturally-Trauma-Responsive practitioner.”
The invitation explains that “Juan centers the voices and experiences of Indigenous and Queer communities across time—past, present and future.” It further explains:
As Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director of The Queer Sol Collective, Juan works to cultivate belonging, healing and connection within 2SLGBTQIA+ communities. This conversation invites us to reflect on how we find, create and redefine “home” within ourselves, our communities, and our faith traditions.
Co-sponsored by LGBTQ+ & Allies Commons, Associated Student Government, University Ministries and the Department of Theology and Religious Studies.
Reynoso says that he “empowers individuals to embrace the world unapologetically themselves, embracing their individual experiences and stories as restorative medicine.”
In a 2023 profile by the Los Angeles Public Library where he works with deaf children, Reynoso suggests that in evangelizing Native Americans, the Catholic Church may have caused them to be severed from their original “relationship with the Creator.”
Many of our communities have strong Christian and Catholic values. It’s important to recognize that prior to contact, specifically through the Franciscan Missions, our people already had a relationship with the Creator. Now, how we define Creator or Creation is where we’ve gotten stuck.
As I said earlier, advocacy is about restoring connection through intentional conversation and reminding people about counter perspectives. As it relates to LGBTQIA+ advocacy and visibility, it is about having the courage to push back on perspectives that are really not that new… meaning how people see Queer individuals like we just emerged out of thin air. As 2Spirit Kumeyaay, it personally means taking up space and finding avenues for other 2Spirit persons to be visible and safe in their own authenticity.
Despite identifying as “Catholic,” USD has covered abortions and “sex-change” surgeries in its health plan and has held drag shows on campus.
In 2012, USD planned a lecture series by a heretical “theologian” from England who not only supports abortion but has used just war theory and the imagery of the Trinity to support killing the unborn, advocated sacramental same-sex “marriage,” and even compared the sacrifice of the Mass to homosexual intercourse.
The university later rescinded the invitation to the “theologian” after experiencing considerable pushback.
