Priest Advises a “Brokeback Lent”, Homily Encourages Propaganda Film

LifeSite ^ | March 7, 2006 | John-Henry Westen

[NYer]

Priest Advises a “Brokeback Lent”, Homily Encourages Propaganda Film

By John-Henry Westen

BOSTON, March 7, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The homosexual propaganda film Brokeback Mountain, besides winning three Oscars over the weekend, has shown itself as an adept tool for outing dissidents within the Catholic Church.  While committed Catholics have seen in the film as a dangerous propaganda tool which normalizes homosexuality, left-leaning Catholics have been hard-pressed to outdo one another in lauding the film.

First, the director for the USCCB Office for Film and Broadcasting Harry Forbes gushed over Brokeback saying, "Director Ang Lee tells the story with a sure sense of time and place, and presents the narrative in a way that is more palatable than would have been thought possible.”  (the review was substantially altered after LifeSiteNews.com exposed it http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/dec/05121607.html) 

Also, a prominent Dominican Leader, Rev. Tom Condon, student master for St. Martin de Porres Province of the Dominicans, lauded the film as “an engrossing story, a plea for tolerance, and a sad, emotional film that will touch anyone who has ever been in love.” ( http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/feb/06020703.html) 

Shortly thereafter, the liberal associate editor of Canada’s largest Catholic newspaper – the archdiocese of Toronto’s Catholic Register, extolled the films portrayal of the homosexual acts saying, “When the gay cowboy lovers first discover a way to be authentic with each other - truthful about their basic sexual attractions and the source of their happiness in each other - they achieve a resemblance to truth itself." (http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/feb/06021508.html)

 Finally, the new Archbishop of San Francisco, whose installation was appreciatively received by the homosexual community, called the film “very powerful”. (http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/feb/06021306.html)

The latest example has Father John Allan Loftus, S.J. the Director of the Jesuit Urban Center at the Boston Church of the Immaculate Conception recommending a “Brokeback Lent.”  In his homily for Ash Wednesday, March 1, Loftus urged congregants to watch the film. “I suspect many in this community have already seen Brokeback Mountain,” he said. “If not see it; if you have, see it again and reflect on the consequences of not being interiorly free, the consequences of not knowing who you really are and want to become, the tragic consequences and subsequent devastation that comes from only living in a ‘pretend’ world.”

Rev. Loftus proposed, contrary to Catholic teaching, that sexual sin is not real sin, whereas not giving in to one's desires is sin. “For too many of us, what we think of as ‘our sinfulness,’ our not yet even being the full human beings we are created to become, remains a paltry and cheap catalogue of peccadillos, usually having something to do with sex or not being ‘charitable’ toward each other.  Those so-called ‘sins’ are hardly worth setting aside 40 days each year to ponder; those sins of yours or mine are hardly worth mentioning, really.”  Loftus continued, “There is something much bigger at stake here than my petty sinfulness, my unkindness, my frustrated sex life, or my infuriating love life.  The sin that is before us always is our refusal to grow into the freedom for which we were born.”

The fact that Brokeback Mountain is a propaganda film to normalize homosexuality has been attested to by even the secular media, but has also been analyzed as such by an expert in the field.  Dr. R. Winfield, in an article on the controversial film writes, “Having studied propaganda and its effects on societies for over 50 years, I can state unequivocally that the film Brokeback Mountain is one of the most blatant propaganda pieces of recent times.”

Winfield’s must-read analysis of the film points out that scenery, music and lighting were all expertly utilized in the film to create a “most effective” piece of propaganda which “comes in under the radar, it's innocuous and appeals to our humanity and emotions.”  (see the full analysis: http://www.rense.com/general69/prop.htm )

To contact Boston Cardinal Sean O'Malley about Fr. Loftus

Seán Cardinal O'Malley, OFM Cap
Archbishop of Boston
Office:
2121 Commonwealth Av.
Boston, MA 02135-3192
Phone: 617-782-2544
FAX: 617-782-8358
http://www.rcab.org/Information/contactform.html

---

[baa39]

"Coming out of Boston, why are we surprised?"

Sad to say but, coming from a Jesuit, why are we surprised?

[baa39]

Thank you for all your postings on the Eastern Churches. I'm still unclear about something: do these churches recognize the Pope as the Supreme Pontiff and consider themselves subject to him as the Roman Catholics do?

(That is not quite the same as "the Roman Pontiff working to assure the health and well-being of the Eastern Catholic Churches.")

Do the Eastern Churches use the same Catechism? Do they accept the Four Marian Dogmas? I understand about the validity of the Mass, but I've never been clear on whether Roman and Eastern are truly united in their theology?

Thank you so much for your informative posts!

[NYer]

What exactly is the GIRM? The more I think about the issue of the Sanctuary Crucifix, the more I can not recall if it exists in my church.

See my post and links at #38.

[magisterium]

Yes. They recognize the authority of the pope and recognize that they are subject to his authority. They have equal standing as Catholics to anyone of us in the Latin Rite.

They accept all of the 21 ecumenical councils, as well as the Marian dogmas. By definition, we are one Faith; east and west may emphasize different things sometimes, but we all adhere to the same doctrine.

Although I am a Latin Rite Catholic by birth, and am presently involved in a parish authorized to use the Tridentine Mass, for the entire decade of the 1980's, I was attending the Melkite (Byzantine Rite) Catholic cathedral almost exclusively. They do not genrally use the "western" catechisms (Baltimore, the current CCC, etc.) since they have developed their own over the years. But they acknowledge the legitimacy of the western catechisms, just as the Western Church acknowledges theirs. As it is, the Melkite priests and bishop I know often quote from the CCC, even if it is more of a "western" work.

By the way, as I implied above, any Catholic may fulfill his or her Sunday obligation at *any* other Catholic rite from their own. You are free to attend the Melkites, Maronites or any other of the 23 Catholic rites any time you wish.

[baa39]

Thanks so much! I would love to attend Mass at one of the eastern churches, but I live in a rural area and the closest one is about 200 miles away. However, I will try to find one next time I'm traveling in any urban area. Thank you.