Taking A Chance On God chronicles the extraordinary life and legacy of 85 year old John McNeill, gay Catholic priest, founder of the LGBT spiritual movement, and pioneering voice of gay liberation. Refusing to betray his own conscience, McNeill stood up to the man who became Pope Benedict XVI and would not be silenced. The Film depicts McNeill’s remarkable journey: growing up in Buffalo, escaping death as a POW in Nazi Germany, falling in love with his husband, writing groundbreaking books, coming out on national television, calling for compassion and justice during the AIDS crisis, and celebrating the unique spiritual gifts of LGBT people. Theologians, journalists, activists, and LGBT religious figures, including openly gay Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson, movingly testify to McNeill’s influence and importance.

A POW in Nazi Germany, Vietnam peace promoter, leading gay rights advocate and loving partner of 46 years to Charles Chiarelli, Taking a Chance on God follows the extraordinary life of 86-year-old Jesuit priest John McNeill. This powerful documentary, tells McNeill’s inspiring story of faith, love and perseverance in the face of oppression and rejection. McNeill, the co-founder of the LGBT Catholic group Dignity NY, author of the revolutionary “The Church and the Homosexual,” and leader in the gay community during the AIDS crisis of the 1980s, has refused to let his voice be silenced despite being expelled from the Jesuits after forty years of faithful service. Chronicling his love for the Church, the LGBT community, his Jesuit brothers and his partner Charlie, “Taking a Chance on God” proves that there can and should be harmony between the gay community and the Catholic Church. (Description courtesy of Emily Suttmeier, Woodstock Film Festival.)