Beware of False Prophets: Unorthodoxy Reigns at the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress

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Beware of False Prophets: Unorthodoxy Reigns at the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress
Beware of False Prophets: Unorthodoxy Reigns at the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress

The Los Angeles Religious Education Congress (REC) is approaching once again. Boasting an attendance of nearly 40,000, the event is considered the largest gathering of Catholics in the country. Throughout the years, it has been as infamous as it is well attended, consistently bringing together speakers who openly reject Church teaching on such timely issues as false ecumenism, transgenderism, homosexuality, women’s ordination and liberation theology. This year’s conference promises more of the same.

This is to be expected considering that it will be the first REC held under the diocese’s new Senior Director of Religious Education, Sr. Rosalia Meza, a zealous promoter of leftist schooling. Indeed, in her doctoral dissertation, she dubbed Brazilian educator, Paulo Freire an “an icon of social change through education.”1 However, Freire’s ideas about “social change” are evident from his 1961-1962 literacy campaign in Brazil. While purporting to teach the uneducated how to read, it did more to instill the Marxist notions of class struggle than pursue any educational goals.2

With Sr. Meza at the helm of religious education in the diocese, faithful LA Catholics should wonder to what extent her work will mimic that of her “icon.” From this perspective, the lineup of speakers and activities planned for this year’s REC provides a lot of food for thought.

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The event is titled Live Mercy Be Holy. It will be held February 20-23 at the Anaheim Convention Center. A careful observer will note that in addition to the many dissident speakers, the congress will also host a number of events and performers who endanger the Faith in a symbolic way. This could be more damaging than subtle heterodox teachings inaccessible to many participants.

For example, liturgical dancers may not say anything against Catholic teaching, but their actions will undeniably send a message that sensuous and ridiculous movements are compatible with the sacredness of the renewal of Christ’s passion made present at the congress’ multiple Masses. This weakens the faithful’s understanding of the seriousness of such a sublime event.

Indeed, it has been rightly said that only behavior suitable at the foot of the cross has a place at Holy Mass. Nevertheless, liturgical dancers have been a hallmark of Congress liturgies for years.

Such can be expected again at this year’s REC, where there will be four workshops on dance. One will be led by Betsey Beckman who helped create and develop the “Abbey of the Arts,” described as: “a global online monastery (sic) fostering contemplative and creative expression.”

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The members of this “online monastery” are collectively – and disrespectfully – named: “The Holy Disorder of Dancing Monks.”3

Similarly, Los Angeles’s Archbishop Gomez may not have said anything heretical while celebrating the final Mass at the 2016 Religious Education Congress. However, by receiving the offertory gifts from the hands of a homosexual “couple” and their adopted son,4 he sent a clear message that contradicts two thousand years of consistent church teaching on the depravity and intrinsic evil of homosexual acts and the objectively disordered inclination towards them.

This year’s congress is certain to have its share of similarly troubling symbolic gestures. Additionally, it will host speakers that dissent from Catholic teaching on a wide range of topics. Some of the more egregious ones are listed below.

Fr. James Martin

Fr. James Martin has been a speaker at the Congress for years in spite of his heterodox teachings on homosexuality. This year, he will be giving two talks, one on center stage in the main arena.

This list of Fr. Martin’s dissenting statements is practically limitless and easily accessible with a Google search. Thus, an exhaustive enumeration of them here is neither necessary nor practical.

Nevertheless, a short list will suffice to show that he should never have been even considered as speaker. For one, he claimed in a 2017 talk at Fordham University that homosexual “married” couples possess a love deserving of reverence. He said: “I have a hard time imagining how even the most traditionalist, homophobic, closed-minded Catholic cannot look at my friend [in a same-sex “marriage”] and say, ‘That is a loving act, and that is a form of love that I don’t understand but that I have to reverence.’”5

Also, Fr. Martin favors transgenderism for children and homosexual kissing during Mass. He has tweeted a blasphemous image of Our Lady of Guadalupe6 and praised the “Rosary of Modern Sorrow” which includes beads in the rainbow colors of homosexual pride.7

Ask Archbishop José Gómez to Keep the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress Catholic

He also praised the group Out at St. Paul, calling it, “…a model for many parishes” and “one of the most vibrant Catholic #LGBT ministries in the country, perhaps the world.”8 Out at St. Paul, the homosexual association at St. Paul the Apostle Church in New York City, is known for scandalous activities and outings that include a 2018 Winter social at the homosexual Rise Bar, where the bartenders serve almost entirely naked.9 The group has also tweeted a link to an article featuring the blasphemous “Queer Lady of Guadalupe” painting.10

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Dr. Arthur Fitzmaurice

The inclusion of Dr. Arthur Fitzmaurice may be even more concerning. He will be presenting two workshops. One is titled Learning from Generations of LGBTQ Catholics. The talk description reads: “This workshop will explore evolving attitudes towards LGBTQ…Catholics and implications for the future Church.”11

His position on this topic can be imagined, considering that he is an open homosexual who has long campaigned for the LGBT cause, even advocating for the removal of the words “intrinsically disordered” in the catechism when it discusses homosexual acts. “…to keep this abusive language in the Catechism and other Church writings,” he claims is, “in itself, gravely evil.”12

While serving as board member and resource director of the Catholic Association for Lesbian and Gay Ministry in 2012, he refused to sign an “oath of personal integrity” proclaiming his adherence to Church teaching. At the time, his ordinary and bishop of Oakland, Most Rev. Salvatore Cordileone, had asked all board members to sign the oath, due to complaints concerning the group’s orthodoxy. Adding insult to injury, he called the request: “inappropriate, unprecedented and potentially detrimental to Church ministry.”13

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Fr. Bryan Massingale

Fr. Massingale also rejects Catholic teaching regarding homosexual sin. He serves as advisor to the web site TransCatholic which defines itself as: “A Roman Catholic apostolate to support the dignity and inclusion of transgender laity”14 and publicly opposed Wisconsin’s Marriage Protection Act. He claimed that failing to grant some form of legal recognition to homosexual unions denies homosexuals the “fundamental human right” to medical care.15

At the 2017 REC, Fr. Massingale gave a lecture claiming that Catholic moral teaching is fundamentally relativistic. He said: “There is a growing recognition of the limits of moral rules, that is, it’s impossible to give a rule that applies always and everywhere and in every situation.”

Further on, he parroted this, adding that Catholic teaching is out-of-step with the real world. “Sometimes there’s a big gap between what the Catholic Church officially teaches and how people on the ground actually live,” he said. “Conscience becomes that way of bridging the gap between official teaching and Catholic belief and practice. Because Catholic belief by conscience is Catholic teaching.”16

All things considered, it is not surprising that he refused to say whether or not he agrees with Catholic teaching on homosexuality in a 2011 interview with CNSnews.com.17

Fr. Chris Ponnet

Fr. Chris Ponnet is currently the Director of the Office of Catholic HIV/AIDS Ministry for the Los Angeles Archdiocese and the archbishop’s Spiritual Director for Catholic Ministry with Lesbian and Gay Persons. This year he will be giving a talk, together with Dr. Arthur Fitzmaurice and Miss Yunuen Trujillo, titled: Learning from Generations of LGBTQ Catholics.18

Fr. Ponnet has spoken openly in favor of the homosexual lifestyle. At the 2018 Congress, he spoke of our responsibility to “affirm” homosexuals in their journey as they: “begin to identify with either what is normative, or from their perspective what is normative… they identify themselves in a world that is unto themselves.”

In the same talk, he affirmed that some children as early as second or third grade already know that they are homosexual.19

Taking a Principled not a Personal Stand

As practicing Catholics, we are filled with compassion and pray for those who struggle against violent temptation to sin, be it toward homosexual sin or otherwise.

We are conscious of the enormous difference between these individuals who struggle with their weaknesses and strive to overcome them and others who transform their sin into a reason for pride, and try to impose their lifestyle on society as a whole, in flagrant opposition to traditional Christian morality and natural law. However, we pray for them too.

According to the expression attributed to Saint Augustine, we “hate the sin but love the sinner.” And to love the sinner, as the same Doctor of the Church explains, is to wish for him the best we can possibly desire for ourselves, namely, “that he may love God with a perfect affection.” (St. Augustine, Of the Morals of the Catholic Church, No. 49, www.newadvent.org/fathers/1401.htm)

Miss Yunuen Trujillo

In spite of being openly homosexual, Miss Yunuen Trujillo will be giving three workshops on outreach with “homosexual Catholics” at this year’s event. She claims that chastity is not about refraining from sexual activity, but rather about incorporating one’s sexual acts into the context of one’s life. This false notion has led her to say:

“…to people who are in a committed, life-long, same sex relationship… they are not going against God, they are not ‘sinning’. In fact they are doing the opposite, they are HONORING THAT CHASTITY, they are HONORING THAT INTEGRATION of their sexuality with every other aspect of themselves (their emotions, their plans for the future)…”

She also claims that God’s punishment of Sodom and Gomorrah was due, not to the sin of homosexuality, but to the populace’s inhospitality and attempt to “gang rape” the angels hiding in Lot’s house.20

Her second talk, titled: “Herramientas para Contruir Puentes con los Católicos LGBTQ”21 (Tools to Build Bridges with LGBTQ Catholics) is inspired by Fr. Martin’s problematic book, Building a Bridge.22

Fr. David Dwyer

Fr. David Dwyer will be giving a presentation on Pope Francis’s message to the youth. Fr. Dwyer is executive director of the web site Busted Halo and lives at the above mentioned St. Paul the Apostle church in New York City.

Busted Halo publishes a variety of problematic articles, including one in which the author describes getting arrested for civil disobedience when she refused to follow police instructions at a demonstration in favor of DACA. The article is a self-praising endorsement of her crime.23

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The site also publishes articles and interviews written by dissident priest, Fr. James Martin,24 and even posted an interview between him and Fr. Dwyer promoting Fr. Martin’s homosexual-affirming book, Building a Bridge.25

In a similar line, the web page promoted the video Owning Our Faith, a short documentary that features homosexual and transgender “Catholics” celebrating their homosexuality and criticizing Church teaching. One interviewee claimed that the Church is discriminatory against those with homosexual inclinations because it teaches them to practice celibacy. “What the Church is saying,” he claims, “is that [if you are homosexual] you cannot live fully.” In another scene, a transgender person describes her “transition” as being “immensely spiritual.”26

Fr. Daniel Horan

Fr. Horan is a columnist with the leftist National Catholic Reporter and will be presenting two talks at the Congress. He recently criticized the document “‘Male and Female He Created Them’: Toward a Path on the dialogue on the Question of Gender Theory in Education,” published by the Congregation for Catholic Education. He is displeased because the document presumes certain truths as unquestionable. In his mind, this contradicts the very essence of dialogue.

“To move towards true dialogue,” he claimed, “would involve soliciting the wisdom and experiences of women and men, particularly those who are transgender or intersex, and privileging their knowledge and voices in the conversation.”27

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Fr. Horan also jabbed at traditional Catholics in his article: “Make the Catholic Church great again? There’s no going back.” He begins with the shocking statement that: “Despite political slogans to the contrary, there has never been a time when America was ‘great.’ The same thing could be said about the Roman Catholic Church.”

The article is a call for toppling the centuries-old hierarchy of the Church as a solution to the internal crises facing Saint Peter’s Barque. He contrasts this with the desire of many to return to the principles of traditional Catholicism.

This, he claims is troubling: “…a desire for control presented as authentic reform.” He sums up his thoughts towards the end, saying: “There’s no going back to this reverie of some past great church, because the only one that exists is the pilgrim one composed of all the baptized on a journey forward.”28

Fr. Ronald Rolheiser

Fr. Rolheiser is another common speaker at RECs. However, his views on the “spirituality of sexuality” are Freudian. He once defined spirituality as “what we do with the fires inside of us, about how we channel our eros.”

Apparently unaware of the life-giving effects of chastity, he dismally described Saint Theresa of the Child Jesus as one who “slept alone on her celibate cot” and was “tormented by constant yearning.”29

Fr. Rolheiser also claimed that: “Jesus came not just to save people, Jesus came to save the planet and Mother Earth itself has rights.”30

His views on Hell are equally unorthodox. He hopes for the day when Lucifer will convert and join God in Heaven and once said: “A person who is struggling honestly to be happy cannot go to hell since hell is the antithesis of an honest struggle to be happy.”31

Fr. Gregory Boyle

Fr. Gregory Boyle is well known for his work reforming gang members in Los Angeles. However, his views on homosexuality and women’s ordination go directly against the teachings of Holy Mother Church.

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In a 2010 video interview, Fr. Boyle was asked about California’s Proposition 8. His response included these words:

“I think it’s always important to kind of say, ‘how does God see sexual orientation.’ Does God feel like that same-sex marriage could happen? I don’t think anybody who has a connection to God and God’s understanding and depth of compassion who’s gonna say no.”

In the same interview, he commented on the possibility of women’s ordination, saying: “…the Vatican just said that the ordination of women is a grave sin. Have you ever met anybody who would agree with that?…Its shameful to kind of say stuff like that because it’s not honest…The Church should say I’m frightened that women will be ordained, that’s honest to say that. But, don’t say it’s grave sin because that is nonsense.”32

Fr. Allan Figueroa Deck

Fr. Figueroa Deck holds an erroneous position on the growing influence of Latino culture in the Catholic Church. In an interview with the National Catholic Reporter, he went so far as to say that Latino Catholics must “…be bolder, to acknowledge the role they have as the principle [sic!] evangelizers . . . before even the bishops and priests.”

Unfortunately, his notion of Latino influence includes spreading the ideas of liberation theology and the socialist Base Christian Communities (BCC) throughout the United States.33

He also put his full support behind Loyola Marymount’s decision to grant an award to pro-abortion former president Bill Clinton.34 Loyola Marymount is a Jesuit university and thus, should follow the US Catholic Bishops’ directives: “The Catholic community and Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles. They should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions.”35

Ask Archbishop José Gómez to Keep the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress Catholic

Fr. Figueroa Deck also dubbed a 2002 Notre Dame conference on liberation theology a “theological feast.” He expressed his enthusiasm that the period of stagnation liberation theology endured from the 1980s until recently (called La Pausa) is seemingly over.

He concluded: “…The presence of Gustavo Gutiérrez at such an influential Catholic university…the number of participants…their racial and ethnic diversity…made this conference a watershed moment. After having undergone a period of reflective calm–la pausa–liberation theology lives…If one can conclude anything from this conference, it is that reports of the demise of liberation theology are definitely premature.”36

Dr. Richard Gaillardetz

Dr. Gaillardetz will be presenting two talks, the second of which is titled: “Of Popes and Bishops: Re-imagining Church Leadership in a Non-Hierarchical Key.”37 This will be a call for a restructuring of the divinely inspired hierarchy of the Church.

He has said troubling things in the past. For example, during the 2008 election, he argued that Barrack Obama was, in fact, the pro-life candidate. “I have come to believe,” he affirmed, “that the true ‘pro-life’ candidate is not the one who champions opposition to Roe v. Wade [but one who supports] policies that would extend substantial financial and health-care assistance to poor families facing unplanned pregnancies.”38

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Additionally, he opposed the former policy of the Boy Scouts to prohibit homosexuals from being scout leaders.39 He also denied that the Church can make an infallible judgment on moral matters, claimed that “the obstinate denial of a definitive doctrine would not necessarily place one outside the Roman Catholic communion” and advises couples to “follow their consciences” if they decide that they cannot obey Church teaching on contraceptives.40

He is an advocate for women’s ordination and believes that a consensus of the faithful is necessary, not only for the definition of a dogma, but for a dogma to remain infallibly true. Explaining this, Patrick Craine writes: “Gaillardetz has gone so far as to say that an article of faith such as the resurrection of the body could become ‘tentative’ teaching should it become controversial in the Church.”41

Robert Ellsberg

Robert Ellsberg is a former managing editor of The Catholic Worker and will be speaking twice at the REC. Mr. Ellsberg has highly praised and referred to the founder of Black Liberation Theology, James Cone, as his “spiritual godfather.”42

However, James Cone was a radical whose works provided the framework for the beliefs of Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Mr. Cone once stated that the goal of the black intellectual is to “aid in the destruction of America as he knows it,” and that, to him, black power meant the “complete emancipation of black people from white oppression by whatever means black people deem necessary.”

He has also said that blacks who hate whites are not racist, but rather reacting in a legitimate way to the oppression they have suffered and that “Theologically, Malcolm X was not far wrong when he called the white man ‘the devil.’”43

Mr. Ellsworth also believes in religious syncretism as highlighted by these words he wrote in 2012, “When we all get to Heaven, we will discover how wrong we all were. No group has a monopoly on truth. So in a sense, orthodoxy…is not that important…Calling oneself a Catholic, Protestant, Jew, Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, curandero/a or santero/a is less important than living one’s faith.”44

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Dr. Megan McKenna

Dr. Megan McKenna will be presenting one talk at the congress. She has spoken at the events of the dissident group Call to Action, refers to abortion rights as “individual freedom of choice,” and said that laws permitting abortion are “in favor of individual rights and responsibilities.”45

Also, she opposes the process of papal elections which she claims is out of touch with the people of the Church. She disrespectfully described the centuries-old process in these words: “To put it bluntly, the group of electors consists of 117 old men who were chosen by two other old men, John Paul II and Benedict XVI, and these men will elect yet another old man, all clerics.”

She has devised a “solution” to this in which each geographical area in the world will offer up three individuals, one of which must be a woman, one a cleric and all must be 67 or younger. After a complicated process, an overall head of the Church, who would be merely symbolic, would be chosen using the Internet, to save the cost of flying the cardinals to Rome.

Beware of False Prophets: Unorthodoxy Reigns at the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress
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This would “set the spirit loose among all the people of God.”46

Jordan Denari Duffner

Jordan Denari Duffner is a doctoral student of Catholic-Muslim relations at Georgetown University. She will be speaking twice: once on dialogue with Muslims and once on an introduction to Islam.

Her views are shockingly heterodox. In an article she wrote for America Magazine, she calls the Quran the “word of God” and argues that Islam contains at least part of what Our Lord held back from His disciples when He told them: “I have yet many things to say to you: but you cannot bear them now” (St. John 16:12).47

Sr. Teresa Maya

Sr. Teresa Maya will be giving the opening talk on center stage Saturday morning. However, she does not understand the meaning of the Church’s untouchable holiness. Speaking to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops after the resurgence of the abuse crisis, she said: “For months, I personally have found the words of the creed—one, holy, catholic, apostolic—painful to pronounce. I confess I was even tempted to mount my personal boycott by remaining silent for that part.”48

Other inappropriate speakers include Dr. Greer Gordon who was the 2016 keynote speaker at the dissident Call To Action group’s national Conference49 and Dr. Phyllis Zagano who falsely claims that: “Women perform and have performed diaconal ministry throughout the history of the Church.”50 Also noteworthy is that Lutheran pastor Alexia Salvatierra will be speaking about ecumenism and immigration and Jewish Rabbi Michael Mayersohn will be speaking on three great women of the Old Testament.

The gathering of all these heterodox speakers at an official event of the Los Angeles Archdiocese is a calamity of enormous proportions. It will serve to embolden dissenters, confuse believers and threaten the faith of countless Catholics.

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In good conscience, faithful Catholics cannot remain silent, but must resist this challenge to the Faith. That is why the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property (TFP) urges you to protest the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress. You can do this by respectfully contacting Archbishop Jose Gomez and expressing to him your concerns about the danger to souls that this congress represents. You can do this online by clicking here and by telephone at (213) 637-7215. Please be firm yet polite.

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Footnotes

  1. Rosalia Meza Moreno, Towards a New, Praxis-Oriented Missiology: Rediscovering Paulo Freire’s Concept of Conscientização and Enhancing Christian Mission as Prophetic Dialogue, p. 1, 2018, last accessed January 29, 2020, https://scholarcommons.scu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1014&context=jst_dissertations.
  2. Cf. P. Ferreira e Mello, Catolicismo, August – October issue, 1975, “Paulo Freire: educação como prática da ‘libertação’”, available at: https://ipco.org.br/paulo-freire-educacao-como-pratica-da-libertacao/#.XN6p-fZFyUk, last accessed January 29, 2020.
  3. Cf. https://thedancingword.com/partnership-with-abbey-of-the-arts/. Last accessed on January 29, 2020.
  4. A video of Archbishop Gomez receiving the offertory gifts from this homosexual “couple” and their adopted son can be seen beginning at 3 min. 28 sec. at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3R70C2a2G8M&feature=youtu.be&a=. Last accessed January 29, 2020.
  5. TFP.org, “In Fr. James Martin’s Own Words, Seven Quotes Showing How He Is Harming the Catholic Faith,” last accessed January 30, 2020, https://tfp.org/in-fr-james-martins-own-words-seven-quotes-showing-how-he-is-harming-the-catholic-faith/.
  6. Ibid.
  7. Cf. Michael W. Chapman, “Vatican Consultant Fr. James Martin Promotes Pro-LGBT Rosary,” December 7, 2018, last accessed January 30, 2020, https://www.cnsnews.com/blog/michael-w-chapman/vatican-consultant-fr-james-martin-promotes-pro-lgbt-rosary.
  8. Fr. James Martin, Twitter, June 15, 2018, last accessed January 31, 2020, https://twitter.com/JamesMartinSJ/status/1007622038704533507.
  9. LifeSiteNews, “Catholic parish’s ‘LGBT ministry’ to hold meeting in gay drag bar,” January 25, 2018, last accessed January 31, 2020, https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/catholic-parishs-lgbt-ministry-to-hold-meeting-in-gay-drag-bar.
  10. Twitter, Out @ St. Paul, December 12, 2018, last accessed January 31, 2020, https://twitter.com/outatstpaul/status/1072850275436765186.
  11. LA REC Guidebook, p. 37, last accessed February 2, 2020, http://www.recongress.org/2020/pdf/2020RGB.pdf.
  12. LifeSiteNews, “Los Angeles Archdiocese promotes LGBT agenda at ‘Religious Education Congress,’” January 15, 2018, last accessed January 30, 2020, https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/los-angeles-archdiocese-promotes-lgbt-agenda-at-religious-education-congres.
  13. Brian Roewe, “Gay ministry group refuses to sign oath,” June 25, 2012, last accessed January 30, 2020, https://www.ncronline.org/news/spirituality/gay-ministry-group-refuses-sign-oath.
  14. https://transcatholicorg.wordpress.com/about/advisors/, last accessed January 30, 2020.
  15. Fr. Bryan Massingale, Catholic Herald, “Respect for all Catholic values key in marriage amendment vote,” September 21, 2006 last accessed January 30, 2020, http://www.idmadison.org/news/2006marriage.pdf.
  16. Lisa Bourne, LifeSiteNews, “Priest to LA Religious Congress: ‘It’s impossible to give a moral rule that applies always,’” March 3, 2017, last accessed January 30, 2020, https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/rules-dont-always-apply-when-teaching-catholic-faith-priest-tells-la-religi.
  17. Dan Joseph, CNSNews.com, “Catholic Group Pushing Gay Agenda Promoted on Capitol Hill by Priest Who Won’t Say If He Agrees with Catholic Teaching on Homosexuality,” April 12, 2011, last accessed January 30, 2020, https://cnsnews.com/news/article/catholic-group-pushing-gay-agenda-promoted-capitol-hill-priest-who-won-t-say-if-he.
  18. LA REC Guidebook, p. 37-38, last accessed February 2, 2020, http://www.recongress.org/2020/pdf/2020RGB.pdf.
  19. Joseph Sciambra, “Priest at LA REC tells Catholic school teachers to ‘affirm’ Second and Third graders in their LGBT identity,” March 22, 2018, last accessed January 30, 2020, https://josephsciambra.com/priest-at-la-rec-tells-catholic-school-teachers-to-affirm-second-and-third-graders-in-their-lgbt-identity/.
  20. Yunuen Trujillo, “My Commentary on Church Doctrine & Pastoral Care,” March, 2019, last accessed January 30, 2020, https://lgbtcatholics.org/doctrineandpastoralcare/ (Emphasis in original).
  21. LA REC Guidebook, p. 84, last accessed January 30, 2020, http://www.recongress.org/2020/pdf/2020RGB.pdf.
  22. For an analysis of Fr. Martin’s book, see: Luiz Solimeo, “Are ‘LGBT People’ Other Christs? A Review of Fr. James Martin’s Building a Bridge,” January 24, 2018, last accessed January 30, 2020, https://tfp.org/lgbt-people-christs-review-fr-james-martins-building-bridge/.
  23. Tinamarie Stolz, Busted Halo, “I Was Arrested for a Cause I Believe In: 4 Reasons Why Social Action Matters,” August 27, 2018, last accessed January 31, 2020, https://bustedhalo.com/ministry-resources/i-was-arrested-for-a-cause-i-believe-in-4-reasons-why-social-action-matters.
  24. Busted Halo, Fr. Martin Archive Page, last accessed January 31, 2020, https://bustedhalo.com/tag/fr-james-martin.
  25. Fr. David Dwyer, “Father James Martin on Building a Bridge with the LGBT Communit,” April 28, 2017, last accessed January 31, 2020, https://bustedhalo.com/podcasts/father-james-martin-building-bridge-lgbt-community.
  26. Busted Halo, “OwningOurFaith — A New Documentary Featuring LGBT Catholics,” March 24, 2015, last accessed January 31, 2020, https://bustedhalo.com/life-culture/owningourfaith-a-new-documentary-featuring-lgbt-catholics.
  27. Fr. Dainel Horan, National Catholic Reporter, “What’s the path to true dialogue about gender in the Church?”, June 26, 2019, last accessed January 31, 2020, https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/faith-seeking-understanding/whats-path-true-dialogue-about-gender-church.
  28. Fr. Daniel Horan, National Catholic Reporter, “Make the Catholic Church great again? There’s no going back,” January 9, 2019, last accessed January 31, 2020, https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/faith-seeking-understanding/make-catholic-church-great-again-theres-no-going-back.
  29. Sr. Joseph Mary Maximillian, FTI, Catholic Culture, “Red Flags Are Up! On the Writings of Fr. Ronald Rolheiser, OMI,” last accessed January 31, 2020, https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=7026.
  30. Lianne Laurence, LifeSiteNews, “Canadian bishops’ charity: ‘Jesus came to save planet…Mother Earth has rights,’” November 20, 2019, last accessed January 31, 2020, https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/canadian-bishops-charity-jesus-came-to-save-the-planet-.-mother-earth-has-rights.
  31. Fr. Ronald Rolheiser, RonRolheiser.com, “Who goes to Hell, and who doesn’t?,” May 6, 2019, last accessed January 31, 2020, https://ronrolheiser.com/who-goes-to-hell-and-who-doesnt/#.XjTBIC2ZNjs.
  32. John-Henry Westen, LifeSiteNews, “Catholic Charities USA invites pro-gay ‘marriage’ priest to keynote annual gathering,” June 4, 2013, last accessed January 31, 2020, https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/catholic-charities-usa-invites-pro-gay-marriage-priest-to-keynote-annual-ga.
  33. Dan Morris-Young, National Catholic Reporter, “Fr. Figueroa Deck says the Latino Catholic ‘sleeping giant’ is awakening,” March 8, 2018, last accessed January 31, 2020, https://www.ncronline.org/news/parish/fr-figueroa-deck-says-latino-catholic-sleeping-giant-awakening. (My emphasis.)
  34. Adam Cassandra, LifeSiteNews, “Priest who heads Jesuits at Loyola Marymount backs honor for pro-abortion Bill Clinton,” April 22, 2016, last accessed January 31, 2020, https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/priest-who-heads-jesuits-at-loyola-marymount-backs-honor-for-pro-abortion-b.
  35. United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Task Force on Catholic Bishops and Catholic Politicians, USCCB, “Catholics in Political Life,” June, 2004, last accessed January 31, 2020, http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/faithful-citizenship/church-teaching/catholics-in-political-life.cfm.
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