Report: gay man in Michigan removed from parish ministry after “commitment ceremony”

The Deacon's Bench ^ | June 18, 2014 | Deacon Greg Kandra

[NYer]

This story isn’t that unusual. But the swift response from the bishop is.

Details:

A gay man in Marquette was told he can no longer have an active role in his Catholic church after he and his longtime partner held a commitment ceremony, according to news reports out of Northern Michigan.

Bobby Glenn Brown and his partner ,Don Roberts, held a ceremony celebrating 31 years together among friends and family on Saturday, June 14. The next day, officials at St. Michael Parish said he couldn’t continue his role on the pastoral council or positions of cantor, lector and a member of the choir,UpperMichigansSource.com reported.

Brown was told he could sit in the vestibule and listen to the service.

The priest said because of his ceremony, he would no longer be able to minister, Brown told public radio WNMU in Marquette. He walked out and was joined by five other parishioners.

Brown said he didn’t hide the fact that he’s gay, according to the interview with WNMU, and had previously felt “welcomed and loved” at the church.

Bishop John Doerfler of the Diocese of Marquette said the public nature of Brown’s
relationship goes against Catholic principles, according to UpperMichigansSource. Doerfler said Brown’s commitment ceremony would indicate it is permissible to act on same-sex attractions and “that’s where the disconnect is from the church’s teachings.”

Read more.

Another report adds:

In a written statement Bishop John Doerfler says “Everyone is invited to follow Jesus Christ and is invited to be a part of the Catholic Church. One of the qualifications for the public ministry within the Catholic Church is willingness to give witness to the Gospel and the Church’s teachings. Such ministries include serving at Mass as a lector or cantor. The inability to serve in a ministry does not disqualify a person from being a member of the Church.”

To me, this seems incomplete. I’d like to hear the parish’s version of what happened.

[cripplecreek]

Nuthin worse than having an “outie”.

[Salvation]

Good for them. It’s the homosexuals who abuse children sexually.

[Salvation]

**We reached out to the Diocese for Marquette for more information regarding their sudden decision.

In a written statement Bishop John Doerfler says “Everyone is invited to follow Jesus Christ and is invited to be a part of the Catholic Church. One of the qualifications for the public ministry within the Catholic Church is willingness to give witness to the Gospel and the Church’s teachings. Such ministries include serving at Mass as a lector or cantor. The inability to serve in a ministry does not disqualify a person from being a member of the Church.”**

[cloudmountain]

This is one area where I am quite in agreement with the RCC. A PRACTICING homosexual has NO place being active in ANY believing church. A CHASTE person with homosexual TENDENCIES is yet welcome as long as impulses/temptations are NOT ACTED ON.

Well put.

[kearnyirish2]

“This is one area where I am quite in agreement with the RCC. A PRACTICING homosexual has NO place being active in ANY believing church. A CHASTE person with homosexual TENDENCIES is yet welcome as long as impulses/temptations are NOT ACTED ON.”

These deviants have cost the Church millions in lawsuits; at the first indication that they “aren’t right” they have to be removed from anything that would expose children to harm.

Yes, it was a homosexual scandal, complete with homosexual rape.

[ravenwolf]

He did not hide the fact that he was gay.

That indicates the sodomy was approved by the congregation.

Romans1
32Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

[ravenwolf]

Being a homosexual is not a sin; acting on it, is.>>>>

Yeah, its not a sin for a dog to be a dog but its a sin for him to bark.......

[ravenwolf]

The inability to serve in a ministry does not disqualify a person from being a member of the Church.”

---

Yeah, I sure would like to hear them try to convince the early Church of that.

Revelation 18:4
4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

[metmom]

Being a homosexual is not a sin; acting on it, is.

Matthew 5:27-28 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

1 Samuel 16:7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”

This business of *being a homosexual but not acting on it is OK* is a bunch of nonsense.

Sin begins in the heart before it bears fruit in the actions.

It's one thing to struggle with temptation. It's another to self-identify with it, to accept it and let sin become your identity.

The Catholic church, or any church for that matter, which affirms homosexuality in any way such as saying that it's OK to be one as long as you don't act on it, is on the slippery slope.

*Celebrating* your sinfulness and sinful inclinations is a recipe for spiritual disaster.

[fwdude]

The no-questions-ask “welcoming” policy of this church has come back to bite them. Welcoming any and all unrepentant sinners to participate in the heart of a church of Jesus Christ is not biblical in the least.

[jimt]

I guess all alcoholics are going straight to Hell in your book.

Let’s hope you never committed a sin and then stopped doing it because it was a sin.

You’ll join them.

[metmom]

If you’re still owning the sin as a point of identity, you haven’t repented of it.

God did not make people homosexuals. They chose that path.

If they claim homosexuality and figure that if they physically abstain but mentally do not but still engage, they they are sinning in their hearts.

[Campion]

God did not make people homosexuals. They chose that path.

Except that someone can have same-sex attraction without ever consciously choosing to have it, just as someone can struggle with a temptation toward some other sin without ever consciously choosing to be tempted in that particular way.

That doesn't make it psychologically normal, BTW, just not a consequence of deliberate choice and therefore not a sin.

Acting on it is a sin.