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Jesuit priest cites Pope Francis in praising Catholic student activism backing gay marriage
LifeSIte News ^ | Fri Jan 24, 2014 | Matthew Archbold

Posted on 01/25/2014 12:55:13 PM PST by ebb tide

A Jesuit parish priest who marched in a homosexual parade is now citing Pope Francis to protest the dismissal of an Eastside Catholic High School vice principal following his same-sex marriage, according to the priest’s Facebook site.

In December, The Cardinal Newman Society reported on the forced resignation of Vice Principal Mark Zmuda at a Catholic high school in the Archdiocese of Seattle.

Students at Eastside Catholic High School subsequently created a petition at Change.org, calling on the Catholic Church to end its opposition to same-sex marriage. The students are also reportedly planning a “Z day” nationwide protest on January 31 to support Zmuda and urge a change in Church teaching.

In light of the burgeoning protests, Father John Whitney, S.J., wrote in his piece entitled “The Acts of the Orange and Blue Apostles” that he believes Pope Francis would approve of the students’ protests and that they are an example that other Catholics should follow:

…Over the last year, and especially as I have listened to Pope Francis speak of the need for “uproar” by religious, or call young people to make “a mess” in their dioceses. Like many, I have been refreshed and renewed not by some great doctrinal changes, but by the absence of fear expressed in the words of the Holy Father; by his trust in the workings of the Holy Spirit and his passion for courageous acts of faith—even acts that risk error or end in failure. For Francis, it seems, the timidity of tightly held borders, the safe-harbor of accepted opinion and doctrinal purity risks a greater sin—a greater loss to the Church—than the dangerous paths of love and welcome. Ships may be safe within the harbor, but that is not what ships are for. Like the Church of Acts, Francis calls today’s Church to a fearless proclamation of Christ and the Gospel, even though trying to understand such a proclamation may lead us to conflict and disruption.

In the last few weeks, the students of Eastside Catholic High School, and their companions from other schools in the area, have given us an example of the kind of passionate discernment, motivated by the Gospel, that characterizes an important dimension of Catholic education—and, indeed, should characterize our faith both in and out of school. Regardless of the particulars of this situation (and personnel issues may have complexities I do not know), these students have spoken up as products of Catholic education, as women and men motivated by the Spirit and by their own experience of grace. Though it is a painful time, their teachers and their parents should be proud of the Gospel spirit that has been planted in these young hearts. Likewise, we in the broader Church should be grateful for the mess these young people bring, and should listen with compassion and openness to the Spirit that moves within them. Their love, their gentleness, their quest to make of the Church “the home of all, not a small chapel that can hold only a small group of selected people,” demands more than the silence of authority; it demands communion and engagement with the Church—i.e., education, direction, dialogue—since their spirit is a sign of the Church and is life-blood for the Church. May we engage, with fearless love, at the side of our younger sisters and brothers; and may we trust in the God whose Church we are all becoming.

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Fr. Whitney defended his marching in the Seattle gay pride parade in his parish bulletin and invited parishioners to join him. In that bulletin, he compared the Church’s teaching to Old Testament dietary restrictions.

In a 2012 interview with NPR, he called the bishops’ position defending traditional marriage “a denial of civil rights.”

Reprinted with permission from Catholic Education Daily, an online publication of The Cardinal Newman Society. Click here for e-mail updates and free online membership with The Cardinal Newman Society.


TOPICS: Apologetics; Catholic
KEYWORDS: francis; jesuits
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Note: Pope Francis is also a Jesuit priest. I wonder if there will be any repercussions for Fr. Whitney, S.J.
1 posted on 01/25/2014 12:55:13 PM PST by ebb tide
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To: ebb tide

Did Francis lighten up?


2 posted on 01/25/2014 12:57:46 PM PST by Ken H (What happens on the internet, stays on the internet.)
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To: ebb tide

This intolerant and backwards religious teaching should not be acceptable. The Bible is quite clear about the corrupt nature of homosexuality and homosexual acts. There is no place for it in the church.


3 posted on 01/25/2014 12:58:48 PM PST by CaspersGh0sts
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To: CaspersGh0sts
The Bible is also quite clear that the Harlot of Babylon will have her capital in the city of seven hills.
4 posted on 01/25/2014 1:02:42 PM PST by SubMareener (Save us from Quarterly Freepathons! Become a MONTHLY DONOR!)
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To: ebb tide
I wonder if there will be any repercussions for Fr. Whitney, S.J.

Not likely. Were there any for this?: A Jesuit parish priest who marched in a homosexual parade...

5 posted on 01/25/2014 1:05:41 PM PST by Robwin
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To: SubMareener
And Istanbul has 7 hills.

Modern Rome has more than 7 hills -- the Vatican is on the 8th and is outside the walls of ancient rome in any case

6 posted on 01/25/2014 1:06:58 PM PST by Cronos (ObamaÂ’s dislike of Assad is not based on AssadÂ’s brutality but that he isn't a jihadi Moslem)
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To: ebb tide

As usual, several misguided Jesuits, for the past several decades, spout their own interpretation of the Gospels and what previous Popes, including the latest, Pope Francis, has said. Simply put, the Church continues to condemn homosexual acts (and premarital sex,masturbation, contraception, abortion, etc.) but not the homosexual himself, whom for whatever reason, has leanings or attractions to the same sex. Just as the church does not condemn heterosexuals who have leanings towards members of the opposite sex but who refrain from committing sexual acts outside of marriage. Another words, we are all sinners, corrupted, impure, broken, and in need of redemption. We need to refrain from all sins. Condemn the sin, not the sinner, however if the sinner does not repent or condones or promotes sinful behavior, then he remains in sin and likely condemned. That hasn’t changed in two thousand years, and won’t, if a church remains truthful to the Gospels and the Bible in general, last time I checked.


7 posted on 01/25/2014 1:12:17 PM PST by john drake (Lucius Accius-Roman,170 BC - "oderint dum metuant" translated "Let them hate so long as they fear")
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To: SubMareener

NYC has only one hill - we call it “uptown.” Well, we have Murray Hill but that actually is pretty flattened out after two centuries of building.

That said, awful story.


8 posted on 01/25/2014 1:14:58 PM PST by miss marmelstein (Richard Lives Yet!)
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To: CaspersGh0sts

They are just following their rock star Catholic politicians pelosi, biden and the cuomos...


9 posted on 01/25/2014 1:23:51 PM PST by delchiante
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To: CaspersGh0sts; ebb tide; Ken H; SubMareener

10 posted on 01/25/2014 1:32:01 PM PST by Mrs. Don-o (Sanity is the adequate response of the mind to the real thing: adaequatio mentis ad rem.)
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To: Cronos; SubMareener

How many hills does San Francisco have?


11 posted on 01/25/2014 1:32:45 PM PST by WilliamIII
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To: ebb tide

The Jesuit order of today is not the Jesuit order that was founded by Ignatius Loyola or even the Jesuit order of forty years ago. If the parishioners of Whitney’s parish were smart they would find another Catholic parish until the archbishop arranges his removal. Also unless the Pope removes homosexuals from the clergy, the vile molestation of young boys by decadent homosexual priests will continue.


12 posted on 01/25/2014 1:35:10 PM PST by allendale
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To: WilliamIII

San Francisco has 1. Down hill all the way.


13 posted on 01/25/2014 1:39:34 PM PST by Vaquero (Don't pick a fight with an old guy. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.)
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To: ebb tide

My church and school growing up was run by the Jesuits(thought the teachers were Dominican nuns). They were intellectual, but not, at that time immoral. To my knowledge, that is. I never heard of choir boys or altar boys getting diddled.


14 posted on 01/25/2014 1:43:02 PM PST by Vaquero (Don't pick a fight with an old guy. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.)
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To: SubMareener
The harlot was possibly the empire of ancient Rome, but not the Catholic Church. Rome has more than 7 hills -- the Janiculum (named after the Roman god Janis) is an eighth, not counted usually because it is across the Tiber. The Vatican is also across the Tiber, on yet another hill, northwest quite distance from the seven traditional hills of Rome.
15 posted on 01/25/2014 1:55:54 PM PST by Celtic Cross (The brain is the weapon; everything else is just accessories. --FReeper Joe Brower)
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To: ebb tide

The thought of this Pope meeting with obama scares me.


16 posted on 01/25/2014 1:56:29 PM PST by VerySadAmerican (".....Barrack, and the horse Mohammed rode in on.")
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To: VerySadAmerican

Hate to say it, but they’ll probably hit it right off.


17 posted on 01/25/2014 1:58:20 PM PST by Celtic Cross (The brain is the weapon; everything else is just accessories. --FReeper Joe Brower)
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To: Mrs. Don-o
Bergoglio made that statement as the Archbishop of Buenos Aries, not as Pope. At the same time, he urged his fellow bishops to not argue against a proposal for the civil recognition of homo-unions. His fellow bishops rejected Bergoglio's suggestion.

Now, as Bishop of Rome, he seems to have lightened up even more.

18 posted on 01/25/2014 2:07:11 PM PST by ebb tide
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To: ebb tide

For years, I have strongly suspected that the pastor of Seattle’s Roman Catholic cathedral (St. James) is gay - he very much looks the part, and he has tolerated openly gay - and newly elected mayor - Ed Murray to receive communion for many years.


19 posted on 01/25/2014 2:09:47 PM PST by Steve_Seattle
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To: allendale
"If the parishioners of Whitney’s parish were smart they would find another Catholic parish until the archbishop arranges his removal."

In the Seattle area, probably 50%-70% of Catholics support gay marriage. The local church has gone TOTALLY gay. My younger sister works in a Catholic school, she thinks gays are cute and cuddly, almost like pets. She has been totally Opraha-ized.
20 posted on 01/25/2014 2:16:20 PM PST by Steve_Seattle
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