Posted on 04/23/2015 11:40:02 AM PDT by Mrs. Don-o
Sr. Jeannine Gramick, co-founder of [LGBT] New Ways Ministry, has been barred from speaking at a Catholic parish in North Carolina, a move which seems to contradict Pope Francis’ initiatives for a more listening and merciful church.
Bishop Peter Jugis of Charlotte personally expelled a PFLAG-Charlotte event from St. Peter Catholic Church where it was set to be held, according to QNotes. (PFLAG stands for Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays.) Diocesan spokesperson David Hains explained that Jugis acted against Sr. Gramick’s presence because of her connection to New Ways Ministry and outspoken support for LGBT rights. Gramick is in Ireland at the moment, encouraging Catholics to vote for marriage equality in that nation’s upcoming referendum.
LGBT advocates are criticizing Jugis’ decision as out of touch, contrasting it with Pope Francis and a new era in the Catholic Church he is helping to usher in. PFLAG-Charlotte President Diane Troy, a Catholic, said:
"‘Sr. Jeannine’s message is very much in line with Pope Francis’ message of welcoming LGBT people to the Catholic Church. Her message of inclusion and acceptance has been well received by LGBT Catholics, the Catholic Church and its hierarchy for decades…It’s unfortunate that the Bishop, as our spiritual shepherd, has chosen to turn his back on so many.’"
Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, expressed similar sentiments:
"‘It’s disappointing in the era of Pope Francis, where we see many Catholic leaders taking a more open approach to find out that Bishop Jugis has taken a more old-fashioned approach of silencing rather than [engaging in] dialogue and encounter, which are the words Pope Francis uses.’"
QNotes’ report recalled the VIP seating at a papal audience that Sr. Gramick and 50 LGBT Catholics were granted this past February, a clear contradiction to Jugis’ rejection of Gramick.
However, this ban is especially unfortunate because the event, entitled “Including LGBTQ People and Their Families in Faith Communities,” takes up the very theme of pastoral care for families that Pope Francis has championed in the last two years. As DeBernardo pointed out, Catholics are engaged in LGBT inclusion precisely because they are Catholic and not in spite of it. This is particularly true when it comes to family life:
“For many Catholics, this particular issue is a matter of family. It is a matter of keeping families together and strengthening families. In the past two decades, more and more people in the U.S., including Catholics, have learned about an LGBT member in their family and that’s changed their hearts and their minds and moved them to work for equality.’ “
Diane Troy spoke to this reality as well:
” ‘My Catholic faith is profoundly important to me, as is the unconditional love and pride I feel for my gay son. Our Catholic school and parish communities should be a spiritual haven where all families receive acceptance and unconditional love.’ “
Despite the ban, the event scheduled for May 16 will go ahead at an alternate site that has yet to be determined.
This is only the latest controversy in the Diocese of Charlotte, which has fired two gay church workers in the past three years. All of this reveals just how much more Bishop Jugis and church leaders in Charlotte need to be attentive to Pope Francis’ example, allowing dialogue around LGBT issues particularly as they relate to pastoral concerns and working to make sure the local church is as inclusive as possible. Hopefully, in the weeks between now and May 16, clarity will come to Charlotte, and this harmful decision will be reversed.
A little background: way back in 1984, Sr. Jeannine Gramick, SSND, was told by the Vatican/CDF to break off with the New Ways Ministry. She blew this off. In 1999 the Vatican/CDF told her to cease and to cease speaking, writing, teaching, or any other activities with regard to homosexuals. She blew THAT off. In 2000, her religious congregation (School Sisters of Notre Dame) likewise told her to cut it out. She defied that, and transferred over to the Sisters of Loreto, who apparently don't give a rip about Catholicism. There she has continued on her life of apostasy, even signing an open letter to President Obama, urging him to expand U.S. funded abortions around the world.
(I've never quite understood what abortion has to do with gay rights, since lesbians' sexuality should at least distance them from the abortion issue --- but nevermind, the unifying theme seems to be, "We do what we want.").
Diane Troy and PFLAG, the gay spokespersons quoted in the article, are the very ones who just last year were agitating to ban and silence an actual CATHOLIC sister--- Sr. Jane Dominic Laurel, OP --- from speaking in defense of CATHOLIC faith and morals at the CATHOLIC High School.
Bp. Jugis at the time waffled badly, making contradictory statements, first undercutting Sr. Jane Dominic for her "tone" and age-appropriateness of her talk (believe me, she did NOT get into indecent details about "gay"), then supporting her, then saying she'd be welcome to talk in the Diocese anytime, but declining to defend her when the OP's decided to cancel all the Good Sister's speaking engagements and put her on an indefinite sabbatical. (Huh?)
Bp Jugis. Sigh. Watching this one.
The gay “theology” believes they can read “then neither do I condemn you,” but ignore “go and leave your life of sin.”
a move which seems to contradict Pope Francis’ initiatives for a more listening and merciful church. is very much in line with Pope Francis’ message of welcoming LGBT people to the Catholic Church. VIP seating at a papal audience that Sr. Gramick and 50 LGBT Catholics
The gift that keeps on giving.
Bravo Bishop Jugis. It’s high time we take a stand for the faith.
I can tell you in our own Church, we are constantly praying for the Bishops and Cardinals, as well as Pope Francis. Our Homilies are not for the politically correct at heart, and guess what - the pews are as full as I’ve ever seen them!
People have a real hunger for the truth. And I submit that the homosexuals do as well. They know deep down they are deeply offending a Holy God.
Saw this yesterday on the homeschool association email news, and today in the “Observer” while waiting at the emergency clinic.
The Diocesan statement could be summarized: “They haven’t tried this in Charlotte in a long time. Might have got by us, if St. Peter’s hadn’t send us an email announcement. LOSERS!”
Good.
Will Bishop Peter Jugis be the next bishop to get “Burked”? He’s seemingly quite out of step with Pope Francis.
“New Ways Ministry’s LGBT Catholic Pilgrims Get VIP Seats at Papal Audience”
“In what is surely the most official welcome from Church officials that New Ways Ministry has received in its 38-year history, a pilgrimage group of 48 LGBT Catholics and supporters led by our co-founder, Sister Jeannine Gramick, SL, received VIP seating at the papal audience in St. Peter’s Square, Vatican City, on Ash Wednesday, February 18, 2015...”
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Sr. Jeannine Gramick, SSND |
Homosexuality (New Ways Ministry). Formally notified of her error by the Vatican and removed from her position. |
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Jeannine Gramick, SSND |
Supporter of Catholic Organizations for Renewal (National Coalition of American Nuns). |
Jeannine Gramick - will display an 82-minute film about her disobedience to the Vatican regarding gay and lesbian Catholic teaching and "ministry."
I mean: seating? Seriously?
It's Francis who said that the Gay "Lobby," specifically, is an example of a "current of corruption"---
As usual, if there's bacon in the recipe, you can't go wrong.
And it's Francis who published a document describing homosexual unions in a positive light: "Without denying the moral problems connected to homosexual unions it has to be noted that there are cases in which mutual aid to the point of sacrifice constitutes a precious support in the life of the partners."
Bp. Athanasius Schneider: "This is the first time in Church history that such a heterodox text was actually published as a document of an official meeting of Catholic bishops under the guidance of a pope, even though the text only had a preliminary character."
This statement is marked by ambiguity about whether it is praising "homosexual unions," or rather "mutual aid to the point of sacrifice".
The structure of the sentence(subject-verb-object, aid-constitutes-support) indicates the latter, but the rhetorical design and placement in the larger document inclines toward the former.
I'm sue there are some polygamous unions, adulterous unions, and even incestuous unions of which we could say that they provide "mutual aid to the point of sacrifice." That doesn't doesn't justify the immoral sexual liaison per se. But squooshing it all into one sentence makes it seem ambiguous. Which, I guess,is what some of the craters of these documents intended.
“craters” = “creators”
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