Connecticut Catholic Corner: Of course gay couples are welcome at the World Meeting of Families

Wednesday, June 13, 2018

Of course gay couples are welcome at the World Meeting of Families

At a press conference in Ireland, Archbishop Eamon Martin was questioned by TheJournal.ie about homosexuals and homosexual couples attending the World Meeting of Families coming up in August.

The Journal.ie asks: "Are gay members of the Church welcome, are they and their partners welcome to join and volunteer together?"

Here comes the "don't ask, don't tell response" from the Archbishop who apparently thinks the sin of scandal isn't anything to worry about.

Archbishop Eamon Martin replies: "I have absolutely no idea that anyone would be asked their sexual orientation becoming a volunteer...but I imagine that all of these here attending the World Meeting of Families as visitors, as participants...um, the difference here is that we don't necessarily reveal our particular sexuality you know when we're coming along to any event. I imagine it's the same for the World Meeting of Families."

The Journal.ie asks again: "Are they welcome?"

Archbishop Eamon Martin: "Of course! At the World Meeting of Families this is a gathering of people to whom everyone is welcome. I know the families who are going there will be the last to say they are perfect in any way. I mean, even in terms of living up to the teaching of the Church. We all struggle in that. The Bishop has struggle in that, I'm welcome I hope at the World Meeting of Families- but so is everyone where they are at in their particular journey of faith."

Oh here we go...acting like homosexual COUPLES are struggling "in terms of living up to the teaching of the Church"- they REJECT the teaching of the Church and are pushing to change the Church's teaching on marriage. We all know that. Their "particular journey of faith" is to change the faith of the Catholic Church so they can stay in their mortal sin. These homosexual couples (not homosexual chaste individuals who accept the Church's teachings) don't want to be confronted with the Church's teaching- they don't want to hear they must be chaste and that any gay union is mortal sin. And with Father James Martin being invited by the Vatican, they won't hear anything to disturb them in their sin. More on that later.

Archbishop Eamon Martin continues: "And I would hope...I mean, it's also a Catholic event. The World Meeting of Families is a Catholic event so I don't think we make any apologies for the fact that the whole Church has a very clear teaching on marriage and on the family. And Amoris Laetitia will guide the reflections at the World Meeting of Families. So I imagine, that people going there will know what they are going to and hopefully respect what they are going to, but still bring their experience, bring their struggles, bring their questions, their challenges and of course in happiness and joy a fulfillment of their family life to the discussion."

This brings up the question, why oh why did the Vatican invite Father James Martin- a priest who is pro-homosexual unions, to speak at a World Meeting of Families?

Day three of World Meeting of Families:

Presentation 3: Theme: Showing welcome and respect in our Parishes for LGBTQI+ People and their Families.Presenter: Fr James Martin S.J., Editor-at-large, Jesuit Magazine America

Fr. James Martin's idea of "welcome and respect in our Parishes for LGBTQ people and their families" is pure scandal. He believes openly gay couples should be allowed to hold all sorts of positions in parishes (I address this issue in my review of his book "Building a Bridge"). This is wrong. People in OPEN sin are not to be in positions in parishes to cause scandal or confusion to others.

Would the Catholic Church allow a porn star to be an Extraordinary Eucharistic Minister? One would hope not because clearly such a person is living in public sin - (fornication). The same must be said of homosexual couples. A same sex couple living in a union or "marriage" is just as much a scandal as a porn star holding a position in the Church because both are guilty of openly living in mortal sexual sin. It would look as though the Church were putting its stamp of approval on such a person's behavior- as if sexual immoral behavior were no longer a sin. This would be a scandal and cause confusion among the faithful.

Catholic clergy needs to do more to protect the faithful against scandal and confusion caused by other clergy who refuse to speak clearly about sexual mortal sins- all mortal sins for that matter. The message in word and actions, must be clear that public sinners, be they porn stars or people living in homosexual unions, divorced and remarried outside the Church or anything else, must NOT hold positions in parishes for the good of the faithful.

How can the Catholic Church, whose authentic teaching is, "respect for homosexual persons cannot lead in anyway to the approval of homosexual behaviour or to legal recognition of homosexual unions" invite a priest to speak at the World Meeting of Families who has stated on video "...he [gay friend Mark] came out and has been with his partner for 20 years. His partner has a fairly serious illness that is, at times, extremely serious and requires a lot of attention. Mark has cared for him for, I think, 15–20 years now. And one of the questions I would like the institutional Church to reflect on is: "Is this not love?"..."I do not understand how a person could say the following things: This is not love, this is a lesser love, they should be apart, they should have never met, they should never be together."

Reverence for fornicators? This is the priest the Vatican has chosen to speak at the World Meeting of Families in Ireland. This isn't the message any Catholic faithful should be hearing from Catholic clergy- yet this is what they will be fed. Heresy.

It's a scandal. And its disgusting.

Pope Francis should be ashamed of himself. He keeps promoting and elevating Fr. James Martin in the public eye- causing more confusion and scandal among the faithful.