Building a Bridge: How the Catholic Church and the LGBT Community Can Enter into a Relationship of Respect, Compassion, and Sensitivity

<p>The New York Times bestselling author of The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything and Jesus: A Pilgrimage turns his attention to the relationship between LGBT Catholics and the Church in this loving, inclusive, and revolutionary book.</p><p>On the day after the Orlando nightclub shooting, James Martin S.J. posted a video on Facebook in which he called for solidarity with our LGBT brothers and sisters. &quot;The largest mass shooting in US history took place at a gay club and the LGBT community has been profoundly affected,&quot; he began. He then implored his fellow Catholics - and people everywhere - to &quot;stand not only with the people of Orlando but also with their LGBT brothers and sisters.&quot; A powerful call for tolerance, acceptance, and support - and a reminder of Jesus' message for us to love one another - Father Martin's post went viral and was viewed more than 1.6 million times.</p><p>Now, Martin expands on his reflections in this moving and inspiring book, offering a powerful, loving, and much-needed voice in a time marked by anger, prejudice, and divisiveness. Adapted from an address he gave to New Ways Ministry, a group that ministers to and advocates for LGBT Catholics, Building a Bridge provides a roadmap for repairing and strengthening the bonds that unite all of us as God's children. Martin uses the image of a two-way bridge to enable LGBT Catholics and the Church to come together in a call to end the &quot;us&quot; versus &quot;them&quot; mentality. Turning to the Catechism, he draws on the three criteria at the heart of the Christian ministry - &quot;respect, compassion, and sensitivity&quot; - as a model for how the Catholic Church should relate to the LGBT community.</p>