Congratulations, United States Catholics! You’ve now got a parish openly rebelling against the teachings of the Catholic Church. Didn’t know that? Sorry to break it to you. Most “LGBT” parishes dance ever so carefully around the issue of active homosexual acts. They dangle their feet over the line but never actually speak of the fact that they are encouraging people to accept homosexual activity. Unfortunately, this parish is now openly doing it. I, for one, am happy to just see them say what they mean for once and ditch the wink and the nod. In this parish, it’s A-O-K to be a drag queen, or a physically active homosexual (sodomy and masturbation – I’d like to be super clear on that for some goof who is going to try and argue that simply being homosexual is not a sin), or a champion of “gay marriage”, in a “gay marriage”, and for homosexual “married” partners to adopt children. I’d guess it’s probably just peachy to use IVF, sperm donors, egg donors, and surrogacy to have children, too. You know, because their desire comes before EVERYTHING else, especially Church teaching. Joseph Sciambra has put together a nice, not-so-little dossier here: http://josephsciambra.com/gay-man-announces-his-same-sex-wedding-in-radical-lgbt-affirmative-parish-bulletin/
And then there’s this:
St. Matthew Catholic Church: LEAD Ministry from Eric Kruszewski on Vimeo.
This is one of the most deplorable things I’ve ever seen, and it’s been a year since it came out. Pretty much shows how the pastor is accepting of moral behavior. I found it here: http://www.out.com/news-opinion/2016/1/11/watch-inside-lgbt-friendly-catholic-church Really, if OUT.com is extolling the virtues of a Catholic parish, it’s time to do something. I’m sure Archbishop Lori agonizes over this parish, but the time for contemplation is over. Fr. Muth is actively leading souls away from Truth. Don’t we care about the parishioners? Yes, it would be a news story to shut down the heresy. Yes, some are going to leave the Catholic Church behind if you teach Truth. We know this, for Christ himself saw followers walk away, but ignoring this is aiding and abetting leading souls right into the hands of Satan. Please take the time to watch the video. People have very openly said they are in homosexual relationships. This isn’t simply about “a parish being welcoming.” This is about a parish making people “feel at home” with their active homosexual lifestyles.
So what’s the Church to do??? We cannot “welcome” sinful acts that lead people into spiritual and physical danger. We can’t tell the person suffering from same-sex attraction that we accept their lifestyle any more than we can accept a drug addict’s lifestyle. Earning the “tolerant and nice” badge is anything but loving. In fact, it’s pretty much selfish on the behalf of those that do it. The only loving and kind thing we can ever do is to tell people the Truth, help them carry their crosses, and ease their sufferings as much as we possibly can in light of the Truth.
Fr. Muth says he just want to “provide a place where people can simply find their moment to seek God in their life.” That’s just a bold face lie. God is Truth and Fr. Muth is doing anything but putting Truth before the people in his congregation. He’s doing nothing but validating their lifestyle choices. I’m sickened at his attitude that HE, not the Church, provides a safe haven to people suffering from SSA. Sorry, Father. I must have missed the part where your accepting ways led the people in this video to a chaste lifestyle.
This is the type of thing that the parishioners get out of St. Matthew’s and Fr. Muth: “I love God, and I love myself, and it’s unfair to think I have to choose between the two,” said Victoria Moore, a lesbian…” https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/offically-sanctioned-baltimore-parish-group-welcomes-lgbt-catholics FACEPALM! I’m sure NcR was glee writing this one. Somehow these (and so many other things) were completely missed at St. Matthew’s.
Then Jesus said to his disciples: If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. Matt. 16:24
And calling the multitude together with his disciples, he said to them: If any man will follow me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. Mark 8:34
And he said to all: If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. Luke 9:23
And they that are Christ’s, have crucified their flesh, with the vices and concupiscences. Gal 5:24
For you are dead; and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ shall appear, who is your life, then you also shall appear with him in glory. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, lust, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is the service of idols. For which things the wrath of God cometh upon the children of unbelief, In which you also walked some time, when you lived in them. Col 3:3-7
And you, too, must think of yourselves as dead to sin, and alive with a life that looks towards God, through Christ Jesus our Lord.
You must not, then, allow sin to tyrannize over your perishable bodies, to make you subject to its appetites. You must not make your bodily powers over to sin, to be the instruments of harm; make yourselves over to God, as men who have been dead and come to life again; make your bodily powers over to God, to be the instruments of right-doing. Sin will not be able to play the master over you any longer; you serve grace now, not the law. Romans 6:11-14
Well, brethren, you too have undergone death, as far as the law is concerned, in the person of Christ crucified, so that you now belong to another, to him who rose from the dead. We yield increase to God, whereas, when we were merely our natural selves, the sinful passions to which the law bound us worked on our natural powers, so as to yield increase only to death. Now we are quit of the claim which death had on us, so that we can do service in a new manner, according to the spirit, not according to the letter as of old. Romans 7:4-6
And now, brethren, I appeal to you by God’s mercies to offer up your bodies as a living sacrifice, consecrated to God and worthy of his acceptance; this is the worship due from you as rational creatures.[1] 2 And you must not fall in with the manners of this world; there must be an inward change, a remaking of your minds, so that you can satisfy yourselves what is God’s will, the good thing, the desirable thing, the perfect thing. Romans 12: 1-2
So,yes Victoria, you are supposed to choose between your desires and God when they are at odds and I’m so sorry that Fr. Muth hasn’t shown you true accompaniment. You wanted bread and he gave you a big, old stone.
Like I said here, https://onemadmomblog.wordpress.com/2017/05/13/fr-martins-bridge-too-far/, this issue is the Catholic Church’s Iraq or Syria, and our hierarchy is acting more like Obama than Christ and His saints. (If the shoe doesn’t fit, don’t put it on.) The several lines in the sand has repeatedly been crossed by dissenters, and now an entire parish, yet it doesn’t even matter if Archbishop Lori is doing something behind the scenes to rectify the problems. To be fair, he has made them cancel things in the past. That said, this parish is the proverbial “Mother of All Bombs” in the obedience area and unless something is done to publicly correct the pastor and the flock, you can bet more parishes will follow.
I’m a mom. I can tell you when children don’t get a firm smack down on serious issues, many more will arise and it can spread through the family. Our hierarchy might think that quietly dealing with things is the way to go but this isn’t somebody stealing a cookie. This is akin to the family finding your kid with a needle sticking out of their arm. It’s not just harmful to them but to the entire family unit with such a display. And you know what? You might just lose that child, but if you make sure that you ALWAYS let them know your actions are done out of concern for their physical and immortal well-being, they will remember that. As parents, we cannot make our children not sin. It’s impossible. I’ve tried. We can only teach them. If we do and they sin, they will be held responsible. If we don’t teach them and they sin, woe to us!
P