Francis DeBernardo has served since 1996 as executive director of New Ways Ministry, a national Catholic ministry of justice and reconciliation for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Catholics and the wider Church community. He earned a aster’s in English from the University of Maryland (UMD) and has completed doctoral coursework in Rhetoric there and at the Catholic University of America. He has taught courses in writing, rhetorical theory, and literature at UMD. He is currently a board member of the Quixote Center, and he serves on the advisory board of the Catholic Committee of Appalachia.  His writing has appeared in Commonweal, the National Catholic Reporter, and American Catholic.