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POPULAR TORONTO PRIEST OFFERED HERETICAL ADVICE IN COLUMN ON GAY WEBSITE

Homosexual activist thankful for the solace she found from Father Gianni Carparelli

TORONTO, July 10, 2002 (LSN.ca) - Following a news tip from a reader, LifeSite has found that a prominent "gay, lesbian and trans" website features an advice column by a well-known Catholic priest in Toronto. The website, Queer Television online, is a product of the popular Toronto television station CityTV. QTonline.com features the "Ask Our Father" column by Fr. Gianni Carparelli, who is listed in the Archdiocesan directory as a priest at St. Wilfrid's parish in North York.

Fr. Carparelli recently responded to a Catholic who wrote him with concerns about his column. The Catholic priest responded that the advice articles were written about two years ago and claimed his comments were not heretical. However, the website is still accessible online and Fr. Carparelli's advice certainly contradicts church teaching on homosexuality.

In one column he wrote "I am quite sure that we will not be judged for what we do in bed, or for the way we do it. And, by the way, the Evangelists never mention any intervention by Jesus in this regard. Instead, we will be judged for what we are ready to do to help people, for the respect we show people, and on how we love people." In fact, the Catholic Church teaches that homosexual sex is a grave sin which carries the risk of eternal damnation for the unrepentant.

Fr. Carparelli, is a popular figure in Toronto as a community activist for the Italian-Catholic community. He is also, according to the QT website, a Professor of Social Ethics at the Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro-Brazil, and the founder of Caritas a registered drug and alcohol recovery charity with centers in Toronto, Orangeville, and King City.

This is not the only time Fr. Carparelli has been controversially associated with advice to active homosexuals. In an April 2002 article in Tandem, a weekend publication of the Italian/Canadian newspaper Corriere Canadese, homosexual activist Rosa Rizzi is said to believe "that the Church has to change its views on homosexuality, but she says that until that day, she is thankful for the solace she found from several Roman Catholic priests, and especially Father Gianni Carparelli."

LifeSite contacted the Toronto Archdiocese to inquire about the situation. In an official statement the Archdiocese said, "No permission was given by Fr. Gianni Carparelli for Queer TV to present him as writing a column for the website of Queer TV. About two years ago, Fr. Carparelli was sent two or three questions by Queer TV; he answered those questions. He heard nothing further from them." Curiously, the archdiocese's release did not mention anything about the serious errors in Carparelli's advice, did not apologize for any harm that it might have caused, and did not indicate that Carparelli was reprimanded in any way.

The release concluded: "Fr. Carparelli and Cardinal Ambrozic were in agreement that he would contact the source of the website and direct them to remove the unauthorized use of his name. He has done so."

See the column in which Fr. Carparelli gives the above quoted statements:
http://www.qtonline.com/columns/askourfather/week16.asp

See the Queer Television section Ask Our Father:
http://www.qtonline.com/columns/askourfather/

See Fr. Carparelli's Caritas website at:
http://www.caritas.ca

See the Tandem article online at:
http://www.web.net/avanti/Tandem-2002.html

See LifeSite's Church Scandals web page
http://www.lifesite.net/features/churchscandals/

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