On March 18, 2017 Joseph Sciambra published a blog post titled “Young Adult Ministry at SF Parish Linked to Dissident Priests, Call To Action and Pro-Gay Advocates.” The following is excerpted.
- According to a March 11, 2017 post to the Young Adults of Most Holy Redeemer (MHR) Facebook Timeline: “…let’s all take a moment tomorrow to thank Ish Ruiz for the great work he has done and will continue to do representing us in his testimony after each of the masses this weekend, but also in so many other ways, both at MHR and within the broader Church.”
- Ish Ruiz is Religious Studies Instructor at Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory in San Francisco. According to his profile at the dissident pro-gay and pro-women’s ordination group “Call To Action:”
- Ish Ruiz is a doctoral student in the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley and a Religious Studies instructor at a Catholic high school in San Francisco. Ruiz has offered workshops to high school faculty and staff on the care for LGBTQ+ students in Catholic schools and is a member of the Marianist LGBT Initiative Team, which published a resource, titled Addressing LGBT Issues with Youth: A Resource for Educators. He is also a leading member of the Young Adults group at Most Holy Redeemer parish in the Castro neighborhood of San Francisco, which is known for its integration of LGBTQ+ Catholics into the life of the Church. Ruiz has made several contributions in the media and through his ministries regarding the protection of LGBTQ+ Church workers, the Catholic Church’s response to the Supreme Court’s ruling on marriage equality, and the contributions of LGBTQ+ teachers in Catholic schools.
- In 2006, the Prefect for the Congregation for Bishops, Giovanni Battista Cardinal Re, wrote to then Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz concerning Call To Action, stating: “…to be a member of this association or to support it is irreconcilable with a coherent living of the Catholic faith.
- Regarding the Supreme Court’s decision to legalize gay marriage, Ruiz said:
- “The Church has always taught that the Holy Spirit speaks through the laity as well as the hierarchy. I hope the decision from the Supreme court, combined with polls that show that the majority of Catholics support same-sex marriage, encourages the hierarchy to be more in touch with the people, the sense of the faithful.”
- He continued:
- “Pope Francis encouraged bishops to allow themselves ‘to be surprised by God, the God of surprises.’ I pray the Church continues to engage with the sense of the faithful, especially those that are LGBTQ+, through dialogue. That door must always remain open.”
Anti-Catholic Religion at SF Schools
In addition to teaching religion at Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory, Mr. Ish Ruiz leads the MHR Young Adult Group. He’s not alone; other homosexual activists in religion departments are parishioners at San Francisco’s Most Holy Redeemer (MHR) parish.
As CalCatholic previously reported, “three parishioners from Most Holy Redeemer, a parish where the celebration of homosexuality has been the central value for 30 years, have chaired departments of religion/theology at archdiocesan High Schools: Ted de Saulnier at Riordan, John Ottersberg at Notre Dame de Namur, and Ray O’ Connor at Convent/Stuart Hall. A fourth, Jim Everitt, is the Principal of Sacred Heart of Atherton. Ottersberg, O’ Connor, and Everitt have all served as lectors at Most Holy Redeemer. De Saulnier led one of the parish’s charitable ministries.” Now, thanks to Mr. Sciambra’s reporting, we can add Mr. Ruiz to the mix.
Both O’Connor and Ruiz have brought students from their schools to visit Most Holy Redeemer. Students from Mr. Everitt’s school were scheduled to perform the homosexualist propaganda play “Be Still and Know” at MHR in March of 2009. At that time, Everitt was principal of Sacred Heart of Atherton. He is now listed as the school’s Director, Mission Initiatives & Institutional Planning. Publicity, including articles in CalCatholic, caused San Francisco’s then-Archbishop George Niederauer to prevent the performance.
In 2014 and 2015 CalCatholic published a series of articles on the infiltration of Catholic schools’ departments of religion by homosexual activists. Examples are here:
‘Queer Bohemian’ chairs theology department at Woodside Priory School
Gay totalitarianism at Schools of the Sacred Heart, San Francisco
LGBT activist leads retreat at Notre Dame de Namur
Gay activist returns to Notre Dame High School
For Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep, contact Br. Ronald Gallagher, Interim President, 1055 Ellis Street San Francisco, CA 94109, 415-775-6626. For the archdiocese of San Francisco, contact Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone; One Peter Yorke Way, San Francisco CA 94109, 415-614-5500.
Most important is to contact the principal of your local Catholic elementary schools. Almost all enrollment to Catholic high schools come from Catholic elementary “feeder” schools. The elementary principals may be unaware of the catastrophic state of religious education in Archdiocesan high schools, and they are the persons with the greatest ability to effect change, by their willingness to steer students towards or away from prospective high schools.
Yes, the God of surprises can move very quickly. He caught the men of Sodom and Gomorrah by surprise. He continues to catch people by surprise. That is why it is really important to continue to dialog with homosexual persons so that they can learn how to avoid going to hell. We should encourage them to keep the door to eternal life open.
People used the name of Sodom to describe the act of sodomy, not God. You demonstrate ignorance when you allow human convention to influence you. Of all the sins Sidon and Gomorrah were destroyed for, consensual same sex was the least of our worries. As a matter of fact, the entire problem was the non-consensual nature of it, which is universally accepted as abuse. For you to ignore than and make homosexuality the focal point of the story is to super-impose your views on the scriptures. Why give God lip service when you know more than him and don’t need him. Just write your own bible.
Catholic schools in the Bay Area are known to weed out faithful Catholics during hiring. Nobody from Steubenville gets an interview. During the interview, questions are asked to get an applicant to reveal his stance on gay issues. For example, “How would you respond if a co-worker shared with you that he is gay?” For decades these schools and their religion departments have been controlled by dissident Catholics, and they are now almost entirely staffed by pro-gay, pro-Democrat, pro-leftist, anti-Catholics from top to bottom. Better to keep kids out of those schools entirely. Bishops, where are you? Bishops, why do you permit this?
To the leftist Katholicks the name “Steubenville” is anathema. Mention that university and your interview is over before it begins in CALIFORNIA especially. The bishop’s who hire heretics don’t want faithful Catholic employees – such people would uncover too much dirt and refuse to be quiet. Keep em ignorant in the faith and more focused on community activism. These bishop’s are the architects of the destruction of the Church and Her Doctrine with the goal of teaching that Transubstantiation is not real nor necessary. As for the FEW Orthodox bishops – it would appear that they are in individual bunkers, very isolated and limited – very little vision nor understanding of their own duty and authority. The Archbishops of Portland and…
Denver have courage and self-sacrifice. They cleaned house, took the heat and are moving the Church forward as God’s instrument of sanctification of humanity (and not just another non profit social justice org).
Dear Thomas Edward Miles,
The Catholic Churchis is not a man-made club. To be a member of the Church requires that one be Baptized and receive the sacraments of Reconcikiation, First Holy Communion and Confirmation, It is not sad to have clear doctrine, dogma and magisterial teaching which are supported by and likewise support the two pillars of the Faith:Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition. To follow the teaching of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic a to live a joyful way of life, To reduce Orthodox Catholicism to a political term (“right wing”) is a misapplication of a political terminology which defines ideological platforms to disseminate socio-political agendas and policy, The teaching of the Church is not disseminated in…
…such a manner. Christ presented The Way to follow. Each of us is free to accept or reject Him. If we follow we may at times find his teachings difficult to maintain. This is where the gift of His Mercy shines the brightest in the Sacrament of Mercy : Confession. The love of Christ compels us to identify ourselves with Him and so we are called “Christian” rather than to be “identified” with a sexual preference i.e.: “LGBTQ” and now “+” In leadership in the Church Scripture indicates that those in position of ministry leadership must be living the Christian teachings and living these in good faith. If one is identifying with a lifestyle that is antithetical to Christ’s teachings that person is at odds with living the witness of…
… of the faith in full, May our hearts be consoled by the pierced Heart of Christ who gave Himself as a pure offering of love for us all, and may our simple “yes” to follow him and His commandments be our sign of love for Christ and a consolation for Him. God’s blessings this Holy Week.
Well stated, Faithful and True.
They love their Homosexual Acts more than they love Jesus. This is the same as those who divorce and remarry without an annulment love to have their way rather than being obedient to Jesus. Fallen human nature always tips in the wrong direction unless fought against.
What God has joined together….. when a man leaves his mother and marries becoming one…. all biblical. To interpret the Holy divine scripture according to ones thoughts taking things out of context to make it their own will have grave consequences either here or now.
So-called “Catholic” schools in the SF Bay Area provide fake religious instruction. Mr. Ruiz is a fake catechist and a fake wannabe theologian, teaching fake theology, misleading his students about the truth. Yet Christ allows his little sheep to devoured by such wolves. Why?
“If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come!” (Matthew 18:6-7)
The devil, Satan, uses all his means to take souls away from God and one of them is to attack the Church from the outside and better yet from within. The smoke of Satan is shown almost daily on this website of questionable clerics making controversial statements or behaviors, etc. This will go on forever until we start to say enough is enough .
Thomas Edward Miles:
People like you are what is wrong with the Church today. The infiltration of the Church by homosexuals has caused more desruction than the moslems. The loss of billions of dollars is bad enough, but the loss of confidence in our clergy and the creation of a clergy Mafia is even worse.
Homosexuality has no place in the Church, it is the spawn of Satan.
A follower of Christ is asked by Him to live chastely!! Empty of self, so He may reign in your life! Sex is a very serious matter– it belongs only in the holy Sacrament of Matrimony, in our Church, between one man and one woman, who are devout followers of Christ. The couple must accept and raise any children, which God may send. Very serious! This Sacrament is a pathway to holiness, and Heaven!
Yes, our Church today is extremely hypocritical, and badly needs PURIFICATION– which will probably come, one of these days, in a very painful manner– God allows only so much “nonsense”– and then, if people continue to fail to listen to Him, change their ways, and and obey Him– He purifies them Himself, and it can be painful, when it comes to that point!! Sin has very painful and dire consequences!! All life is a big responsibility– and we must obey God!! Life is not a stupid “joyride” of immature, immoral, babyish, so-called mythical, non-existent “freedoms!” Christ died on a terrible Cross, to set us free from slavery to SIN! Very serious!
Ish Ruiz is a DISASTER to the Catholic Church and offers very BAD teachings (especially to the young) of Catholic Church teachings. I will remind Ruiz, the Pope and every priest that supports these teachings, that we have a very loud Biblical Teaching ‘GENESIS 18 – 19 Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah’ of the Catholic Church’s teachings of gay lifestyles and gay marriage. All of you Catholics who continue to support gay life styles and worse gay marriage, PLEASE reread the Bible, and ask yourselves WHY would God make such a strong statement regarding gay lifestyle with the Destruction of two cities???
The problem is not so much with Most Holy Redeemer Parish, but with Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone.
The Catholic Faith still teaches that sex outside of marriage (between a man and woman) is immoral.
The gays want to fuzz up Church doctrine and confuse people, especially young people.
Until the bishops stand faithfully and forcefully behind Catholic morality, things will only get worse.
Immoral religion teachers in Catholic schools, will simply KILL THE FAITH AND MORALS of all their students– and inculcate vast, ignorant, Satanic rebellion against Christ! NO CHURCH LEFT!! No priesthood, no nuns, and no laity, for the future of the Church!! Is that what our Pope and top prelates want?? That is exactly the direction they all are headed for!!
This is a scandal. All of it. The rubbish they are teaching. The fact that the bishop(s) allows it. The sad reality that they view this rubbish as “Catholic teaching” in some way. The souls that will be misled. Thank you for calling this out. What can be done? God help us all.
It has been ten years since Archbishop George Niederauer was filmed giving Holy Communion to the sisters of perpetual indulgence at MHR and unfortunately Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone has allowed the abomination of desolation to continue.
This is gossip. This is sin. It is also a sin to listen (read) gossip. The one who listens is as guilty as the one who speaks. I should not have read this. Mea culpa.
FYI,
Gossip – casual or unconstrained conversation or reports about other people, typically involving details that are not confirmed as being true.
Sorry, Anonymous, but the realities surrounding MHR and those who call themselves the “Sisters” of Perpetual Indulgence are true, There’s videotape evidence.
The only mea culpa here is for your overt attempt to mislabel speaking the truth — something necessary to keep the faithful aware of real and present danger – as gossip.
This is useful information and thus not detraction. My nephew attends SH. I will warn him about Ish Ruiz and his ilk.
Well Anonymous, if this site is an occasion of sin to you, you should stop visiting it for your own spiritual good.
Have you ever attended Sunday Mass at MHR? Extremely disgusting to see the Homosexuals during the Kiss of Peace. They French Kiss each other while hugging each other in a very sexual manner Slobbering Kiss with other homosexuals around them. No Modesty prancing around in flimsy T shirts exposing obscene tattoos also in the Sacristy. No reverence for the Real Presence. No wonder the Castro District of San Francisco has the US highest rate of Aids, his, etc.
I’ve been to MHR many times and I have never even once seen a French kiss during the Kiss of Peace or any other time. It is a sin to lie.
You do not know what you are talking about. I would be happy to meet with you on any Sunday with proper escorts at MHR and give you a tour of the degenerate perverts who hang around looking for a pick up. I have been practising law in SF for 54 years and I would not make statements I could not prove in a Court of Law.
I don’t really care if you’ve been practicing law for a hundred and fifty four years. There is no slobbering french kissing going on at MHR all over the place at the Kiss of Peace. Now you are changing your story by saying they “hang around looking for a pick up.” Not only does it change your story, but it assumes you know what is going on in the mind of the people there. It IS a very social parish. People stand around at coffee hour, just as they stand around at coffee hours all over the world. Somehow you take that to mean that their purpose is for “pick-ups”. One of the things this parish is doing increasingly well is appealing to straight young adults – young parents and single people. Are THEY standing around looking for…
What a gift a sense of humor is, PRAISE the Lord!
Oh, so you were just joking. We were taking you seriously. I agree, you do have a good sense of humor!
Then stop lying.
I was talking to Your Fellow Catholic.
If you want to be a Catholic, be a Catholic. If you don’t, then be something else. Pretty simple, it seems to me. Don’t join a Church/Faith and then try to bend and morph their rules and regs to suit and condone a lifestyle which is totally anathema to its’ teachings.
This article, and this website is the most PATHETIC use of space I have ever seen. I have a Masters in Theological studies and can safely say that no one here knows ANYTHING credible about what Jesus speaks about in the Gospels. I only hope one day, for your own benefit, you can wake up and life in the larger life that your faith actually calls you to. Imagine Jesus sitting down and writing this article. ha! You are all pathetic.
This church is my favorite out of the three churches I attend. The mass is very uplifting and the people are beautiful examples of God’s love.