Posted on 01/15/2018 7:07:51 PM PST by ebb tide
Under the leadership of the ultraliberal Cardinal Robert Mahoney, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles annual Religious Education Congress billed as the biggest annual gathering of Catholics in the country gained a reputation for functioning as a platform for dissidents who seek to undermine Catholic doctrine on life and family issues.
When Mahoney left office in 2011 in disgrace following revelations of his protection of priests accused of child sex abuse, he was replaced by Archbishop José Gomez, a former Opus Dei priest perceived as a conservative. Expectations were high that Gomezs administration would lead to a reversal of Mahoneys policies. However, almost seven years later, the Religious Education Congress continues to promote Mahoneys dissident agenda with apparent impunity, at the expense of the Churchs doctrines on life and family.
This year, as in previous years, the Religious Education Congress features a roster of speakers that includes promoters of the homosexual agenda, several of whom have found a warm welcome in Gomezs archdiocese.
Under the topic LGBT ministry, which include nine scheduled talks, speakers include Fr. James Martin, who regards homosexual orientation as part of Gods design of the individual, and as a persons legitimate identity. Martin calls LGBT people holy without giving any qualifications and openly advocates eliminating the phrase intrinsically evil from the Catechism of the Catholic Churchs description of homosexual acts. Martin will be giving a talk on the topic Building a Bridge: Bringing Together LGBT Catholics and the Church as well as two other talks, one on ecumenism and another on The Historical Jesus.
Dr. Arthur Fitzmaurice, an open homosexual and LGBT activist who says that the Catechism of the Catholic Church is evil because of its language regarding homosexuals, will be giving two talks at the conference: Transgender in Our Schools: One Bread, One Body, and Teaching Mercy: Accompanying LGBT Students. At the Religious Education Congress in 2015, Fitzmaurice condemned the Catechisms teaching that homosexual orientation is intrinsically disordered, asserting that to keep this abusive language in the Catechism and other Church writings is, in itself, gravely evil.
Fr. Bryan Massingale, who openly advocates the LGBT political agenda, will also be giving a talk with the title Transgender in Our Schools: One Bread, One Body. Massingale spoke last year at the annual symposium of the condemned homosexualist organization New Ways Ministry, which seeks to eliminate Catholic moral teaching against homosexual acts. According to the dissenting National Catholic Reporter, Massingale shared a note he had received in 2002 from [Archbishop] Rembert Weakland who had recently resigned after he was exposed as having paid hundreds of thousands of diocesan funds to a man with whom he had a homosexual tryst. Massingale quoted the note from Weakland stating, On the gay issue, the level of fears is so high that the official teaching of the church skates so very close to the edge of a new 'theology of contempt.
Massingale has publicly opposed the Trump administrations executive order to protect religious liberty because he regards it as unnecessary and most likely would threaten the rights of LGBT persons. Although Christians have lost their businesses for refusing to cooperate with the celebration or practice of homosexuality, Massingale writes, Despite the rhetoric of persecution embraced by some, Christians are not under attack in this country.
An open lesbian named Yunuen Trujillo will be giving two talks in Spanish, titled Family acceptance project: Myths and realities regarding the gay community, and Catholic and gay: Answers to the most basic pastoral questions.
In a recent video, Trujillo claims that for homosexuals having a partner and being chaste are equally holy.
Fr. Chris Ponnet will be giving a talk on the topic, Teaching Mercy: Accompanying LGBT Students. Ponnet is the spiritual director for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles Office of Catholic Ministry with Lesbian and Gay Persons. He recently gave an interview to the UCLA student newspaper The Daily Bruin, in which he says that after years of some people being harsh and bitter towards the gay lifestyle, society is beginning to look at what a committed relationship means in the gay and lesbian experience. He adds, according to the newspaper, that while the Catholic Church does not bless LGBT relationships, he thinks the church's outlook on LGBT inclusion is changing.
According to the talks description, Ponnet will do a workshop that will share concrete tools and consider real scenarios to help educators discern a merciful balance between teaching doctrine and offering pastoral care as they accompany LGBT students through journeys of self-discovery and self-acceptance.
Many of the above-named speakers, such as Fitzmaurice, Ponnet, and Trujillo, actually work for the Gomez-led Archdiocese of Los Angeles in various ministries to homosexuals.
This years congress appears to be equally devoid of material on the right to life. The talks being given under the headings of life and family make no mention nor even hint at topics such as abortion and the right to life, artificial birth control, euthanasia, or natural family planning. The Life Issues category instead includes many topics dear to the gay agenda, such as Aligning Responses to Bullying with Catholic Schools, Bullying Out Formation In, All Are Welcome in This Place: Rise Up in Communion. Others cover Stuart Smalley style pop psychology topics, such as 13 Reasons Why You Matter.
The only exception to the gay-friendly themes at this years congress is a single topic by Fr. Ed Benioff, who ministers to those who suffer from same-sex attraction as a part of the orthodox Catholic organization Courage. Courage helps such people to resist their sexual impulses and to live a celibate and chaste life. Benioff will be speaking on the Courage ministry, but the title of his talk also hints at relativism: Finding Courage A Way for Catholics with Same-Sex Attractions. The talk has been placed into the category of Morality rather than LGBT. Under the same heading, Fr. Massingale will give a talk called Sin: From Breaking Rules to Violating Justice.
Joseph Sciambra, a former homosexual porn star who converted to the Catholic faith and now defends Catholic sexual morality in California, told LifeSiteNews that he informed archbishop Gomez about the unorthodox nature of the speakers on LGBT issues before last years Religious Education Congress, but to no avail.
During and after the 2017 Congress, I spoke with representatives of the LA Archdiocese, including Archbishop Gomez and told them about my concerns, Sciambra told LifeSite. Yet, this year, they inexplicably invited probably the most controversial speaker in the Catholic Church on the topic of homosexuality: James Martin, S.J.
Sciambra also told LifeSiteNews that he handed out pamphlets at the 2017 congress warning participants of the unorthodox stances of speakers on life and family issues, and found that many were shocked and surprised to learn that such speakers could be appearing at a congress approved and sponsored by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
When I informed Catholics, who were attending the Congress, that certain speakers were criticizing The Catechism, they were genuinely shocked, Sciambra told LifeSite. The response I heard several times was: But this is a Catholic conference; it is sponsored by the Archdiocese of LA; the Archbishop is here? Their point is that, because the LA Congress is an official Archdiocesan event, everyone who speaks upholds Church teaching. A reasonable assumption.
Sciambra noted that the mere presence of such speakers at an official congress of the archdiocese imparts upon them a certain imprimatur.
Unfortunately, many devout and faithful Catholics do not understand or even know what the Church teaches about homosexuality. Therefore, when they attend a lecture by [Fr. James] Martin at an official Catholic conference, they will assume that everything he wrote and says supports those teachings.
In other words, the Bishops, who allow such speakers, are contributing to confusion and the outright dispersion of lies, said Sciambra.
Contact information:
Most Reverend José H. Gomez
Office of the Archbishop of Los Angeles
3424 Wilshire Boulevard, 5th Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90010-2241
Phone: (213) 637-7534
FAX: (213) 637-6510
info@la-archdiocese.org
Office of Media Relations
(213) 637-7215
(213) 216-8395
mediarelations@la-archdiocese.org
* Important*
See Composing Effective Communications in Response to LifeSiteNews Reports
They dont still use that old Bible, do they?
The poison fruit of Francis’ poisoning of the tree is becoming more widespread.
I can remember when the church was a strong voice for key moral values. And Im not really that olde,
“However, almost seven years later...” Mahoney won’t leave, protected by Bergoglio.
Hmmm, I’ll be back from the UAE by that time and may have to crash a few of those sessions. Working here in Sharialand on and off for the last 2 plus years has me really motivated to go back and challenge some of those wolves in sheep’s clothing.
Oh, this has been going on for a long time. Long before Pope Francis.
That it is continuing is what is alarming to me.
The ideology was dominant enough at the time of his election to put Francis into an office that he never merited.
I cant imagine working there. I just hope you are earning a ton. Coming back to LA at some point? You would have a definite good viewpoint to share with these diversity guys.
I return from this current work trip back to LA on Jan 25th. On Jan 26th, I will be working as a chaperone for 300 plus teens/young adults up in a mountain retreat site for Confirmation (My wife is the Confirmation director). In spite of their youth and naivete, they always are a joy to work with (well...mostly). Gives me hope for the future and maybe even California....light and yeast and salt and all that ya know. Thanks for the kind words.
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