“What accounts for the Catholic Church’s recent focus on transgender people?” asks Father James Martin, S.J., in a May 17th essay at the new LGBTQ website, Outreach.faith, promoted by Martin and managed by America Magazine. He poses this question as a result of recent diocesan statements regarding the transgender phenomenon, which include the Dioceses of Arlington, VA.; Springfield, Il; Milwaukee, WI; Fairbanks, AL; Lansing, MI; Salina, KS; Little Rock, AR; Indianapolis, IN; Denver, CO; Marquette, MI; and the Bishops of Minnesota.
Fr. Martin refuses to consider the most obvious answer to his question: the reason the Church is confronting the issue of transgenderism now is because contemporary society is fixated on the topic. More revealingly, he ignores the fact that Pope Francis himself directed American bishops to address the problem, as Archbishop Carlson of St. Louis made clear in his statement on the topic:
The bishops of Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, and Kansas traveled to Rome in January of 2020 to meet with the Holy Father, Pope Francis. While we were with him he affirmed that abortion is the pre-eminent moral issue of our time. But he added that another problem today is transgender theory/gender ideology, and he asked us to address it.
Thus, it is out of obedience to the Holy Father that these bishops have released their teachings on the topic.
That Fr. Martin ignores Pope Francis’s concerns regarding transgenderism and gender theory reveals how Fr. Martin instrumentalizes and selectively curates the words and thinking of the Holy Father in order to affirm whatever it is that Fr. Martin believes Pope Francis should affirm. But this should come as no surprise, since Fr. Martin is a skilled rhetorician who knows well how to use sophistry to argue his case. This latest essay is no exception.
For example, consider Fr. Martin’s discussion of the meaning of “gender theory/ideology,” which Martin rightly observes has appeared more and more frequently in church documents. Yet Fr. Martin argues that it “is a vague term that can mean many things to many people,” implying that the criticisms of “gender theory” have no value, since no one apparently knows what it means. This is blatant obfuscation. Church documents that use the term always define the term, or else the context makes clear what it means. Gender theory/ideology is any thinking or belief that undermines the sexual design of God in creating humanity as immutably male and female, with an inherent complementary sexual orientation that is ordered toward procreation.
Fr. Martin further argues that no one he knows who identifies as “transgender” actually denies that humanity is divided between male and female. He quotes a friend he calls a “transgender man,” who told him that “Most transgender people, though not all, consider ourselves male or female and rejoice in that identity. I know no one who is transgendered because they believe that gender should be eliminated or sexual differences do not exist….”
The above comes from a May 27 story in Catholic World Report.
I wish Fr. Martin would go away. He’s doing major damage to the Church. I don’t care how he goes away, who does it, or what happens. Just go away.
“Fr. Martin is a skilled rhetorician who knows well how to use sophistry to argue his case. ” What a waste of talent and priesthood, to blithely skip over the deep meat of the fundamentals of Catholic moral thinking to focus on the gruel of LGBTQ+ activism. The gruel is moral quicksand from which all the rhetorical skill in the world cannot save him.
Celebrity priesthood is an automatic warning sign that the priest has gone astray.
Yes. Father John Corapi is a good example of this!
Oh, forgot about him. The Black Sheepdog. Har har har.
Corapi is long gone. Martin is still corrupting people.
So how did Bishop Fulton Sheen manage it?
From his writings he had heterosexual inclinations and would make the women he was counseling sit across the table from him for one thing. Some priests counsel now in rooms with a window to the outside that is unshaded, so people can see in but not know what they are saying. Our last Vice President and the Rev. Franklin Graham, Sr. kept their good reputations by never being along in a room with a woman to whom they were not related. People made fun of them, but they were very wise. Better to be laughed at than disgraced.
What on earth do you mean? Abp. Fulton J. Sheen was an orthodox Catholic cleric, very dedicated to preaching Christ’s true teachings.
You misread my post. That is exactly what I was saying — that he avoided near occasions of sin. There is nothing wrong with a man finding some women attractive, so long as he avoids sinning. Archbishop Sheen mentioned in one book that he put ladies on the other side of the table when counseling one on one to avoid impropriety. I am sure he took other precautions, too, such as leaving doors unlocked in counseling rooms to allow others to come in. I will try to find the passage in his book.
I think Archbishop Sheen mentioned that in his autobiography “Treasures in Clay”. I have got the book somewhere, but some of my books are boxed up. I will try to find it.
My comment of May 28 at 5:24pm, was a reply to the comment of Tom Byrne. I am a lifelong Abp. Sheen fan. I have “Treasure in Clay,” and many of his books, recordings, etc., and the relics given out by the Sheen Foundation for his Canonization. As a child, I naively thought he was a living Saint, who had visions of Christ, at his daily Holy Hours, but kept it a secret. Silly me! Anyway, in a closet, I have a stack of those wonderful picture books of his, from the 1950s– “This is the Mass,” “These Are the Sacraments,” “This is Rome,” ” “This is the Holy Land,” etc. I always wondered whatever happened to his dear little grand nephews, featured in those books. Did any of them become a priest, or work for the Church? I heard that one of them tragically died young, but no details were given. Abp. Sheen’s poor heart must have been broken over that, if that is true. Anyone know anything?
I guess Father Martin wasn’t there when the Pope addressed 50 of his fellow Jesuits:
“The ‘gender’ ideology of which you speak is dangerous, yes. As I understand it, it is so because it is abstract with respect to the concrete life of a person, as if a person could decide abstractly at will if and when to be a man or a woman.”
“Abstraction is always a problem.” He added, “Ideology always has a diabolical appeal,” because “it is not embodied.” “We need to expose (ideologies) at their roots,” he insisted.
And, another time, he said, “Gender ideology is demonic.”
Pope Francis has been pretty clear about this.
Father Martin, not so much.
He bends Jesus’ words too.
What about the priests and faithful who outright defy Pope Francis with their attachment to celebrating the TLM? That historically conditioned form of the Mass has been surpassed by the Novus Ordo. Time to celebrate the liturgy of Vatican II exclusively. Get with the program.
Believe it or not, not every news story is about the TLM. Some who love the TLM and others who dis it seem obsessed with it.
“Hurricane strikes south Florida.” It must be because they didn’t (or did) attend a TLM. The distortion of our faith by James Martin and others may be more important than which legitimate Mass someone attends this weeked. Program, if you’re a parent and a child of yours hurts himself or herself (not “themself”), is the first thing you bring up the TLM? Let’s not argue so much about rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic. Only difference: our mother ship won’t sink. So, let’s quit bickering with one another and look out to bring others onboard.
What about ism. Irrelevant comment.
Fr. James Martin is so obviously what he so obviously is but is prevented by his Jesuit superiors from discussing.
Father Martin does take that alleged order that he isn’t to reveal his sexual orientation seriously. How about obedience in other instances?
Like to Christ, the Scriptures, other teachings of the Church and that fourth vow to the Pope, when Benedict was Pope. I don’t think Father Martin has revealed his preferred pronoun, but let’s pray for his conversion. And, let’s pray for all those suffering with sexual disorders who are being misled by him.
can we pleeze hurry up with the schism?
totally pro-choice
so people can clearly choose between
the gay church and The Church
Amen… so be it
He’s still frocked.
Many times when trying to click on the yes button, it will not work and is ironic that it seems to happen when commenting on the Pro Vatican ll issues.
I believe Martin and his Bishop should both be excommunicated.
The post-Conciliar Church has for decades, needed badly to discipline the wayward Jesuits! Pope St. John Paul II talked about the “schism in the Church,” and he also expressed to the Jesuits, their need for “housecleaning” and reform– but he never took action, during his pontificate. What a shame.
I’d be in favor of suppressing the Jesuits.
Me too.
Do all their provinces need suppressing?
The California or now Western Province for sure.
A prominent, outstanding, all-men’s choral group, Chanticleer, which specializes in traditional Catholic sacred liturgical music, lost every single one of its original members– including the original Director– to AIDS. Some were also Cantors in Catholic churches and cathedrals. Fr. Martin ought to think about that. What a shame.
He probably has all their CDs