Priest’s Homophobic Homilies Get Him Barred From Saying Mass.

September 23, 2011 — Terence Weldon

In the diocese of Bathurst (Canada), a visiting priest who made offensive remarks about “homosexuals” and gay pride parades in a series of homilies over the local gay pride weekend, has been barred by the local bishop from saying Mass. Rev. Donat Gionet, 85, says he has no intention of retracting his comments, because as a priest, he has a duty to encourage those who aren’t living their lives according to Catholic teachings to mend their ways. But why is that when certain people talk about homosexuality and Catholic teaching, they should be so selective? The Catechism, and “Homosexualitatis Problema”, the primary document on the subject, both draw a clear distinction between homosexual persons and homosexual acts. They also insist that homosexuals should be treated with understanding, dignity and respect. By indiscriminately attacking “homosexuals”, and by comparing those who watch gay pride parades with people who might have watched and clapped the destruction of the twin towers on 9/11, Gionet has shown none of these – nor any recognition of the example of Jesus Christ.

Bishop Valéry Vienneau

The one who is correctly applying the teaching of the Catholic Church in this incident is emphatically not the one displaying his hostility, but Bishop Valéry Vienneau.

Rev. Wesley Wade, vicar general of the Diocese of Bathurst, said Gionet’s teachings don’t meet the diocese’s goal of following Christ’s example of loving unconditionally.

“We have to respect people on their own journey,” Wade said.

“The first message of Christ was to reveal to us a loving father and a merciful father and that we are all called to be his children and that we are all loved unconditionally by Him.”

While the Church gets criticized as a judgmental institution, Wade said the reality is “it’s full of compassion.”

In a letter to parishioners earlier this week, Vienneau said Gionet had been pulled from active ministry.

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Share|
Posted in Gay Catholics/ Christians, Ministry, Church structure. Tags: , , , , . RSS feed for comments on this post.. TrackBack URL.
  • http://profiles.google.com/t.curnutte Thomas Curnutte

    This is very, very encouraging. Thank you for posting about this.

    • http://queeringthechurch.com Terence Weldon

      Encouraging indeed, Thom. The remarkable thing is that hot on the heels of this story, comes a similar one, from El Paso, Texas!

  • Promotor Fidei

    Excellent. There needs to be an age cap on celebrators of pubic mass, just as there is an age cap for bishops, and a voting age cap for cardinals. Also, if I were a bishop, I would require all homilies to be submitted for review anti-catechismal issues such as this. I would not advocate that bishop’s reviewing of homilies be required across the board however, because that leaves too much room for bishops to abuse their power, and I already advocate the decentralization of diocesan governance.

  • justacorrection

    This is inaccurate.  Actually, the diocesan vicar-general admitted there was no doctrinal error in Fr. Gionet’s statements.

    • http://queering-the-church.com/blog/ Terence Weldon

      The statements may be “doctrinally correct” in what was said – but they were pastorally dead wrong.

      Just compare his statements to those of Pope Benedict in Berlin, who in numerous addresses, made numerous statements about the challenges facing German and European society today. In a country where sexual minorities are widely accepted, where legal gay marriage is clearly on the way, and in a city which is known internationally as a major centre for gay tourism, what did Pope Benedict have to say on the subject?

      Answer: Nothing. Not a word (at least not reported in any of the transcripts published at the Vatican website). This is not surprising. Contrary to popular opinion, same-sex relationships simply are not a central concern of the Catholic faith. Already, the clear majority of ordinary Catholics, and of a possible majority of Catholic theologians and priests, know that the doctrine is simply wrong, and must be changed,

      I suspect that Benedict knows it too, and is very carefully avoiding saying anything, to prepare the way for the inevitable change in doctrine that will come.

      • justacorrection
        • justacorrection
          • http://queering-the-church.com/blog/ Terence Weldon

            This is just a rehash of a Reuters post which has been around for days. Like most of the rubbish thrown up by Google searches and Pope Benedict, it’s a grave distortion of what he actually said.

            Instead of relying on misleading news headlines, I have gone to the full text of each of the public addresses posted on the Vatican website, to establish what in fact he really did say about homosexuality….. and the answer is – nothing.

            I will have a fuller discussion of Pope Benedict’s message from Germany tomorrow.

          • justacorrection

            I understand that news summaries are pretty bad, but they are probably referring to this statement from his September 24th meeting with representatives of the Orthodox Churches:

            “Knowing too the value of marriage and the family, we as Christians attach great importance to defending the integrity and the uniqueness of marriage between one man and one woman from any kind of misinterpretation.”

        • http://queeringthechurch.com Terence Weldon

          It is also important to note that what was objectionable about Fr Gionet’s words that he was not attacking just the “acts” but “homosexuality”, and gay pride celebrations. A full presentation of Catholic doctrine, and the pastoral guidelines of US bishops, place great emphasis on treating gay and lesbian people with understanding, dignity, and respect – something usually forgotten by those who shout loudly about the defence of orthodox Vatican doctrine.

  • nevermind

    Your website is abhorrent.  I can tell, simply because I know a lot of thought goes into blogsite names, and the name of this site is disgusting.  However, having been referred here by a comment on Lifesitenews, I shall say this:  The priest is right; the bishop this time is wrong.  Our Canadian Catholic bishops overall are not doing the right thing by maintaining silence on the “issue” of homosexual practice.  Time grows short, civilization as we know it nears an end, and I see no point in good Catholics keeping quiet any longer just because they wait…. and wait…. and wait…. for bishops to take the lead.   

    • http://queering-the-church.com/blog/ Terence Weldon

      If the bishops are wrong in maintaining silence on homosexuality, then so is Pope Benedict – and so was Jesus Christ, who not only said nothing against homoerotic relationships, but implicitly accepted them (as shown by his willingness to enter the home of the Roman centurion to heal his servant and likely sexual partner; and explicitly welcomed into the church “eunuchs” – a word which was in biblical times the closest approximation to the modern “gay male”.

      • justacorrection

        Pope Benedict has not been silent on the issue.  A Google search will reveal a score of written and publicly read statements on homosexuality.

        Christ’s lack of explicit mention of the issue is not an implicit acceptance.  While I believe your understanding of those biblical stories to be questionable, Christ dined and otherwise associated with all types of sinners in order to call them to conversion.  The message of Father Gionet was the same:  the church welcomes all people, but those who have committed grave sin must experience the forgiveness from sin offered by Christ (in penance) before being truly united to the church in the Eucharist.

        This tradition is not simply inferred, but explicitly recorded by St. Paul:  ”anyone who eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily is answerable for the body and blood of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 11:27).

        That homosexual acts, not natural tendencies, are gravely sinful is a settled matter theology drawing from, but not dependent on, the traditional teachings of Judaism and the Old Testament.  In fact, in the previous century documents such as Casti Connubbii, Humanae Vitae, and many works of JP2 (including the new Catechism), have actually shed a great deal of light on the appropriateness and necessity of the Church’s traditional teachings on sexuality.  Benedict has made many statements reaffirming the principles therein.

«
»

Switch to our mobile site