Posted on 02/09/2026 3:06:05 PM PST by ebb tide

PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pennsylvania (LifeSiteNews) — Over two dozen Catholics showed up in extremely cold and windy weather to prayerfully protest a talk given by the heterodox Father James Martin, S.J., on Saturday at his native parish, Epiphany of Our Lord Church, on his new book.
On February 7, as arctic wind chills made the temperature feel like -20 degrees, about 35 faithful Catholics attended the peaceful Rosary rally organized by Tradition, Family and Property (TFP) Student Action during the notoriously pro-LGBT Jesuit’s talk on his new memoir, Work in Progress: Confessions of a busboy, dishwasher, caddy, usher, factory worker, bank teller, corporate tool, and priest. John Ritchie, the director of TFP Student Action, emphasized to LifeSiteNews the importance of showing up to defend Catholic truth against Martin’s contradictions and the grave scandal caused by inviting him.
“It’s extremely important to defend the truth in a culture that is attacking natural law, God’s law, and family values,” Ritchie said. “The most shocking thing, especially coming from a Catholic priest, is that Father Martin has clearly supported and favored transgenderism for children. In other words, favoring the destruction of the notion that God made us male and female.”
Indeed, Martin previously appeared to defend giving puberty blockers to children with gender dysphoria while pushing back on Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for cracking down on the dangerous practice. Last year, the Jesuit priest also compared school children reading books promoting transgenderism and homosexual “marriage” to Jesus’ parables.
“It’s extremely shocking to see that a Catholic priest is promoting this lie, this madness, this attack on natural law, God’s law, and reality,” Ritchie added.
Before the event, the pastor of Epiphany of Our Lord parish, Father Thomas O’Donald, defended his decision to invite Martin to speak, telling LifeSite that while he accepts the Church’s teaching on homosexual “marriage” and has reservations about some of Martin’s statements, he invited the Jesuit to discuss only his memoir, not LGBT issues.
READ: Priest defends inviting Fr. James Martin to speak at parish about memoir
“We are hosting Father James Martin at Epiphany for a narrow and specific purpose: to speak about his upbringing in Plymouth Meeting, his roots at Epiphany as his home parish, and his new memoir. This is not an event on LGBTQ issues, ‘same-sex marriage,’ or any contested moral questions,” the priest told LifeSiteNews at the time.
In addition to his comments on transgenderism, Martin has a long history of contradicting Church teaching on homosexuality. The Jesuit priest frequently speaks of “loving LGBTQ people,” but he equivocates to downplay the fact that he endorses what the Church condemns: gravely sinful homosexual behavior.
Within the last year alone, Martin blasphemously compared former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg’s – who is “married” to another man – “parenting” to the Holy Trinity and even celebrated a confirmation Mass for homosexual ABC News correspondent Gio Benitez, who is also in a homosexual “marriage.”
READ: Fr. James Martin celebrates Confirmation Mass for homosexual ABC News anchor
Martin has criticized Catholic teaching that homosexuality is disordered, calling it “cruel,” suggested that Catholic doctrine on homosexuality is not “authoritative,” cast doubt on the biblical condemnation of sodomy, and falsely claimed that homosexuality is “the way God created” people. He has further said he hopes homosexual “husbands” will one day feel comfortable kissing each other during the sign of peace at Mass.
Cardinal Gerhard Müller, the former prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, accused Martin of “heresy” in 2022.
Ritchie underscored the “tremendous scandal” that Martin’s invitation causes the faithful and compared Fr. O’Donald’s response to inviting an abortionist to speak at the parish about a neutral topic.
“I don’t think that it would be right to invite an abortion provider to speak at a parish, even if the abortion provider said he would only talk about some neutral topic like planting flowers,” he said. “Therefore, I don’t think it’s proper for a priest who espouses heresy and promotes sins against nature to be invited and given a platform in a Catholic church, even if what he’s speaking about might be neutral-sounding.”
“It’s confusing, it undermines Catholic teaching, and it’s harmful to the faith. It causes (a) tremendous scandal,” he added.
A few weeks prior to the event, TFP Student Action launched a petition urging O’Donald to disinvite Martin due to his “public pro-LGBT activism” and his “open revolt against Catholic teaching.” The petition quickly surpassed its original goal of 15,000 signatures and, by February 7, surpassed its new goal of 20,000 signatures.
Ritchie echoed those sentiments to LifeSite and highlighted the importance of the faithful engaging in acts of reparation for the scandal caused by priests like Fr. Martin.
“Our Lady of Fatima called us to make reparation to God for the sins of mankind. And whenever we see grave scandal, especially scandal within the Church, it’s important to pray the Rosary, to make sacrifice, and to make reparation for those sins that are being committed against God,” he said.
Ritchie continued:
So, to do a Rosary rally like we did today is an act of reparation. And it’s an excellent opportunity to atone for the sins of mankind and to pray for (the) graces of conversion for our nation. We’re standing with 2,000 years of Church teaching, with the Doctors of the Church. We’re standing with the truth, the catechism, (and) all the saints.
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Ping
This POS is still a priest but Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò was excommunicated. The church is sick and depraved. This new pope is a degenerate pig like the last one.
Revelation 20:12
"And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Also another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, by what they had done."
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