TAKE ACTION: Contact Your Bishop and Ask Him to Publicly Declare that Fr. James Martin is Not Allowed to Speak in His Diocese
The Catechism states on homosexuality:
Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.” They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved. (2357)
It goes on to state:
Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection. (2359)
Father James Martin has made a career out of trying to normalize homosexuality. The following are some of the more egregious examples:
1. Fr. Martin asserts that chastity is not required of homosexuals.
- In an interview on August 29 with Brandon Ambrosino (an openly gay man engaged to his male partner), Fr. Martin claimed homosexuals aren’t bound by Church teaching on chastity because it hasn’t been “received” by the LGBT community. “For a teaching to be really authoritative,” he said, “it is expected that it will be received by the people of God, by the faithful. The teaching that LGBT people must be celibate their entire lives has not been received.
- This is a heretical statement because it rejects the infallible teaching authority of the Catholic Church, and makes dogma dependent on how it’s “received” by the people. Church teaching isn’t determined by democratic assent or by popular vote. Its truths are absolute, rooted in the Truth, Our Lord Jesus Christ.
- Canonist Ed Peters notes, “Martin might regret that, in virtue of Canon 1055 (which presents the nature of marriage itself), two lesbians cannot marry each other, nor can two homosexuals, but, if that is what underlies Martin’s complaints about celibacy supposedly being imposed on such persons, he needs to take it up with the infallible Magisterium of the Church.”
- Gregory Brown, writing in First Things, rejects Fr. Martin’s characterization, writing, “The authority of teachings cannot be tested by consulting the inner senses of practicing Catholics. … Subjective certainty is not a certain guide — nor even, really, a reliable one — to whether one’s intuition actually springs from the sensus fidei.”
2. Fr. Martin states that Catholics should reverence gay “marriage”
- At a September 5, 2017 symposium at Fordham University, Fr. Martin described same-sex “marriage” as “a loving act” and said the Church must “reverence” it.
- The Church’s immutable teaching on marriage is clear: A “covenant by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life and which is ordered by its nature to the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring.”
3. Fr. Martin supports transgenderism in children.
- On both Facebook and Twitter on October 2, 2017, Fr. Martin posted comments supporting the right of a very young “transgender” child to receive religious education at a Catholic parish, which he claimed was denying the boy-turned-girl. Martin called it “a scandal.”
- Martin failed to disclose the fact that the parish was willing to educate the boy, as long as he registered under the sex listed on his baptismal certificate (his biological sex: a boy). His mother refused, insisting that the parish accept her boy as a girl, using his female name, and supposedly allowing him to use the girls’ restrooms. The parish, consistent with Catholic teaching, refused.
- In early 2017, Pope Francis told Bp. Andreas Launer, “Gender ideology is demonic.” And in July 2016, Pope Francis said, “We are experiencing a moment of the annihilation of man as the image of God. Today, children — children! — are taught in school that everyone can choose his or her sex. … And this [is] terrible!” Pope Francis went on to say, “God created man and woman; God created the world in a certain way,” Pope Francis said, “and we are doing the exact opposite.”
- In September 2017, the American College of Pediatricians (ACP) released an updated document,”Gender Ideology Harms Children,” claiming, “Conditioning children into believing a lifetime of chemical and surgical impersonation of the opposite sex is normal and healthful is child abuse.”
4. Fr. Martin supports a dissident priest who promotes gay “marriage” and women “priests”
- On October 2 on Twitter, Fr. Martin retweeted a post cheering the fact that Fr. Greg Boyle, SJ would be permitted to speak in the diocese of Orange, California, and characterizing faithful Catholics who oppose Boyle as “missionaries of hate.”
- Father Boyle has made public comments openly supporting gay “marriage” and women “priests,” accusing those who oppose such things as being fearful.
5. Fr. Martin publicly derides Catholics adhering to Church teaching on homosexuality as “homophobic” and “close-minded”
- During his September 5 Fordham University appearance, Fr. Martin derided Catholics who submit to Church teaching on homosexuality, branding them“homophobic” and “close-minded.”
- This would include the many same-sex attracted Catholics who heroically embrace their cross and choose to live in accord with Church teaching.
6. Fr. Martin affirms the idea of active gays kissing at Mass
- During an August 29, 2017 interview at Villanova University, Fr. Martin told a practicing homosexual who attends Mass, “I do hope in 10 years you’ll be able to kiss your partner. Why not? What’s the terrible thing?”
- Unlike platonic expressions of affection between family or, in some cultures, friends of the same sex, kissing between sexually involved same-sex couples is a violation of natural and divine law. Public displays during Mass would flout Church teaching, constituting sacrilege.
7. Fr. Martin claims former homosexuals don’t lead a fully “integrated life”
- Again in his August 29 Villanova interview, Fr. Martin claimed that the many thousands of people who have left the homosexual lifestyle are in “conflict” with themselves — that their lives aren’t “integrated” as current homosexuals are. He insinuated that freedom from homosexuality is not achievable and characterized suggestions otherwise as “sad.” Attempting to explain away those who have left the homosexual lifestyle, he told his audience, “What happens is their own junk inside gets focused outwards on people who are actually trying to live a more integrated life.”
- The multitude of testimonies of former gays contradicts Fr. Martin’s assertions. YouTube is filled with accounts that affirm freedom is possible; a search for “ex-gay” reveals vast numbers of former homosexuals who have gone on to recapture a healthy, heterosexual orientation. Thousands of men and women report successfully leaving the homosexual lifestyle, many going on to marry and have families. Groups like PFOX (Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays) and Voices of Change document such experiences.
- Fr. Martin’s dismissal is a slap in the face to those who have worked hard to be faithful to God, leaving the homosexual lifestyle and carrying their crosses heroically for the sake of something greater than themselves. Such people would say they lead more fully integrated lives now than they did as active homosexuals.
8. Fr. Martin characterizes censured pro-gay nun Sr. Jeannine Gramick as worthy of sainthood
- During a June 16, 2017 podcast, Fr. Martin said Sr. Jeannine Gramick, a dissident nun and co-founder of pro-gay New Ways Ministry, should be declared a saint.
- Fr. Martin’s admiration for Sr. Gramick stems from her obstinate refusal to comply with Church teaching and her unwavering rebellion against Magisterial authority. In 1999, Sr. Gramick was censured by the Vatican for her affirmation of homosexual practices and ordered to stop ministering to homosexuals. She defied the order. By suggesting Sr. Gramick is worthy of sainthood, Fr. Martin “blesses” her revolt against Church teaching, while propagating her heresy.
9. Fr. Martin publicly suggests that God created homosexuals that way
- During his June 16 podcast, Fr. Martin referenced Psalm 139:13-14 (“You formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother’s womb. I praise you, because I am wonderfully made!”) to claim that homosexuality is an innate and beautiful condition, created by God.
- In suggesting that God is the author of homosexuality, Fr. Martin distorts Scripture and blasphemes Our Lord. He also confirms practicing homosexuals in their sin, perpetuating their spiritual, psychological and emotional brokenness and denying them the opportunity for healing in Christ.
10. Fr. Martin publicly welcomes the esteem of dissident, pro-gay groups condemned by the Holy See
- On October 30, 2016, Martin accepted an award from pro-gay group New Ways Ministry.
- New Ways Ministry has been censured by the Church for its rejection of Catholic teaching on homosexuality. Cdl. Francis George of the archdiocese of Chicago condemned the group, warning, “No one should be misled by the claim that New Ways Ministry provides an authentic interpretation of Catholic teaching and an authentic Catholic pastoral practice.” It is condemned and unrecognized by the Church.
Read more at Church Militant