The Vatican’s decision to publish a synod study group’s report that includes testimonies of two men in same-sex “marriages” who claim to have been wounded by the church’s teaching that homosexuality is “contrary to the natural law” is drawing outrage among faithful Catholics.
Earlier this month, the Vatican’s General Secretariat of the Synod published this 32-page report initiated by Pope Francis in 2024.
Be informed, not misled.
While originally tasked with examining issues considered “controversial” within the church, the group apparently decided on its own to switch “paradigms,” framing these issues as “emerging.” That move, explained early on in the report, set the stage for suggesting a shift from sound Catholic doctrine about marriage and sexuality to what canon lawyer and pastor Father Gerald Murray called a “full-fledged endorsement of the homosexual lifestyle.”
Murray says the latest imposition of the Synod is the recently published full-fledged endorsement of the homosexual lifestyle in the Final Report of Study Group Number 9, Theological Criteria and Synodal Methodologies for Shared Discernment of Emerging Doctrinal, Pastoral, and Ethical Issues.
This report attempts to dismiss Catholic teaching on the inherent immorality of homosexual acts – and the disordered nature of the homosexual inclination – by stigmatizing that teaching as the expression of an obsolete “paradigm” that no longer can be relied upon to communicate God’s will to His people.
The report includes two appendices, which are interview testimonies. Two Catholic men (the first Portuguese, the second American), each proudly describing himself as being married to a man, even though the Catholic Church teaches that such a thing is impossible. Why would the Synod of Bishops publish interviews with men who reject Catholic teaching on the nature of marriage, inspired as it is by the Holy Spirit, as part of its effort to discern the workings of the Holy Spirit in the Church today?
The Federalist weighed in on this matter yesterday.
Via the Federalist:
Faithful Catholics — among them prelates, priests, and veteran journalists — are calling the report another cave to moral relativism and a danger, due to the authors’ attempt to invite the faithful to consider a mindset that strays from established Catholic teaching. Indeed, the report — if allowed to stand as is — will likely bring about further confusion instead of much-needed clarity.
Writing at The Catholic Thing, Murray, pastor of St. Joseph’s Church in New York City, asked a key question: “Why would the Synod of Bishops publish interviews with men who reject Catholic teaching on the nature of marriage, inspired as it is by the Holy Spirit, as part of its effort to discern the workings of the Holy Spirit in the Church today?”
The answer, he observed, lies in the study group’s report itself, and that is, “the Synod considers so-called homosexual marriage to be an open question” — not already long-decided as diverging from Catholic teaching.
Bishop Joseph Strickland, bishop emeritus of Tyler, Texas, called the report an “emergency in the Church,” a “direct assault on Catholic moral doctrine,” and an “attempt to normalize or redefine homosexual relationships” for the sake of having the church appear “more acceptable to the modern world.”
“But the Church does not belong to the modern world,” the bishop asserted. “The Church belongs to Jesus Christ.”
Auxiliary Bishop Athanasius Schneider of Kazakhstan warned that the report serves the Vatican only in advancing the church toward “total moral relativism,” and echoed the dangers of heresy “infecting the Body of the Church.”
Schneider told Vatican journalist Diane Montagna that the Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops “has stooped to promoting the propaganda of a global sexual ideology that is being aggressively pushed in politics and the media worldwide.” The bishop also cited well-known LGBT activist Jesuit Father James Martin as “merely a clerical henchman of this anti-Christian and blasphemous ideology.”
The first testimony, according to Montagna, was provided by “a Portuguese layman” disclosed in the Spanish-language online publication Página Católica to have ties to Martin. Montagna further reported that the author of the second testimony was identified as Jason Steidl Jack, who appeared in 2023 with his “husband” in The New York Times as both were blessed by Martin.
Takeaway
The testimony of the American homosexual Catholic man (Jason Steidl, author of LGBTQ Catholic Ministry, Past and Present, whose picture appeared on the front page of The New York Times with his “husband,” being blessed by Fr. James Martin, S.J. the day after Fiducia supplicans was issued), gives a clear idea of where the Synod thinks theological reflection based on personal experience will lead the Church:
My sexuality isn’t a perversion, disorder, or cross; it’s a gift from God. I have a happy, healthy marriage and am flourishing as an openly gay Catholic. It’s taken years of prayer, therapy, and affirming community to get here, but I thank God for my sexuality and station in life. . . .Being an LGBTQ Catholic is not easy, and many days I grieve the harm the church has caused. But I also have hope. I have witnessed conversion during Pope Francis’ papacy at the local and universal levels of the church, and I look forward to helping build up the body of Christ that reflects Jesus’ ministry of healing and inclusion.
The Synod office has decided to publish the claim of a lobbyist for the homosexual lifestyle that, “I know of many priests who have been attacked because of their support for LGBTQ folks. . . .they get hit by the hateful arrows of homophobia.’ Is this claim an example of the “sense of faith of the faithful”? Or a repudiation of the Faith of Christ on behalf of immorality?
This Vatican-sponsored destructive subversion must come to an end now. Souls are endangered by the scandalous false teachings being propagated by the Synod. Pope Leo needs to strengthen the brethren in the Faith by putting an end to this poisonous betrayal of God’s truth.
The arrows of the homosexual movement have also wounded a number of Protestant Churches: Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Episcopal and others.
Jesus Christ did not die to affirm sin. His death and resurrection provide forgiveness, deliverance, restoration, and healing from all sin, including homosexuality.
Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Vigilant. Be Engaged. Be Bold. Be Faithful. Be Prayerful.