True love and mercy cannot exist without the Truth

These Catholic parishes openly celebrate LGBT. Why aren’t bishops stopping it?
by Matthew Cullinan Hoffman

Altar at Blessed Sacrament Church in Hollywood

January 17, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) – As controversy continues to rage over Pope Francis’ doctrines on communion for the divorced and remarried, an even more controversial practice proliferating in the shadows for decades is becoming increasingly open and explicit: same-sex couples exerting their influence in Catholic parishes throughout the United States and Canada.

At a rapidly growing number of proudly "gay-friendly" parishes, same-sex couples who flout the Church’s teaching on the immorality of homosexual acts are exercising leadership roles and receiving Communion with encouragement from their pastors.

The phenomenon can be found in dioceses led by bishops with reputations as orthodox “conservatives” as well as notoriously liberal ones. However, a common thread seems to run through all of them: the persistent unwillingness of the diocesan authority to enter into conflict with a powerful and aggressive homosexual movement.

Since the 1970s when certain American and Canadian parishes became known as “gay-friendly,” and wayward clergy and laity began “non-judgmental” homosexual outreach ministries such as “New Ways” and “Dignity USA,” the number of parishes that tolerate or accept homosexual behavior has ballooned to include parishes in most of the dioceses of the United States.

Although New Ways Ministries has been repeatedly condemned by the Catholic hierarchy, it currently lists about 240 parishes in 165 cities and towns that conform to its “gay-friendly” standards. Nine archdioceses and dioceses have four or more such parishes listed by New Ways, such as Chicago (11), Los Angeles (10), New York (6), Tucson (5), Brooklyn (5), Portland, Oregon (5), San Francisco (4), Philadelphia (4), and Baltimore (4).

These parishes often maintain “LGBT outreach” programs that affirm the homosexuality of members and even encourage homosexuals to be “proud” of their sexual activity. They publicly celebrate anniversaries of the unions of same-sex partners, listing them in parish bulletins. They place active homosexuals in positions of parish leadership. They participate in homosexual pride parades in which same-sex acts are condoned and even engaged in, and celebrate Masses commemorating the parades and other events of importance to the “gay” subculture.

What appears to be absent in such parishes is any mention of the Catholic Church’s doctrine regarding the natural purpose of human sexuality and the intrinsic evil of homosexual acts.

According to Catholic teaching, the sexual act exists to reinforce the unity of a man and a woman united in marriage and to produce offspring. The Catechism of the Catholic Church unequivocally condemns homosexual sodomy as “acts of grave depravity” and “intrinsically disordered.”

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