A recent blog post put up on the feast of Our Lady Help of Christians (Pray for us sinners!) on Father Peter Maher's (Parish Priest of Newtown) blog shows us clearly what Acceptance Sydney stands for. Father Maher has hosted the Acceptance Mass at his parish for roughly the last six years since 2006. Here is the text of his post, have a read and see how blatantly against Church teaching it is:
After last Sunday’s homily there has been some interest in the thoughts I expressed. Far from judging and vilifying lesbians and gays, as we heard from Michael Voris in his video about the Newtown parish Friday night Mass, I suggested that hearing the stories of lesbian and gay Catholics and how that had influenced my reading in order to better pastorally care for all Catholics might offer a new way of seeing lesbian and gay Catholics as gift rather than“the other” for whom we might feel sorry.
What I learned from hearing these stories was that lesbian and gay Catholics are like all people trying to live their faith – they are searching for meaning and joy and authenticity in and through the Catholic community and the spiritual wisdom of the bible and church tradition. Catholics expect to find guidance and encouragement, as well as challenge, but lesbian and gay Catholics find all too often that they are asked to deny their sexuality or, at best, to be invisible.
 |
| Fr Peter Maher, Parish Priest,Newtown |
Theologians and spiritual writers are beginning to write from the perspective of the world in which we live and the life stories of lesbian and gay Catholics. If sexuality is a gift from God and if psychology and science are correct in finding that homosexuality is God-given, that is not chosen, then homosexuality must also be a gift from God. What might this gift be? Those doing theology with the insight of the stories of lesbian and gay Catholics and modern science suggest such areas as intimacy, friendship, faithful love and personal growth might be a gift to the church and indeed the world.
Where traditional sexual ethics has dominated church teaching about
heterosexual relationships and marriage; homosexuals have had to find the meaning for themselves of their God-given attraction and have made some astoundingly good gospel-based spiritual discoveries. While heterosexual relationships are struggling in the current climate of distrust of church teaching; homosexual relationships, lived according to gospel principles of love, seem to be finding a beautiful expression.
But what of the scripture passages that seem so damning of homosexuality? Through scripture scholarship which emphasizes the meaning of the text in context, it seems that all the texts referring to homosexuality, and there are not many –indeed, none in the gospel, all refer to abusive sexual relationships. In times when people did not identify as gay, as they do today, it is reasonable to infer that the texts referring to homosexuality refer to people being used and abused. Scriptural texts do encourage intimate and caring relationships and these can often be found among lesbian and gay couples.
I don’t pretend we have found a path forward yet but there are many within the church exploring these ideas. What we try to do here at St Joseph’s Newtown is to support, and walk with, lesbian and gay Catholics as they try to faithfully live their faith authentically.
Including the outsider is a common theme here at Newtown parish and so it is not so surprising that we might explore such a ministry. Let’s hope the likes of Michael Voris, and his Opus Dei money, don’t destroy this emerging gift for the church.
Peter Maher, Parish priest, Newtown
There are too many points in the above text to go through them all but to point out a couple that are undeniably wrong and erroneous:
1. 'If sexuality is a gift from God and if psychology and science are correct in finding that homosexuality is God-given, that is not chosen, then homosexuality must also be a gift from God.'
'Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. 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." They 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. (Catechism of the Catholic Church 2357).
2. 'Through scripture scholarship which emphasizes the meaning of the text in context, it seems that all the texts referring to homosexuality, and there are not many –indeed, none in the gospel, all refer to abusive sexual relationships.'
Some Biblical references to the sin of sodomy:
- Leviticus 18:22
- Leviticus 18:29
- Leviticus 20:13
- Romans 1:24-27
- 1 Corinthians 6:9-10
- 1 Timothy 1:8-11
- Genesis 19:1-29 (The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah)
For a clear Biblical reference to sodomy, and exactly what is meant by it, look no futher than Leviticus 18:22 'You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination'.
This means that a man who has physical/sexual relations with another man commits an abomination. The Scriptures are inspired by God and show us the truth. We are told in the book of Genesis that a man and a woman come together and become one flesh. It is in this one flesh that the fruit of their love is made a reality in their offspring. God has told us to 'Go forth and multiply' (Genesis 1:28). A homosexual relationship cannot participate in pro-creation.
"Right is right, even if no one is right. Wrong is wrong, even if everyone is wrong."
Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen
This years 'Mass before Madri Gras' was a little different to other years. While the Mass was taking place within the Church there were 50 Catholic's praying quietly across the road. When Fr. Peter Maher had finished Mass he thought it a good thing to come and tell all the people praying in Reparation they were 'intimidating' his parishioners. He then threatened to ring the police if we didn't move. As you can imagine the police were down at the Church pretty quickly when they were told a Church 'service' had been disrupted by people harrasing them. A long story in short the police ended up being on our side and the night of prayer went, otherwise, well. 15 decades of the Holy Rosary were prayed in reparation for the sins against the Blessed Sacrament and also to ask God for mercy upon all who attend these Masses. Please also join in praying for the Priests and the persons who attend this Mass. 
