| Type: | priest |
| Honorific-Prefix: | The Reverend Father |
| John J. McNeill | |
| Church: | Roman Catholic |
| Appointed: | --> |
| Ordination: | 1959 |
| Ordained By: | Francis Spellman |
| Birth Date: | 2 September 1925 |
| Birth Place: | Buffalo, New York, U.S. |
| Death Place: | Fort Lauderdale, Florida, U.S. |
| Tomb: | --> |
| Spouse: | Charlie Chiarelli (m. 2008) |
| Previous Post: | --> |
| Alma Mater: | Catholic University of Leuven |
John J. McNeill (September 2, 1925 – September 22, 2015) was an American Catholic priest, psychotherapist and academic theologian in the United States, with a particular reputation within the field of queer theology.[1] [2] [3] [4] McNeill was awarded the National Human Rights Award in 1984 for his contributions to lesbian and gay rights, and was made the Grand Marshal of the New York City Gay Rights Parade in 1987. McNeill was expelled from the Society of Jesus in 1987 at the request of the Vatican.
Ordained by Cardinal Spellman through the Society of Jesus in 1959,[5] he obtained a Ph.D. from the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium in 1964 and later taught at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, New York, and at Fordham University in New York City.
In 1972, he joined the combined Woodstock Jesuit Seminary and Union Theological Seminary faculty as professor of Christian ethics, specializing in sexual ethics.
McNeill played a part in widening the activities of DignityUSA, a support group for LGBT Catholics.
In 1976, he published The Church and the Homosexual. The New York Times described the book as "the first extended nonjudgmental work about gay Catholics, a subject that had long been taboo in official church discourse. It has been credited with helping to set in motion the re-evaluation of the religious stance toward gay people – not only among Catholics but also among those of other faiths – that continues today."
According to Charles Curran, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith systematically attempted to silence authors critical of the teaching of the Catholic Church concerning homosexuality, citing the "highlighting" of errors by the Congregation in McNeill's The Church and the Homosexual.
McNeill was expelled from the Society of Jesus in 1987 at the request of the Vatican, but remained officially a priest.
He died at a hospice in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on September 22, 2015, at the age of 90.[6]
He was openly gay, and in 2008, he married Charlie Chiarelli, his long-term partner.
McNeill was the subject of a 2011 documentary film, Taking a Chance on God, by director Brendan Fay.[7]