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Fr. James Martin.James Martin / Twitter

NEW YORK, July 1, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – In advance of one of the world’s largest homosexual “Pride” parades, Fr. James Martin, SJ celebrated a pre-parade Mass during which he told “LGBT Catholics” to be hopeful because Pope Francis has “LGBT friends” and has “appointed many LGBT-supportive cardinals, archbishops, and bishops.”

Fr. Martin is a consultor to the Vatican’s communications office who campaigns for greater acceptance of homosexuality within the Catholic Church. The Jesuit offered the “Pre-Pride Mass” at St. Francis of Assisi parish in New York City, known for its “LGBT ministry” that flouts Church teaching on sexuality, on the evening of June 29. One of the leaders of this “ministry” has fundraised for Planned Parenthood.

Martin said that “LGBT Catholics” should be “tough” in response to criticisms about LGBT ideology. Offering a gloss on the words of Jesus Christ in the Gospel of St. Luke, Martin sought to expand on the definition of Christian discipleship. Calling on homosexual and transgender-identifying Catholics to “be tough,” he said that recent years have seen “many positive steps for LGBT Catholics.” 

Speaking of “two big trends,” Martin said one can be “summarized by two words: ‘Pope Francis.’ His five most famous words are still, ‘Who am I to judge?,’ which was first a response to the question of gay priests and then expanded to LGBT people.” Martin said that the current pope is the first to use the word “gay,” adding, “He has LGBT friends. And he’s appointed many LGBT-supportive cardinals, archbishops, and bishops.” 

For the Jesuit, another positive trend is that “more and more Catholics are coming out and being open about their gender identity, they and their families are bringing their hopes and desires into their parishes, and slowly the culture of the Church is being changed.”

Despite this trend, Martin lamented that this is a “hard time to be an LGBT Catholic.” He referred to the firing of “LGBT employees who are civilly married” by Catholic schools who require Catholic teachers to espouse and model Catholic teachings. He claimed that Catholic schools show a double standard when it comes to “straight Church employees” who keep their jobs even when they do not follow “various Church teachings,” inadvertently making a point many faithful Catholics have long maintained.

Leaders in the Church, he said, continue to issue documents and statements that “betray not the slightest evidence that they have listened to the experience of LGBT people or their families.” Martin also denounced “homophobic pastors, pastoral workers, and parishioners.”

“All the more reason to be like Jesus: that is, tough,” said Martin. He said that LGBT Catholics and their parents and relatives are “as much a part of the church as the Pope, your local bishop, your pastor, or me. Root yourself in your baptism and claim your place in your church.” 

Paraphrasing Jesus, Martin said that doing so will be hard. 

“Sometimes your family may misunderstand you, as Jesus’s family did. Sometimes you’ll feel unwelcome in places, as Jesus did in Samaria. Sometimes it won’t feel like you have a home, like Jesus felt,” he sermonized. But disagreements, he said, are “all part of the journey. It’s part of being with him.”

“LGBT people should fully expect to participate in all the ministries in the church,” said Fr. Martin. “Not just being welcomed and affirmed and included, but leading.”

He concluded by promoting the idea that God creates people to have a homosexual identity: “Be proud to be Catholic. And for my LGBT brothers and sisters and siblings, be the LGBT Catholic whom you are called to be by Jesus Christ himself.”

The Jesuit kicked off June 2019 by wishing a “happy Pride Month” to “all my many Catholic LGBTQ friends.” His homosexual activism has included supporting letting boys in girls’ bathrooms and vice versa; accepting an award from the dissident New Ways Ministry; authoring Building a Bridge, a book endorsed by several left-wing prelates which urges the Church to be more accepting of homosexuality; retweeting a complaint that priests can’t “bless” same-sex unions; and many pro-gay statements in speeches and media appearences.

He supports gay men kissing each other during the sign of peace at Mass, says a Catholic attending a same-sex “wedding” is like attending a Jewish wedding, and suggests that his critics are secretly gay themselves.

In June 2018, Martin was the speaker at the Vatican-sponsored World Meeting of Families. Anthony Murphy of the Lumen Fidei Institute told LifeSiteNews that having the Jesuit priest speak at the event “must sicken the heart of every faithful Catholic.” Pope Francis also attended the event, which was held in Dublin.

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Screenshot of Fr. Martin's twitter page showing he 'liked' the tweet of gay 'married' couple Chasten and Pete Buttigieg

Last week, Fr. Martin “liked” a tweet by Chasten Buttigieg, the “husband” of homosexual 2020 Democrat presidential contender and abortion supporter Mayor Pete Buttigieg. The tweet showed a silhouette of the two men, with Chasten adjusting Pete’s tie. “You’ve got this. I love you,” Chasten tweeted.

Commenting on Martin’s sermon, author Rod Dreher opined in The American Conservative, “Father James Martin is an exceptionally good preacher. But what he’s preaching here is directly contrary to Scripture, and to the Catholic Magisterium.”