Friday, April 27, 2007

Is Conversion Possible at Most Holy Redeemer?

***Updated - See Below***

Picture here, are members of the "Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence"

The BBC is to relay a 'gay Mass' from San Francisco this Sunday, the first time such a service has been broadcast.

The 50-minute Mass at the Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in the predominantly gay Castro district of the city will feature prayers and readings tailored for the gay community.
* * *
...Father Donal Godfrey, the U.S. Jesuit priest celebrating the Mass, said he was delighted the BBC was "exploring how gay people fit into the perspective of the Christian narrative". [St Ignatius, pray fray for us!]

"Being gay is not special," he said. "It's simply another gift from God who created us as rainbow people."
* * *
The preacher will be James Alison - a homosexual British Catholic theologian and author of 'Is it ethical to be Catholic? - Queer perspectives'.
These people need our prayers and San Francisco needs a bishop who is capable and willing to call sinners to repentance and conversion.


The text of the "event" can be read here.
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*** Update from LifeSiteNews *** 8:00pm 4/27
SF Archdiocese:It was not a Mass and We Didn't Endorse it
The Archdiocese of San Francisco is refuting the Evening Standard's claim that a service to be broadcast worldwide this Sunday by the BBC from a San Francisco parish is a "gay Mass". . .
Maurice Healy, Communications Director for the Archdiocese, however, was adamant that what will be broadcast is neither a Mass nor endorsed by the Archdiocese. Healy told LifeSiteNews.com, "The event was not, repeat not a 'gay mass' it was a prayer service organized by Jesuit father Donal Godfrey."

Healy said, "I'm told that he organized it. It was not an archdiocesan function and the archdiocese was not aware of the BBC broadcast."
. . .
When asked about the participation of the parish in the Gay Pride parade, Healy responded, "Their participation could be seen as a way of outreaching. They don't have the archdiocese' approval but Catholics are independent minded people."

When asked directly if Holy Redeemer is the gay parish in San Francisco, Healy said, "These are complex issues." He continued, "We don't make differentiations between gay parishes and other parishes. We don't take a census about ethnicity, or homosexual orientation."
From Luke 11: [24] "When an unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he passes through waterless places seeking rest; and finding none he says, `I will return to my house from which I came.' [25] And when he comes he finds it swept and put in order. [26] Then he goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first."

"Complex issues"? Is the man afraid to answer truthfully? If everyone else in the country knows about this den of iniquity, how can the Archdioces claim ignorance, or indifference?

This refusal/failure to speak clearly and unambiguously brings to mind this from the 3rd chapter of Revelation:

Letter to the Church of Laodicea
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[14] And to the angel of the church of Laodicea, write: These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, who is the beginning of the creation of God: [15] I know thy works, that thou art neither cold, nor hot. I would thou were cold, or hot.
[16] But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, not hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth.
The Navarre commentary states:
As observed by Cassian, one of the founders of Western monasticism, lukewarmness is something that needs to be nipped in the bud: "No one should attribute his going astray to any sudden collapse, but rather [...] to his having moved away from virtue little by little, through prolonged mental laziness. That is the way bad habits gain round without one's even noticing it, and eventually lead to a sudden collapse. 'Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall' (Prov 16:18). The same thing happens with a house: it collapses one fine day due to some ancient defect in its foundation or long neglect by the occupiers" ("Collationes", VI, 17).
How long will the infestation and decay continue in San Francisco and other places before the foundation rots from within and collapses?

The Lifesite article by Hilary White is here.

The BBC Radio Broadcast is here. It's about 38 minutes long (excluding news, etc.)

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