Note: Before Strickland made his appeal to the USCCB to address Fr. James Martin concelebrating the confirmation of a married gay man, I posted the following article by Larry Chapp on my FB page. I intended to post it on my blog at the time, but set it aside. I have more time to post it here now. I hope to follow up, but if I don't, I at least have the original exchange from FB saved here.
Fr. James Martin’s homosophistry takes advantage of a clear double standard
Fr. Martin’s true objective is the normalization of homosexual acts via indoctrination into the rainbow mythology of God-willed sexual fluidity. So why are so many Church leaders silent?
Catholic World Report - July 10, 2025
My commentary and comments from FB, 14 July 2025:
I'm not sure I want to get into this contest, nor do I read or follow Fr. Martin's work with gay people, but it looks as if 'they' are circling the wagons to take him down, now that Pope Francis is gone. Not surprising.
I have to say I miss my ex-gay online friends, same-sex-attracted to intrinsically-disordered-acts, and or chaste-celibate-relationships-friendships with former 'partners' who have unfriended me or just abandoned social media all together. Before their secrets were found out, they could be a more reasonable source of discussion on these matters. Which means, if I comment or critique I do so at my own peril. Therefore, I'll wait a while to pen my commentary and only publish it on my personal blog.
In the meantime, enjoy the following post and don't miss the comments. None of my gay friends or relatives would read this sort of discussion, much less understand what the point is. I do, but they would never ask.
Thank God for Pope Francis for allowing ordinary people to be recognized-found and to draw near to Christ, the Good Shepherd.
Comments:
Terry NelsonTodd Voss early on in my history online I actually felt coerced by online pundits like Austin Ruse and Deacon Russell to criticize and reject thinkers such as Tushnet, Prever and Belgau, when in fact I more or less identified with much of their POV. Though my allegiance was to a more literal understanding of Catholic teaching and the Courage model of discipleship, I recognized there were other approaches to living in fidelity to Catholic teaching which benefitted other personalities and/or individual personal circumstances. Not a few online Jansenist-style moralists presented their views in imperious tones far more sanctimonious and authoritarian than the Church. I found that rather intimidating. I regret having allowed myself to be influenced like that. Pope Francis helped me immensely.
Ron BelgauOne of the things I find sort of astonishing is the amount of vitriol directed toward Fr. James Martin combined with the silence about Fr. Harvey, the founder of Courage, who played a significant role in the sexual abuse coverup. Fr. Harvey counselled priests who had been accused of sexual abuse of minors, and campaigned both privately with their ordinaries and publicly in his writings for returning sexually abusive priests to ministry. He shows up in the Australian Royal Commission's records, in the Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report, in the McCarrick Report. He was a nearly universal presence, gliding in the shadows, helping the Church manage the abuse scandal, and all too often keeping abusive priests in ministry.
His own sidekick, Fr. Timone, who played a very important role in Courage and closely collaborated with Fr. Harvey for decades, was revealed to have been accused of sexual abuse by multiple victims. Even after Fr. Timone was under investigation and should have been removed from ministry, he was allowed to speak at the Courage conference to honor Fr. Harvey's legacy.
Terry NelsonRon Belgau Thank you. I wasn't aware of all those details about Fr. Harvey involvement - he's so highly regarded I don't think anyone supportive of Courage would even attempt to go after his record. I honestly never heard of Timone and only now did a quick search. I'm sure Groeschl was probably convinced offenders could be reintegrated. Remember when he suggested teen boys could also be seducers? That may not be so far removed from old fashioned moral theology. I say that because of something Tanquerey wrote on The flight from dangerous occasions. Anyway, the Archdiocese of NY and Dolan seem to be able to erect a code of silence when it wants. I think Courage is good for some but not for everyone. I think some people I know almost view it as a vocation, like a third order or AA. Anyway, that's another discussion.
Ron BelgauTerry Nelson Yeah, Fr. Harvey is untouchable to many. I suspect Courage will try to get him canonized.
Groeschel definitely thought that. After his talk at the (2003, I think?) Courage Conference, I was in a group around him asking questions/discussing his talk. Someone asked about the abuse scandal, and he talked about how terrible the backlash was, that there were a lot of good priests who had a few minor incidents far in the past who had repented, who were holy priests, and who were being thrown to the curb. He also said that in most cases, the boy was the aggressor and the priest was just a naive celibate who didn't know how to deal with a sexual come-on. Later, when he said that in an interview and got in trouble for it, he tried to pass it off as just confusion, maybe related to injuries in his car accident, but it was something he'd said long before the car accident.
I think we all get that it was a different time, and there were lots of pressures to keep priests in ministry. I don't think Fr. Harvey was much more than a somewhat important cog in the sex abuse coverup machine, which was far bigger than any single individual. But the fact remains that a bunch of kids got abused because of priests Fr. Harvey encouraged back into ministry, and some of those victims committed suicide. One of Fr. Timone's alleged victims committed suicide after he'd come forward and the Archdiocese of New York had covered it up and returned Timone to ministry. Would it have been different if Timone had admitted it and the Archdiocese had done something to acknowledge the pain, rather than denying it?
I think there are lots of excuses that at least partially explain what Fr. Harvey did. But it's still weird that there's such a pile on with Fr. Martin while everyone looks the other way about Harvey. This was crystalized for me a few years back when I'd put out some stuff about Fr. Harvey and the abuse scandal and a very angry deacon asked me why I was going after Fr. Harvey, rather than exposing Fr. Martin. I asked the deacon if he had any evidence that Fr. Martin had been involved in covering up sexual abuse, and he basically spluttered and told me it was my job to find that rather than digging up dirt on Fr. Harvey. It was weird, but I think emblematic of the way a lot of conservative Catholics think about Fr. Martin.
Terry NelsonRon Belgau Again - thank you for sharing that information. There is so much that could be said but I'll simply say I agree. Fr. Jim is faithful. Has he misspoken, made mistakes? Probably. As you point out, so did Fr. Harvey and associates. The curious thing I see in all of the sex abuse cover-up is how they allowed priests to live in the midst of the occasion of sin (parishes with schools, Mass with servers, confession), while telling gay people they couldn't share a house or live with someone they were once intimate with because it would be an 'occasion of sin' to do so. They trusted sex offender priests but not ordinary same-sex friends who really wanted to live according to Catholic teaching - and who were not sexual deviants. Going after Fr. Jim is part of their attempt to undo what Pope Francis encouraged - to be open, accepting and to associate with the marginalized. He welcomed queer people and ate with them - that's always bothered the self-righteous.
Ron BelgauTerry Nelson I agree. That's one of the things that has shattered my trust in a lot of the church's leaders. There has been so much suspicion heaped on gay people--often with the implication that we might be a risk to youth--while they quietly protected actual sexual predators, and gave them direct access to youth.
There's a huge amount of straining at gnats and swallowing camels.
By the way, if anyone is skeptical of what I said about Fr. Harvey, this article is an easy way to get a flavor for the kind of advice he offered to bishops in the 1990s (the article itself is based on a presentation he gave to the bishops):
https://crisismagazine.com/.../priests-who-stray-we-must...
Terry NelsonRon Belgau many thanks again. I remember that article and I also think he touched on it in one of his books - Cry of the Faithful? Fr. Hardon made similar mistakes - can't recall the case but M. Teresa was involved as well. It does make you wonder what JPII knew about priests like Maciel and the Dominican Phillipe brothers and others. Everyone needs to be honest with themselves and others. Perhaps the office of the Apostolic Penitentiary could change its name to Apostolic Indulgence and give everyone a break?
Terry NelsonSo far I lost one friend over this post and the comments. I don't know him though - Hudson Bylow - he was going to comment then unfriended - see, you can't say anything on this subject, unless you follow their rules. Like, 'you can't say gay' - butchya can Blanche, ya can.
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