Here’s the Arthur-style rewrite, keeping Massingale’s theological and political claims clearly attributed while focusing on what he said in the speech.
A Catholic priest and Fordham University theology professor used an acceptance speech for one of his profession’s major awards to condemn the Trump administration, attack what he calls “Christian nationalism,” and argue that Catholic theology should take greater account of racial, sexual, and gender identity.
Fr. Bryan Massingale, a priest of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee who describes himself as a Black gay Catholic, received the John Courtney Murray Award from the Catholic Theological Society of America in June.
His remarks from the ceremony were subsequently published July 14 by Outreach, a Jesuit-affiliated Catholic LGBTQ publication.
Massingale devoted part of the speech to his 2010 book, “Racial Justice and the Catholic Church,” which was among books removed from the U.S. Naval Academy’s Nimitz Library amid the Trump administration’s campaign against diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.
Massingale offered an uncompromising explanation for why he believes his book became a target.
“Why? Because that work is in direct opposition to the idolatrous ideology of white so-called ‘Christian’ nationalism that is the heart of the immoral projects being advanced by our nation’s administration,” he said.
Blaze Media reported that the book’s removal occurred during the federal government’s broader effort to eliminate DEI-related materials and programs.
Massingale, however, framed the dispute as something considerably larger than a disagreement over federal education policy.
Novus Ordo priest and professor Fr. Bryan Massingale (in full communion, of course!): “Black flesh is a place of divine encounter, revelation and manifestation” – https://t.co/T8UZeCdmee This is the insanity you get if you follow the logic underlying Liberation Theology and apply…
— Novus Ordo Watch (@NovusOrdoWatch) July 17, 2026
He described “Christian nationalism” as an ideology holding that “America was willed by God to be a place where the descendants of Europe should flourish under the rule of white, conservative, heterosexual men.”
“And that those who differ from that identity only have that place in our nation’s history, institutions and even physical spaces that they allow,” he continued.
That is Massingale’s characterization of Christian nationalism and the administration’s policies, rather than language used by the Trump administration to describe its own agenda.
He also criticized what he characterized as attempts to suppress discussions of “Black enslavement” and the “LGBTQ social struggle.”
The administration and its supporters have described their education policies differently, arguing that restrictions on DEI programs are aimed at eliminating ideological instruction and race- or sex-based preferences rather than preventing the teaching of slavery or other historical subjects.
For Massingale, however, the removal of his own book carried a specifically religious meaning.
“My book was banned because it named idolatry,” he said.
He then called on other Catholic theologians to challenge what he regards as the political and religious errors of the present moment, even if doing so carries professional consequences.
“Our task, for the sake of God’s people, is to risk being banned — to call out, name, protest, criticize and denounce the idolatry of the present in the name of the God of life, who desires abundant shalom for all,” Massingale said.
“For all without exception.”
His remarks then moved from contemporary politics into his understanding of Catholic theology.
“Because God’s vision of the world is one in which all flourish, without exception,” Massingale said. “As Catholic theologians, we are called to see the world as God does. To dream God’s dream for the world.”
That theme is also central to another book Massingale said he is “frantically trying to finish,” titled “Dreaming While Black: The Poetics of Justice.”
“We dare to dream a different world because if the resurrection of Jesus and the descent of the Spirit mean anything, they mean that reality is not a closed system,” he said.
Massingale then explicitly connected Black theology with questions of sexuality and gender.
“Unpacking that truth of what God has done is what Catholic theology and ethics would look like if it took the Black Experience, in all its gendered and sexual diversity, seriously as a dialogue partner,” he said.
That argument places Massingale within an ongoing dispute inside Catholic intellectual life over how contemporary ideas concerning sexuality and gender should interact with traditional Catholic teaching.
The Catholic Church teaches that every person possesses inherent dignity and must be treated with respect. At the same time, Catholic doctrine maintains a traditional understanding of sexual morality, marriage, and the distinction between male and female.
Massingale has become a prominent voice among Catholics seeking greater acceptance of LGBTQ identities within the church.
He addressed that history directly in his speech, recalling how gay Catholic theologians previously navigated institutions where openly discussing their sexuality could carry substantial consequences.
In the field of “Catholic queer theology,” Massingale said, there have “always been more or less ‘out’ Catholic LGBTQ theologians.”
“For many reasons — personal, political and ecclesial — they did Catholic theology in what I call ‘the open closet,’ where others could know you are gay as long as there was no public acknowledgment or discussion of that fact,” he said.
Massingale is plainly not operating under that arrangement now.
Standing before the Catholic Theological Society of America while accepting its John Courtney Murray Award, he publicly connected his sexuality, Black theology, LGBTQ advocacy, criticism of the Trump administration, and opposition to what he considers Christian nationalism.
And rather than treating the controversy over his Naval Academy book as something to avoid, Massingale presented its removal as evidence that theologians should become even more willing to enter the political fight.
His message to his colleagues was direct: they should be prepared, in his words, “to risk being banned.”
