BRISTOL, U.K, October 13, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – A recent Mass offered for an LGBT group in the U.K., has used a heretical profession of faith in place of the Creed.
The Catholic Church of St. Nicholas of Tolentino in the Clifton diocese is one of many churches in the U.K. where “LGBT Masses” are taking place and has held an “LGBT+ Mass” every third Sunday since March 2019. In the wake of COVID-19 restrictions the parish has been live-streaming the events.
The parish website states that the Masses occur on the express wish of Bishop Declan Lang, and that their purpose is “not to isolate, but rather to ensure a warm welcome and to integrate this community into Church.”
Video footage of the Mass on September 20, shows the priest leading the congregation in a heretical “statement of faith” in place of the canonically approved creeds. Fr. Richard McKay used a formula which seems to have been specifically made for the LGBT Masses. The “statement of faith” makes reference to “the rich diversity of all creation and the diverse identities of all human persons.”
It mentions that Christ “listens to the cries of every human heart for acceptance and love” yet does not refer to the perennial teaching of the Church regarding persons with same-sex attractions. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that “Homosexual persons are called to chastity”, and that whilst persons with such an attraction are to be properly cared for in the Church, “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered and that “[u]nder no circumstances can they be approved.”
Fr. McKay’s novel “creed” continues by referring to the “different paths to holiness and love, that the Holy Spirit calls each of us to walk.”
Later in their profession the group “committed” themselves to “building the Church into being One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic.” However, the Church teaches that She possesses these four marks, not by the actions of Her members building Her up, but through Christ.
Further references are made regarding acceptance of LGBT ideology in the Church which they describe as “a universal community of welcome for all people of every kind of diversity…a truly universal community where all humanity know they can flourish in their uniqueness and diversity.”
The “creed” also implies that same-sex attraction, alluded to as “diverse identities of all human persons,” has its origins in God. The text reads: “We believe that God has created each one of us without exception, in the Divine Image and likeness. Therefore we commit ourselves to recognizing that we all share our deepest identity as children of God. We rejoice with gratitude in the rich diversity of all creation and the diverse identities of all human persons.”
The complete rejection of those creeds approved for Mass in favour of a self-made formula, is in direct opposition to the rubrics governing the celebration of Mass. In the 2004 document issued by the Congregation for Divine Worship, Redemptionis Sacramentum, paragraph §69 reads: “no Creed or Profession of Faith is to be introduced which is not found in the duly approved liturgical books.”
This is a teaching also present in the Canon Law of the Church. Canon 846 §1 reads: “In celebrating the sacraments the liturgical books approved by competent authority are to be observed faithfully; accordingly, no one is to add, omit, or alter anything in them on one’s own authority.”
Earlier in the Mass, Fr. McKay had also given a homily in which he made several comments which appeared to contradict the Church’s teaching on homosexuality. At one point Fr. McKay stated that “there is no one of us who Jesus and the Father do not find acceptable,” but failed to clarify the comment by explaining either the sinful nature of homosexual acts or the means given to fallen–man by the Church in order to become acceptable to God.
Fr. McKay also spoke on the “non-acceptance of our LGBT community” which he called “even more scandalous when it comes from the Church.”
He additionally implied that God and the Church had a duty to accept LGBT proponents, without condemning the sin of homosexuality: “You are my beloved son in whom I am well pleased, my favour rests on you…God says those words to you…And if the Church doesn’t do it, then the Church is sinful.”
Details of the Parish Office and the Diocesan Office are found below, to respectfully make concerns known to Fr. McKay and Bishop Lang. The full text of the “statement of faith” is also found below.
Parish Office
Assisi Centre
Lawford’s Gate , Bristol, BS5 0RE
Tel: 0117 909 0419
Email: [email protected]
Diocesan Press Officer
Tel: 0117 9733072
Email: [email protected]
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The full text of the statement of faith from the LGBT Mass
We believe in God, who is Love, creating all things in an explosion of love and affirming that everyone, everything and everyone created is very good. We believe that God has created each one of us without exception, in the Divine Image and likeness. Therefore we commit ourselves to recognizing that we all share our deepest identity as children of God. We rejoice with gratitude in the rich diversity of all creation and the diverse identities of all human persons.
We believe in Jesus Christ, the Emmanuel, who reveals the God who walks lovingly with us in our human condition and in all the struggles we encounter in life’s pilgrimage. He listens to the cries of every human heart for acceptance and love.
Therefore, we commit ourselves to making real His love for every human person of whatever identity; to walk alongside each other with compassion and care, protecting each other from all harm and discrimination.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the life giver, the love-maker, the source of all unity and community. We believe that we are each a dwelling place of this Holy Spirit of God’s loving, and that there is no genuine love that is not divine and holy.
Therefore we commit ourselves to respect and to understand the different paths to holiness and love, that the Holy Spirit calls each of us to walk, and we will support each other as we journey together as a gifted people of mission.
We believe that the Church is the body of Christ, a pilgrim people, the sacrament of Christ’s loving presence in the world; a universal community of welcome for all people of every kind of diversity. Therefore we commit ourselves to building the Church as One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic, one family where we all belong equally; a holy people where all help each other grow in holiness of loving; a truly universal community where all humanity know they can flourish in their uniqueness and diversity; a community of apostles and prophets, where each has the right and responsibility to speak their voice, to proclaim the Gospel, to serve the kingdom, and to protect the human dignity of every person in every place.
As we believe, so may we live. Amen.