(LifeSiteNews) — A Francis-appointed Kentucky bishop who canceled two Latin Mass priests last year is defending his decision to offer an “LGBT Mass” for a dissident organization backed by neighboring heterodox Bishop John Stowe of Lexington, who serves as its ecclesial adviser.
On August 28 at St. Joseph’s Church in Cold Spring, Kentucky, Bishop John Iffert of Covington said Mass for a pro-LGBT “support group” named Catholics Embracing All God’s Children. The organization, which is overseen by the homosexual-affirming Fortunate Families ministries, participated in the Cincinnati “Pride” Parade this year.
Covington Bishop John Iffert will offer a pro-LGBT Mass on August 28 for the Bp. Stowe-endorsed ‘Fortunate Families’ group. 🌈
Iffert notably canceled Latin Mass priests Fr. Shannon Collins and Fr. Sean Kopczynski earlier this year. pic.twitter.com/OI0xyMKkea
— Stephen Kokx (@StephenKokx) August 19, 2024
In a pastoral letter dated September 5, Iffert explained that he received emails and letters from “about two dozen people” urging him not to go through with the liturgy. He justified his presence by arguing that those who reached out to him failed to make the distinction between same-sex “orientation” and homosexual “action” or they “failed to make the distinction between supporting persons and endorsing an advocacy agenda.”
Iffert, who was appointed by Pope Francis to Covington in 2021, cited documents Francis wrote in his explanatory statement.
Dissident group New Ways Ministry has praised Iffert’s decision as “a necessary step to move the church towards a more inclusive way of thinking.” The group was officially condemned by the Vatican in 1999 and in 2010 Cardinal Francis George, O.M.I, then-President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, said that it has “no approval or recognition from the Catholic Church and that they cannot speak on behalf of the Catholic faithful in the United States.”
Iffert gained notoriety earlier this year when he stripped Father Shannon Collins and Father Sean Kopczynski of their faculties to offer public Masses. Collins and Kopczynski are founding members of the Missionaries of St. John the Baptist, a public association of the faithful that was erected by Iffert’s predecessor, Roger Foys, in the Covington diocese in 2019, though the two had been in the diocese since 2011.
Iffert canceled Collins and Kopczynski in January 2024 after they refused to concelebrate a Novus Ordo Mass with him and after they said they would not recant a sermon wherein Collins remarked that the Novus Ordo liturgy preserves “literally nothing of the (Latin Mass).”
The Diocese of Covington has issued a statement about the dismissal of Fr. Collins and Fr. Kopczysnki.
Bishop Iffert says Collins’ decision to not recant his view that the Novus Ordo preserves ‘literally nothing of the old [liturgy]’ ‘disqualifies’ him from public ministry. pic.twitter.com/MorEe9PEjU
— Stephen Kokx (@StephenKokx) January 18, 2024
During an appearance on Raymond Arroyo’s The World Over, German Cardinal Gerhard Müller was asked for his thoughts on the situation. Müller replied that some bishops “look to Rome and then say to the Holy Father, ‘I suppressed these people, and therefore I look for the reward of being promoted, being named archbishop, or cardinal.’ This (is the) childish behavior of some bishops.”
Fortunate Families was founded in 1992. It supports homosexual “marriage” and has called on Francis to give “full acceptance” to “LGBT people.” It has also blasphemed the Blessed Virgin by posting a picture of her to social media draped in a rainbow flag.
The group’s adviser, Bishop John Stowe, was appointed by Pope Francis to lead the Diocese of Lexington in 2015. Stowe has a long history of pro-LGBT activism, which seems to be having an influence on Iffert.
During 2019’s so-called “pride month,” Stowe issued a sacrilegious “prayer” card that celebrates homosexual “pride” and includes an image of a crucifix with rainbow colors coming from it. That year, he also led an “LGBT retreat” at the University of Notre Dame. In June 2020, he released a “pride month” video in which he apologized for the Church’s teaching on homosexuality and gender confusion. More recently, he has allowed a gender-confused woman to live as a “male hermit” in his diocese.
Another prominent U.S. clergyman who has given his support to Fortunate Families is current Washington D.C. Cardinal Wilton Gregory. While previously serving as Archbishop of Atlanta, Gregory permitted the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception to act as a center for LGBT events. He also allowed members of Fortunate Families to hold retreats in his Atlanta Chancery for many years, while personally saying Mass for them. The shrine’s pastor, who has shown himself to be at home operating within Atlanta’s homosexual subculture, was chosen by Archbishop Gregory to serve as a spiritual director for victims of sex abuse for the archdiocese.