At the Catholic diocese of Orange Diocesan Ministries Celebration, the event’s keynote speaker was Fr. Gregory Boyle, a Jesuit priest who dissents from Church teaching. 

Faithful Catholics protesting Fr. Boyle’s speech distributed flyers to attendees as they arrived early on Saturday morning at Mater Dei High School in Orange County. They then hosted a Rosary rally across the street from 10:45 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

One Resistance member tried entering the Diocesan Ministries Celebration but on two separate occasions security staff recognized him as one of the protesters and barred him from entering. 

After CM reported last month that the celebrity priest was scheduled to speak, Resistance members wrote to the diocese of Orange, which is governed by Bp. Kevin Vann and organized a petition to get Fr. Boyle disinvited.

Despite objections, the diocese of Orange insisted on keeping Fr. Boyle as the keynote speaker. This move drew praise on Twitter from Fr. James Martin, another Jesuit celebrity priest often at odds with faithful Catholics.

On Saturday, a few Resistance members arrived early in the morning. As participants of the Diocesan Ministries Celebration poured into the high school’s parking lot, they stood at a corner outside the lot and handed out flyers to the line of traffic. 

One Resistance member said, “I’d say we shared the flyers with at least 30–40 percent of the cars, each of which typically had 2–3 participants inside.” 

He also told us, “By the time of the Rosary rally, we had over 30 people join us to pray.” 

Father Boyle’s opposition to Catholic doctrine is evidenced in a 2013 video by LifeSiteNews, taken from a 2008 interview. In the video, he claims that God’s Will is contrary to Church teaching, which he snidely calls “the party line” on a host of issues, including same-sex “marriage” and the all-male priesthood. 

Since then, the Jesuit celebrity priest apparently has not recanted his heterodox statements. According to an anonymous source, Fr. Boyle said during a 2015 presentation to college students that “the Catholic life” is far removed from “living the Gospel.” In his 2010 book Tattoos on the Heart, Fr. Boyle alternates between calling God a “he” and calling Him a “she.’

In anticipation of Saturday’s Rosary rally, one Resistance member told us, “The laity, particularly the young, have had enough of heterodox Church leaders.” 

Full story at Church Militant.