NEW YORK (ChurchMilitant.com) – A so-called LGBTQ Catholic Resource is touting a self-proclaimed gay priest’s recent speech in which he expresses his dream for the Church to offer the sacrament of marriage to same-sex couples.
Frs. Massingale and James Martin
The website Outreach recently published an adapted version of Fr. Bryan Massingale’s speech, which he delivered on April 21 at the Ignatian Q conference held at Fordham University’s Church of St. Paul the Apostle in New York. The speech, titled “I Dream of a Catholic Church That Celebrates and Embraces LGBTQ People,” took place at a “gathering of LGBTQ students from Jesuit colleges and universities.”
James Martin, S.J., the founder of Outreach, promoted the piece on Twitter, introducing Fr. Bryan Massingale as a “Black, gay priest and theologian” who “dreams of a church that celebrates and embraces LGBTQ people.”
Martin’s pro-sodomy stance is well-known; Church Militant has documented it here, for example. The dissident Jesuit apparently has the support of the pope, his Jesuit superiors and numerous bishops.
Where’s the Archbishop?
Father Bryan Massingale is the head of applied Christian ethics at Fordham University in the Bronx. He was ordained in 1983 for the Milwaukee archdiocese, currently headed by Abp. Jerome Listecki.
In 2017, when a Milwaukee priest announced being gay to parishioners, Abp. Listecki released the following statement:
We support Father [Gregory] Greiten in his own, personal journey and telling his story of coming to understand and live with his sexual orientation. As the Church teaches, those with same-sex attraction must be treated with understanding and compassion. As priests who have made a promise to celibacy, we know that every week there are people in our pews who struggle with the question of homosexuality.
But in 2018, Listecki denounced a retreat for gay priests in the archdiocese.
Church Militant reached out to the Milwaukee archdiocese for clarification and comment regarding the archdiocese’s support or rejection of Massingale’s public contradiction of the Church’s official teachings on human sexuality. No response was obtained as of press time.
‘Dreaming While Queer’
“I come to you as a black, gay priest and theologian,” Massingale asserted.
“I am informed not only by my sexuality, my Faith and my study of the Church’s ethical beliefs, but also by the traditions of black freedom struggles in the United States,” he continued.
As he thought about what he wanted to share, Massingale explained the phrase “dreaming while queer” came to him. “I want to speak of about [sic] the power of dreams. Of dreaming while queer. Of dreaming as black and queer person of faith,” he elaborated.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivering his “I Have a Dream” speech
Massingale attempted to associate his “dreaming while queer” with Martin Luther King, Jr.’s civil rights activism, alluding to King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech, delivered on Aug. 28, 1963, during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
“Sixty years ago, a young Black minister addressed what then was the largest assembly of civil rights protesters in the nation’s history,” Massingale recalled. “He recounted the nation’s legacy of broken promises, which he described as checks returned marked ‘insufficient funds.'”
“He narrated the ‘great trials and tribulations’ that so many had endured: harassment, beatings and the horrors of being crammed in dank, narrow jail cells for their convictions,” he continued. “Yet, he implored them to return and continue with their grinding, treacherous and dangerous work for justice.”
Massingale concluded, “And then, at the urging of the gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, he shared a dream: an inspirational vision of what one day will be because of what they dared to do now. Martin Luther King dreamed while black.”
Toward the end of his speech, the priest posited, “I dream of a time when the LGBTQ community will see racism as their issue because it already is our issue.”
“I dream of a day when two men and two women can stand before our Church, proclaim their love and have it blessed in the sacrament of marriage,” he continued. “I dream of a Church that enthusiastically celebrates same-sex loves [sic] as incarnations of God’s love among us.”
Critics posit the connection between Massingale’s desire for a sacramental celebration of sodomy and King’s desire for a just society is anybody’s guess. They further note the priest’s attempted association with King is even more bizarre when considering King’s thoughts on same-sex attraction, as evidenced in an answer he gave in 1958 to a boy struggling with the issue. The boy asked, “I feel about boys the way I ought to feel about girls. I don’t want my parents to know about me. What can I do? Is there any place where I can go for help?” In response, King said:
Your problem is not at all an uncommon one. However, it does require careful attention. The type of feeling that you have toward boys is probably not an innate tendency, but something that has been culturally acquired. Your reasons for adopting this habit have now been consciously suppressed or unconsciously repressed. Therefore, it is necessary to deal with this problem by getting back to some of the experiences and circumstances that lead to the habit. In order to do this, I would suggest that you see a good psychiatrist who can assist you in bringing to the forefront of conscience all of those experiences and circumstances that lead to the habit. You are already on the right road toward a solution, since you honestly recognize the problem and have a desire to solve it.
That Massingale publicly contradicts official Catholic teaching on a host of topics is crystal clear. The question on the minds of many faithful Catholics is why the hierarchy allows dissident priests like Massingale and Martin to continue spreading anti-Catholic doctrine in the name of Catholicism.