(LifeSiteNews) — Pope Francis has selected as a voting delegate for the Synod on Synodality a dissident laywoman who serves at a Catholic church and an ecumenical “seminary” that host blasphemous events, including talks supporting abortion and homosexuality.
Cynthia Bailey Manns was announced on July 7 to be one of the 10 non-bishop voting delegates chosen to represent the North American region at the first general assembly of the Synod on Synodality in October. The appointments mark the first time in history that anyone other than bishops have been permitted to vote in a synod.
On Thursday, Complicit Clergy highlighted video footage showing that the church where Manns currently serves as Adult Learning Director, St. Joan of Arc in Minneapolis, is profoundly heterodox and hosts blasphemous talks and events.
By Manns’ own admission, the church has been accused of not being “Catholic enough.”
The church hosts a pre-Mass speaker series during which testimonies have been given by a self-described lesbian, a “transgender” person, and a gay man holding a child, who said “Jesus had two dads,” in a blasphemous attempt to draw a parallel between his homosexual relationship and the relationship of God the Father and Christ’s foster father, Joseph.
On Palm Sunday in 2022, the church held a twisted “reenactment” of the Last Supper during which a person of unknown sex, wearing a face mask with slanted slits for eyes, broke a piece of pita bread at a makeshift “altar” as a woman narrated some of the words of Christ Jesus that are repeated during the consecration of the Host at Mass. The “Christ” figure proceeded to break and pass out the bread to people in crudely formed human masks, surrounded by children in animal costumes.
In a video clip shared by Complicit Clergy, church pastor Father Jim DeBruycker suggested that the Vatican is well aware of the church’s theological leanings, sharing during his announcement of her appointment that it came “after a lot of vetting of Cynthia, including where she works.”
Manns went on to confirm, “In order to vet me they had to vet St. Joan of Arc. And for those who say we aren’t Catholic enough, blah blah blah — yeah, we are. And the pope said so,” she concluded, laughing.
According to Manns, Archbishop Bernard Hebda of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis nominated her as a voting delegate in the Synod on Synodality.
She also serves as an adjunct professor at United Theological Seminary, an “ecumenical school that embraces all denominations and faith traditions,” and describes itself as “theologically adventurous.”
As Complicit Clergy has demonstrated, the school has hosted a talk by a “Reverend” Kelli Clement, who identified having an abortion as one of her “most impactful life decisions.”
“I do not regret nor feel shameful about my abortions,” said Clement, adding that she was “grateful for” the “opportunity to captain my own ship.”
The school has also hosted a “queer pride chapel” service during which “Reverend” Dr. Justin Sabia-Tanis extolled homosexuality, chanting, “two, four, six, eight, gay is just as good as straight.”
Video footage can also be seen on Complicit Clergy’s website showing a “pagan spring equinox chapel” service at the “seminary,” hosted by “high priestess Lisa” in March 2023.
The Catholic Spirit has named Manns as a contributor to the heretical bimonthly journal Ecumenical Trends, which advocates “shared communion” with Protestants.
Manns has also worked with an organization that aspires to unite all Christian churches, which the Catholic Church notably is not a part of: the World Council of Churches.
As Archbishop Hebda has noted in a written announcement of her appointment as voting delegate for the Synod, Manns represented the Archdiocese at his request on a group that worked with the World Council of Churches and the Dicastery for the Promotion of Christian Unity to draft the international materials for the 2023 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
The World Council of Churches is a “fellowship of churches” self-proclaimedly “on the way to visible unity in one faith and one eucharistic fellowship.”
Manns’ pattern of work with heterodox institutions echoes the stances of many notoriously dissident clergy who have also been selected as voting members of the Synod.
Her appointment lends credence to the argument by Deacon Nick Donnelly that the Synod is a means to promote homosexuality to the Church.
“Bergoglio really isn’t hiding the fact that the goal of the Synod on Synodality is about defying God’s commands against sodomites,” he wrote.