TRIER, Germany (LifeSiteNews) — The Bishop of Trier hosted an ecumenical pro-LGBT “queer” church service in the historic Trier Cathedral that contains the Seamless Robe of Jesus and other famous relics.
On April 17, Bishop Stephan Ackermann held an ecumenical church service together with two Protestant pastors that was organized by the “Queer Workgroup” of the Diocese of Trier as part of the “Holy Rock Days.”
During the service, which was live-streamed on YouTube, a large LGBT “Pride” flag lay in front of the altar, and the church was party-lit in rainbow colors. The Trier Cathedral houses several important relics, including the Seamless Robe of Jesus, the garment Christ wore shortly before his crucifixion, the skull of St. Helena (the mother of Emperor Constantine), a Holy Nail from the True Cross of Christ, as well as the Egbert shrine, a reliquary chest that contains relics of the apostles SS. Andrew and Peter.
“Queer people are part of our Church and part of a diverse society. Everyone has the right to live in the way that is most authentic for them, without having to fear discrimination or exclusion,” said Ulrike Laux, the co-head of the “Queer Workgroup” in the diocese, as she welcomed the congregation.
During his sermon, Bishop Ackermann stressed that “when we celebrate a service like this, we are making a statement.”
“We are making a commitment in a sense and saying: ‘We want to be a diocese that values diversity, the diversity of faith and life paths, the diversity of images of God and the Church, the diversity of generations, and not least the sexual and gender diversity that exists among us and in our midst.”
Attacking perennial Church doctrine, Ackermann said that “when we celebrate such a service, we cannot avoid the painful acknowledgment that the church community has not only failed to oppose the injustice done to people in its midst and outside it but has reinforced rejection and exclusion with its teaching.”
“I hope it is noticeable that we as the Catholic Church have been on a path of learning and change since the recent past, and that is a good thing,” he continued. “Of course, opinions can differ on the speed of change, but we will continue on this path.”
Ackermann is a proponent of the heretical German Synodal Way that seeks to challenge unchangeable Church doctrine, especially the Church’s moral teaching on human sexuality.
The Catholic Church condemns homosexual activity as “intrinsically disordered,” mortally sinful, and a “sin that cries to heaven,” in accordance with Sacred Scripture and the constant Tradition of the Church.
Regarding homosexuality, the Catechism of the Catholic Church states:
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.
As the Catechism states, homosexual acts and transgenderism are contrary to the natural law.
READ: No room for ‘inclusion’: Homosexuality and transgenderism are sins against nature itself
As Franciscan priest Father Terrance Chartier has explained, transgenderism violates more than one of the Ten Commandments.
Lying to someone and telling him or her that he or she is a different sex violates the Eighth Commandment, while helping him or her mutilate his or her body through surgery or drugs violates the Fifth Commandment, Fr. Chartier said in a homily.
“Attempting to chemically or surgically or hormonally alter my gender is a grave sin. It’s actually a form of mutilation,” he stressed.
“As an ideology, [transgenderism] contradicts natural law and divine revelation, so to affirm it would be sinful. It would be actually a sin against the First Commandment, so a sin against the virtue of faith, against the divinely revealed truth about human sexuality,” Chartier added.
Cardinal Gerhard Müller, the former head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, echoed the remarks, describing transgender ideology as “self-mutilation of mind, soul, and body” and blasting its promotion as a “serious sin.”
READ: Cardinal Müller: Transgender ideology is ‘self-mutilation,’ promoting it is a ‘serious sin’