Jesuit Fr. James Martin will deliver an invocation at the Democratic National Convention this week where former Vice President Joe Biden will accept his party’s formal nomination for president of the United States.
Martin, an editor-at-large at America Magazine and one of the most well known American priests on social media, will also be joined by a rabbi and an imam. All three will offer prayers on the final night of the convention, Aug. 20, when Biden is scheduled to speak.
Also speaking at the convention will be Social Service Sr. Simone Campbell, the executive director of Network a Catholic social justice lobby, which played a critical role in soliciting the support of many Catholic religious sisters behind the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010. [Campbell spoke at 2016 convention of Democrats.]
In an interview with NCR, Martin stressed that his role at the convention will not be political in nature.
“I was honored to be asked,” said Martin. “Normally I shy away from anything overtly political, but it’s hard to turn down a request to pray.”
“Plus, I knew that Cardinal Dolan, whom I respect, had offered prayers during the last presidential election and, for good measure, I asked my Jesuit superiors, who approved,” he continued.
Dolan, the archbishop of New York, offered closing prayers at both the Democratic and Republic conventions in 2012, and, in 2016, offered a prayer at the inauguration for President Donald Trump.
“I hope that my prayer to respect the dignity of all life — the unborn, the young Black person, the LGBTQ teen, the migrant — will help people find a way to build a more welcoming nation,” he told NCR via email.
Martin has become closely associated with the promoting LGBTQ inclusion within the Catholic in recent years following the publication of his 2017 book, Building a Bridge: How the Catholic Church and the LGBT Community Can Enter into a Relationship of Respect, Compassion, and Sensitivity.
The book has sparked controversy among conservative Catholics. But it was endorsed by a number of high-ranking church officials, and Martin was a Vatican approved speaker at the 2018 World Meeting of Families in Dublin, Ireland. Martin, who is also a consultor to the Vatican’s Secretariat for Communications, was received in a private audience with Pope Francis in 2019 where the two discussed his work as a Catholic ally of the LGBTQ community.
The above comes from an Aug. 16 story in the National Catholic Reporter.
In the meantime Fr. Frank Pavone is ordered by Catholic Church authorities to resign from advisory positions in President Trump’s campaign. It is surprising that Cupich or Newark’s Tobin are not keynote speakers.
Xavier, you beat me to it on the silencing of Pavone and the promotion of Martin, the silencing of so many other priests. Does that tell you where episcopal leadership is in the politics of the USA? I only follow leaders who speak about Jesus, His sacrifice, salvation. When they move into worldly affairs with their own opinions, I hold to Jesus.
Xavier, Sadly, it appears that, for all the good work he has done, Fr. Pavone has “gone rogue” and is not a priest in good standing with the Catholic Church, due, at least in part, to his failure to submit to his bishop, from whom the ministry of all clergy are derived.
As I’ve previously asked, can anyone provide me with a reference or link to a letter of good standing for Fr. Pavone?
(And, not simply a letter from a canon lawyer.)
Does anyone know the diocese of which he is a priest?
I know the diocese where Priests for LIfe is located states he is not a priest of their diocese and has not been granted faculties to administer the sacraments.
He has been in two dioceses and a religious order, but none of them acknowledge any current association.
While I often agree with what Priests for Life and its associated ministries have done, it appears at least that Fr. Pavone is a priest acting on his own.
Please prove me wrong.
Clearly, the subject is James Martin, not Frank Pavone. Don’t try to muddy the waters by throwing mud on Frank Pavone. The issue is why the USCCB continues to be silent and allow Martin to do whatever he feels like, while at the same time silencing traditional priests. What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander but apparently not in the Catholic Church these days.
??? Xavier, you’re the one who brought up Fr. Pavone.
(And, yes, the church should deal with James Martin SJ.)
Father Martin knows exactly where the lines are and he is careful not to cross them.
He crosses it all the time but has the pope’s personal backing. That’s his ultimate safety net, in this life at least.
Could you give an example?
Take a look at the September 2019 picture of his warm welcome by the pope in the papal library. Martin had already been speaking and tweeting his support for same sex so-called marriage for years before this meeting yet the pontiff said nothing.
You can read the tweets, articles in America Magazine, and books for yourself. It’s all out there if you’ll bother to look. The only thing James Martin hides is a declaration of his own sexual orientation, and really, you should wonder why that is.
I found absolutely nothing where he supports same sex marriage. He did support a same sex married person not being fired from a Catholic school. Father Martin, from what I can see, sidesteps that issue.
If you have a link, I would love to see it.
Unbelievable that you “found absolutely nothing”. The reality is that there is an abundance of evidence but it’s your choice to disregard or dismiss his offerings as the twisted garbage they are.
Try this: LifeSite News, September 21, 2017, “Eight extreme things Fr. James Martin just said about Catholics and gay “marriage”
I read the article that you recommended and I repeat what I said. He knows where the lines are and he does not cross them. Towards the end of the article, the author states that one should ask Father Martin if he supports same sex marriage. Because he never says that. He does not go against Church teaching.
I do not think Father Martin should be saying the things he says. I think he misleads people. If you read this and think Father Martin supports gay marriage then a gay person contemplating marriage could draw the same conclusion and be led astray.
I agree with Archbishop Chaput and Cardinal Sarah that Father Martin should teach the Church’s morality definitively. I do not agree with his characterizations of those who criticize him. I would not buy one of his books.
My friends there should be no shock that Father Martin S.J. is going to say the prayer at the Democrat Socialist Party Convention, he is pro-gay and always has been whether is he is gay or not I have no idea. Biden claims to be a Catholic which is a total joke, he is pro-abortion, pro-gay, Trump on the other hand is more Catholic than Biden will ever be even if he is a Protestant. Trump is being I believe being guided by Melania Trump who is a Roman Catholic being from Catholic Slovenia and being in contact with the brave Archbishop Vigano. The Society of Jesus ceased being Catholic decades ago, just as the current Pope is a Jesuit the proof is in the pudding that the order is a complete and absolute Marxist-Leninist order. The warning is fair and you see it nightly in Portland, Seattle, Chicago, Los Angeles, Denver, Atlanta, St. Louis, New York, Washington D.C. and Minneapolis, the utter destruction and chaos in these cities brought to you by Soros, the Democrat party, Antifa, and BLM who by the way was founded by three black Lesbian self proclaimed Marxist-Leninist’s.
“Normally I shy away from anything overtly political, but it’s hard to turn down a request to pray.”
Of course, it’s virtually certain he will not pray for the lives of the unborn specifically, as he noted in the interview, and that he will pray in accord with the wishes of the political party that invited him.
Would he pray in accord with his hosts wishes at an NRA convention, a Trump rally, 40 Days for Life, the March for Life, a home school convention or a Back the Blue (Defend Law Enforcement) rally?
After all, “it’s hard to turn down a request to pray.”
But, especially after the presumptive presidential nominee calls transgenderism THE civil rights issue of our time.
I hope all here watched in horror last night in Portland Oregon as a white man was almost beaten to death as he was chased down by BLM terrorists and yet no police officers in sight! You all must watch this it is on Breitbart.com, The Gateway Punidt, and as always the brave Tucker Carlson on Fox News who night after night is warning you what will happen come November if the Socialist Joe Biden wins the White House, its all gonna be over folks.
Tucker Carlson. OMG. Socialist Joe Biden. OMG. BLM terrorists. OMG.
For practicing, believing Catholics, the Democrat Convention promises to be one big train wreck. Perhaps the progressive policies of CA will render the whole thing moot by gracing us with enough rolling blackouts to spare us being tempted to watch what can only be characterized as a near occasion of sin.
The smoke of Satan has entered the Church! True Catholics need to stand against these abominations!
Democrats do not want God. They booed Him at the 2012 DNC.
Can we not put this guys mug on display?
Father Martin is giving an invocation at the DNC. Cardinal Dolan is giving an invocation at the Republican Convention. Hopefully it will be a prayer of exorcism.
Using the old rite, in Latin.
Right, because as we all know, the Devil only speaks Latin.
Being that Latin is the official language of the Church, it is a more potent weapon against the devil. Exorcists know this, now you do too.
Huh! Who knew? An ancient unspoken language, adopted by half the Church, the Latin Rite, is the only effective language that the Devil recognizes. Who knew? I guess if you are an Eastern Rite or Orthodox, or English speaker, the Devil doesn’t listen. Who knew? Well then, Dominus Vobiscum!
No mention of the only effective language that the devil recognizes. Be more careful as you read, had it been in Latin there would have been less a chance of you misinterpreting.
Pray that Fr. Martin does not finally fall off that bridge straight into Mordor and take a whole bunch of people with him. He is dangerously close.
Wish it was His Grace Cardinal Raymond Burke instead of the laughing Cardinal Dolan, are you sure the Dem’s don’t have a “Muslim Imam” giving their opening prayer?????????
“I hope that my prayer to respect the dignity of all life — the unborn, the young Black person, the LGBTQ teen, the migrant — will help people find a way to build a more welcoming nation,” he told NCR via email.
Perhaps they will listen and be changed by his prayer. A lot of the Democrats know that abortion is wrong but, for whatever reason, they will not stand up for the babies right to be born, nurtured, cherished and allowed to live and grow. 70% of women have an abortion because they feel like they have no choice. A lot of the time it is economic reasons, sometimes it is lack of support from family and friends, sometimes it is just not what they planned for their life right now.
Women have a right to give birth and to nurture their children. They have the right to be told that they can do anything, including adjusting to an unexpected pregnancy. Woman have the right to not be selfish, to give of themselves, to make sacrifices for their children and others. I just read the story of a woman who aborted her first child, but had her second child. She was judging herself because at least once a day she wishes she could just do whatever she wants. That is a part of motherhood, too. Women have been totally brainwashed. By the time you have enough life behind you to figure it out for yourself, it is too late.
Pray hard, Father Martin.
Welcoming the sinner but never the sin. This wolf in sheep’s clothing, Father Martin, is confusing the two with his careful, systematic obfuscation equating the two.
We welcome the sinner to repent.
Catechism of the Catholic Church 1869
Thus sin makes men accomplices of one another and causes concupiscence, violence, and injustice to reign among them. Sins give rise to social situations and institutions that are contrary to the divine goodness. “Structures of sin” are the expression and effect of personal sins. They lead their victims to do evil in their turn. In an analogous sense, they constitute a “social sin.”
He might want to pray that all democrats will say the Pledge of Allegiance right.