Canadian PM’s Parish Priest says he is Considering “Marrying” Gay Partners

***Updated*** for clarification...

LASALLE, February 10, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Fr. John Walsh, the “Parochial Administrator” (parish priest) of St. Jean de Brebeuf parish in LaSalle Quebec, told MacLean’s Magazine last week, that he is open to marrying homosexual partners in his Catholic church. Last week LifeSiteNews.com reported that Fr. Walsh, whose parish Prime Minister Paul Martin attends when he is in town, said in another interview that he was in disagreement with the Catholic Church over the teaching on homosexuality.

Walsh implied that the Second Vatican Council, the meeting of Catholic bishops in the early 1960’s that reformed many areas of Catholic life, gave the Church a new definition of marriage that could include homosexuals. He said, “Then Vatican II opened us to new meanings of marriage…Now the Church tells couples they're creating a community of love.”

We must be concerned about priests who hold opinions of this kind which are contrary to the teaching of the Church. He may truly be unaware of it but nowhere, in any documents of the Second Vatican Council, can he find support for his views. Regardless of his culpability, if - and I repeat, IF - his statements are accurately represented, he is in a state of material heresy. If these things are true, it is now up to him to publicly recant this position, and his superiors must deal with this in a forthright manner to correct any scandal he has caused among the faithful.

Father Walsh told MacLean’s the people in his parish are conflicted over his support of gay ‘marriage.’ He said, “But my responsibility as a priest is to educate people as to what we see as the values of marriage, not to impose one definition on anybody.”

Again, he is mistaken - his responsiblity, indeed, is to educate - BUT, he is to educate, to catechize the faithful in what the Church teaches, to hand on faithfully what the Church has received from Christ and the Apostles. There is an obligation to teach the truth and to avoid teaching error.

The importance of teaching the truth cannot be understated. This past week I have been listening (over and over) to a talk by Cardinal Arinze about the subject of teaching the truth and living in the truth - in the light of Christ Who is Truth. It is only by living in the Light of Christ, following Him in the Truth, that we will reach the eternal beatitude He wills for us. When we depart on a different path, the path of shadows and darkness, we separate ourselves from Him...

What sorrow and anquish things like this cause! There are two paths one can take, that narrow and difficult path that leads to our Lord or the wide and easy path that leads to eternal punishment. Again, IF this article is accurate, this man is directing the faithful in the wrong direction. Let us pray that this is not so.

LifeSiteNews article.