The religious congregation of The Missionaries of the Precious Blood is sending two of its priests to take over liturgical and spiritual duties at The Castro’s Most Holy Redeemer Parish. This is after the very early exit of Fr. Brain Costello who was only into his second year of a supposed six year stay at the parish. In a recent interview, Father humbly stated: “It just didn’t work out. I did the best I could. My best was just not good enough for a lot of people here. There are real challenges here, and the truth is I just didn’t have the gifts to meet those challenges.” This might explain why the Missionaries have been called in, as, according to their web-page for the Kansas City Province, (see: http://www.kcprovince.org) one of their main apostolates is to the LGBT community. It states:
“The Precious Blood LGBT Ministry is a collaboration of lay associates and members of the various Precious Blood communities. Founded by a line of prophetic voices and guided by Jesus’ example of inclusion, we are called to be compassionate healers and a life giving presence to an alienated and broken world. We bring a radical love to the world through service that affirms LGBT people and works for changes in institutions that cause oppression. In that spirit, the Precious Blood LGBT ministry was developed to foster dialogue and maintain relationships for people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender.”
In my opinion, this statement is somewhat confusing, mainly because of the terms “inclusion” and “affirms.” In this context, are they including a sexually active lifestyle with that of the LGBT orientation? And, are they affirming those in the lifestyle within their sexuality? Is it okay to be gay, Catholic, and sexually active? Because, in the “Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons” it clearly states: “Therefore special concern and pastoral attention should be directed toward those who have this condition, lest they be led to believe that the living out of this orientation in homosexual activity is a morally acceptable option. It is not.”
Of most concern, also on the Missionaries’ web-site, is a “Pastor Resources” section: which includes: “Helpful Things to Know When Ministering with Persons with a Homosexual Orientation, or with Their Families;” here, the extracted citations are strategically chosen, but also problematic for what is left out. For instance, it states: 3. Having a homosexual (or heterosexual) orientation is not a sin. “Such an orientation in itself, because not freely chosen, is not sinful.” (U.S. Bishops, Human Sexuality, 1991, pg.55). Only, the more telling example concerning the origins of homosexuality comes from the authoritative “The Catechism of the Catholic Church,” which states: “Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that ‘homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.’” Another problematic inclusion is: 4. …Sexual identity helps to define the unique person we are, and one component of our sexual identity is sexual orientation” (U.S. Bishop’s Committee on Marriage and Family, Always Our Children, pg.7). But, the same document, only the few lines before that states more significantly: “You can help a homosexual person in two general ways. First, encourage him or her to cooperate with God's grace to live a chaste life. Second, concentrate on the person, not on the homosexual orientation itself.” Then, when chastity is decisively mentioned, it is followed up with some very skillfully selected qualifications: “Circumstances may exist…which would reduce or remove the culpability of the individual in a given instance...;” “Although we can judge that an act is in itself a grave offense, we must entrust judgment of persons to the justice and mercy of God;” “A Human being Must always obey the certain judgment of his (or her) conscience. If he (or she) were deliberately to act against it, he (or she) would condemn him (or her) self.” While all this is true, in this context, these statements are dangerous, and even deadly. For, again, The Catechism clearly states: “They [homosexual acts] are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.” Lastly, with regards to chastity, the Missionaries maintain: 11. The Catholic Catechism’s definition of Chastity: #2337 Chastity means the successful integration of sexuality within the person and thus the inner unity of man [sic.woman] in his bodily and spiritual being. Now, here, the inclusion of this statement is deceptive, for #2337 in The Catechism, as it reads later on in the passage, is only referring to: “the complete and lifelong mutual gift of a man and a woman.” This is plainly not, or even in a tangential way, related to gay unions or those with homosexual tendencies.
Lastly, the Missionaries state: 5.) Scientific evidence does not show that conversion therapy (trying to change a person’s sexual orientation) works…it can do more harm than good.” (American Psychological Association, Answers to Your Questions About Sexual Orientation and Homosexuality, undated brochure). Yet, “Always Our Children” clearly believes that such therapy could be successful: “…therapy directed toward changing a homosexual orientation. Given the present state of medical and psychological knowledge, there is no guarantee that such therapy will succeed. Thus, there may be no obligation to undertake it, though some may find it helpful.”
Sadly, the Missionaries include this brief synopsis of the ideology expounded by former Jesuit John McNeill, who was expelled from the Society of Jesus in 1987: “Through the lenses of scriptural interpretation and psychological insight, McNeill argues that, in justice, the Church needs to abandon its traditional opposition to committed, sexually active lesbian or gay relationships. He proposes, ‘The same moral norms should be applied in judging the sexual behavior of a true homosexual as we ordinary apply to heterosexual activity.’ Additionally, he argues that ‘there is the possibility of morally good homosexual relationships and that the love which unites the partners in such a relationship, rather than alienating them from God, can be judged as uniting them more closely.’” This is directly opposed to the specific declarations made in the Holy See’s “Considerations Regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions Between Homosexual Person,” which states: “There are absolutely no grounds for considering homosexual unions to be in any way similar or even remotely analogous to God’s plan for marriage and family. Marriage is holy, while homosexual acts go against the natural moral law. Homosexual acts close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved”.
And, here are the names and statuses of other listed “Theologians” that the Missionaries list under McNeill and presumably endorse:
Charles Curran: In 1986, the Vatican declared that although a tenured professor, Curran could no longer teach theology at the Catholic University of America schools, because “clashes with Church authorities finally culminated in a decision by the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, headed by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger [later Pope Benedict XVI], that Curran was neither suitable nor eligible to be a professor of Catholic theology.” The areas of dispute included publishing articles that debated theological and ethical views regarding divorce, artificial contraception, masturbation, pre-marital intercourse and homosexual acts.
Rosemary Radford Ruether: Ruether describes herself as an “ecofeminist” and has referred to God in the feminine as “Gaia.” Ruether is an advocate of women’s ordination. In 1984 she was one of 97 theologians and religious persons who signed A Catholic Statement on Pluralism and Abortion, calling for religious pluralism and discussion within the Catholic Church regarding the Church's position on abortion. Since 1985 Ruether has served as a board member for the pro-choice group “Catholics for Choice” (CFC).
Sister Margaret Farley: On March 29, 2010, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith wrote to Farley, detailing doctrinal problems that it found in her book “Just Love.” Farley replied on October 28, 2010. The Congregation considered her response unsatisfactory and, because of the errors it discerned in a book had been “a cause of confusion among the faithful,” commissioned the book to be reviewed by experts. On the basis of the experts’ evaluation it decided on June 8, 2011 that the book did contain erroneous propositions and requested that she correct those propositions. It received a further response from Farley together with the opinions of her current religious superior and of the superior's predecessor. Considering this further response inadequate, it decided on December 14, 2011, to publish a Notification about what it considered to be problems. The Notification was issued on June 4, 2012, and mentioned specifically her views on “masturbation, homosexual acts, homosexual unions, the indissolubility of marriage and the problem of divorce and remarriage.”
Patricia Beattie Jung: The author of “The Call to Wed: Why Catholics Should Celebrate Same Sex Marriage.” Pamphlet and posted at www.DignityUSA.org/resources.html, 2004.
Bishop Geoffrey Robinson: On 6 May 2008, 10 days before Robinson's scheduled public lecture at Temple University in Philadelphia—the first event in a month-long speaking tour in the United States and Canada—the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference issued a statement critical of aspects of Robinson’s book “Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church,” noting: “The book's questioning of the authority of the Church is connected to Bishop Robinson’s uncertainty about the knowledge and authority of Christ himself. Catholics believe that the Church, founded by Christ, is endowed by him with a teaching office which endures through time. This is why the Church's Magisterium teaches the truth authoritatively in the name of Christ. The book casts doubt upon these teachings.”
Link to The Missionaries’ “Pastor Resources:”
http://www.kcprovince.org/kcprovince/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Pastors-Resource.pdf
Author’s note: There are two provinces in the US of The Missionaries of the Precious Blood: Cincinnati and Kansas City; while California is in the Cincinnati Province, the new pastor at Most Holy Redeemer is from the Kansas City Province.