NEWBURY, Ohio (LifeSiteNews) — A Catholic priest in Ohio blasted the transgender mutilation of children as “totally disgusting and evil” and warned that voters risk eternal damnation by supporting pro-transgender and pro-abortion policies, regardless of whether they are “personally opposed” to the practices.
Father Jay McPhillips of Newbury preached a fiery homily earlier this month against LGBT ideology and abortion, imploring parishioners to reject a far-left ballot initiative in Ohio that would create a “right” to abortion and other so-called “reproductive decisions” in the state.
READ: Ohio priest urges voters to reject ‘demonic’ pro-abortion amendment, send it ‘back to hell’
The priest emphasized the beauty of “God’s plan for sexuality” and attributed rampant abortion in the U.S. to the rejection of that plan.
“God’s plan for sexuality, the deepest expression of sharing their bodies,” he said, “is meant to be only between a man and woman who God has united to become one in the holy sacrament of marriage.”
“It’s not meant for a man and woman who God hasn’t united – the casual hook-up – and it’s certainly not meant for two men to share together or two women to share together, and folks, that’s where our culture just doesn’t understand the beauty of God’s plan,” he continued.
Sexual sins “are so serious,” Fr. McPhillips explained, “because they’re considered the desecration of the sacred. In God’s plan, my friends, our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit.”
“But because so many people have ignored the wisdom and the plan of God, we’ve had the destruction of innocent children going on in abortion for decades now in our country,” he lamented.
He noted that on the ballot in Ohio this November, “there’s going to be a constitutional amendment that will embed abortion on demand for all nine months of pregnancy in the constitution of our state with no restrictions allowed for all nine months.”
The measure, titled Issue 1 and backed by radical left-wing groups like Planned Parenthood and the ACLU, would “allow minors to have abortions whether their parents consent or even their parents knowing about it,” he said.
READ: Tucker Carlson slams abortion as ‘human sacrifice’: ‘This is a spiritual battle’
Fr. McPhillips also pointed out that the amendment would allow children to “begin a ‘transition’ to a different gender,” including with dangerous puberty-blocking drugs.
The priest stressed, however, that “transitioning” is actually “impossible.”
“Males in every cell of their body have an X and a Y chromosome – in every cell of their body. Women in every cell of their bodies have two X chromosomes,” he said. “So a true ‘transition’ is not possible. It doesn’t matter what drugs a person takes, or what surgery they perform on themselves, mutilating their bodies.”
Moreover, he added that people who undergo “transition” surgeries have a 20 times higher suicide rate, as a 2011 Swedish study found.
“So-called doctors who do these things or hospital systems who do these things or the drug companies that are involved, it’s not about helping people,” the priest said. “It’s all about them making money for themselves. They will destroy the lives of confused young people so they can make money.”
“It’s so totally disgusting and evil and just crazy,” he slammed.
Though “gender transitions” fly in the face of biological reality and carry massive risks, such as infertility and cancer, tens of thousands of minors in the U.S. have used puberty blockers or hormones in recent years for the purpose of “transitioning.”
At least 3,678 adolescents from ages 12 to 18 underwent some kind of irreversible transgender surgery between 2016 and 2020, according to a study released last month.
Voting for abortion, transgenderism can ‘put our own salvation at risk’
Fr. McPhillips devoted much of his homily to the spiritual consequences of voting for pro-LGBT and pro-abortion policies, particularly the ballot initiative in Ohio.
Voting for that amendment, he told parishioners, could mean losing one’s soul.
“So, this amendment on the ballot in November, if somebody votes in favor of it, they put their eternal salvation at risk,” he said.
They risk hearing Jesus saying on Judgment Day, ‘I was a preborn child, and you refused to protect me,’ or ‘I was a desperate woman, and you refused to put obstacles to my doing the unthinkable,’ or ‘I was a confused child, and you empowered me to destroy my life by opening the path to being transgendered,’ or ‘I was a parent of a confused child, and you set up my child to destroy his life by removing protections from his being transgendered without my knowledge or consent, and it destroyed my life and the life of my whole family.’
“The amendment on the ballot in November, folks, could be a matter of salvation or damnation,” Fr. McPhillips warned.
Indeed, the Catholic Church teaches that abortion is always gravely evil and that it is never licit to obey, vote for, or “take part in a propaganda campaign in favor of” a pro-abortion law. The Church also rejects gender ideology and condemns mutilation and sterilization as “against the moral law” unless performed for “strictly therapeutic medical reasons.”
“If we stand up for life, if we stand up to protect parental rights, if we stand up to protect young people from doing what can destroy their lives, we will in that instance be following the will of God,” Fr. McPhillips said.
But by voting against life and parents’ rights, “we would very much put our own salvation at risk,” he declared.
“Folks, I’m not planning to be responsible for anyone ending up separated from God forever.”
READ: Detransitioner Chloe Cole urges Ohio voters to protect children from transgender mutilation
“You need to know if you’ve been involved in abortion in the past you need to repent of that or you could very possibly be eternally lost,” the priest added, while stressing God’s mercy for repentant sinners. “If you have been involved in abortion, you need to know that God wants to forgive you, Jesus is there with open arms, calling you to Himself.”
Fr. McPhillips further denounced what he called the “Pontius Pilate approach” of voters who profess to be “personally opposed” to abortion and transgenderism but support policies that promote those evils.
“Too many people today think they can take the Pontius Pilate approach when it comes to abortion and children being transgendered.”
“Each one of us is given a duty by God to protect the innocent,” he said. “Too many people today think they can take the Pontius Pilate approach when it comes to abortion and children being transgendered.”
He noted that Pontius Pilate “had the power to save the life of Jesus, but he refused to,” even though he recognized Jesus’ innocence.
“But, folks, Pilate washing his hand did not make him innocent of the Blood of Jesus,” Fr. McPhillips said. “In the same way, there are people today who say, ‘Well, I’m personally opposed to abortion, but I can’t force my morality on anybody else, so if you want to kill him, you go ahead and do it.’”
The priest blasted that line of thinking: “Folks, that is a refusal to love preborn children. It’s a refusal to love women who feel desperate and might do the unthinkable and separate them from God for all eternity.”
“Let’s love these innocent children,” he concluded. “Let’s love these women who feel desperate. Let’s love these confused children. Let’s love the parents of confused children and help them protect their children.”
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