The Culture Wars Hit Home

All images returned by Googling "gay pride parade Toronto." Some were too graphic to be used.

More madness, this time close to home.

Fr. Robert Chisholm, the pastor of St. Gregory’s Catholic Church in Picton, Ontario, recently included a brief note in the church bulletin that Catholics should avoid Gay Pride Events:

“A reminder that Catholics and all other Christians should not attend LGBTQ2 ‘Pride Month’ events held this month. They promote a culture and encourage activities that are contrary to Christian faith and morals. This is especially harmful to children because it could lead them away from God's revealed Truth. Even in ‘The County’ there are Pride flags and banners flying courtesy of the Government. Think.........these are your tax dollars at work!”

Now there are apparently pickets in front of the church, and local Catholics have been pulling their children out of the parochial school. Teachers are passing out gay pride flags and banners to their charges in opposition. CBC quotes one local businessman (who says he is Catholic, but also that he does not attend church) saying “This is just one man with one deranged view.” The CBC offers this as the voice of the local Catholic lay community. 

The offending bulletin has now been pulled down from the parish web site. Michael Mulhall, the new archbishop of Kingston, has issued a statement:

“I did not sanction this message, and it does not reflect the spirit of accompanying charity and compassion that should always characterize our faith. The archdiocese has spoken with the pastor of the parish. He regrets any hurt his inappropriate comments have caused.”

Problem: Fr. Chisholm was doing his duty, of reminding his parishioners of Catholic doctrine. What he put in the bulletin was almost word-for-word what has been said recently by Bishop Tobin of Providence, RI.

Catechism of the Catholic Church, para. 2357:

“Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered." They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.”

Surely attending a Gay Pride event suggests approval? 

And note, tolerance is a very different matter from approval.

What exactly is a Gay Pride event about? There seem to be only two possibilities: either it is celebrating the fact of being attracted to members of the same sex; or it is celebrating, as Fr. Chisholm says, “a culture,” the gay lifestyle, which is to say, having sexual relations with members of the same sex.

If it is the former, “Gay Pride” is at best an expression of unearned pride—one of the Seven Deadly Sins. If you were, as they say, “born this way,” or otherwise have no choice, you cannot take credit for it either. A “Gay Pride” parade is no more moral, simply on this basis, than an “Aryan Pride” parade. 

If it is the latter, a celebration of sexual acts, it is also an endorsement of a second deadly sin, lust.

Even if you ignore the homosexual aspect, this is a celebration of sex outside of marriage. It does not sound a lot better if you refer to it as “Fornication Pride Month” or the “Casual Sex Pride Parade.” The events often feature nudity, to an extent that would cause scandal if done by heterosexuals.

“Gay Pride” parades also often feature deliberate and open mocking of religion: men dressed up as nuns, for example. 

I can understand, even sympathize, with Archbishop Mulhall for caving in, and throwing a loyal priest to the lynch mob. Nevertheless, it is an abdication of his most basic responsibility as a shepherd. It amounts to a scandal. For in doing so, he has also abandoned a large flock to prowling wolves in a moment of need.

It is probably important, given the general prejudice against Catholicism that this incident displays, to point out that homosexuals have never had a better friend than the Catholic Church. Look down the list of famous homosexual writers and artists: Oscar Wilde; Tennessee Williams; W.H. Auden; Evelyn Waugh; Gerard Manley Hopkins; Andy Warhol; Milo Yiannopoulis today. All died devout Christians; all but Auden Catholic.

To suggest that the Catholic Church is not welcoming to “gays” is absurd. The Catholic Church is their natural home.

What is not welcoming to gays is “Gay Pride” events. They are simply general invitations to sin of various kinds.

LifeSite News has stated a petition in defense of Fr. Chisholm. You can sign here.