NEWARK — The word “pilgrimage” usually evokes visions of far-off, exotic places, but for some 100 gay and lesbian Catholics and their families, a pilgrimage to the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart here on a recent Sunday was more like a homecoming.
The doors to the cathedral were opened to them, and they were welcomed personally by the leader of the Archdiocese of Newark, Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin. They were seated on folding chairs at the cathedral’s center, in front of the altar in the towering sanctuary, under the blue-tinted glow of stained glass.
“I am Joseph, your brother,” Cardinal Tobin told the group, which included lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Catholics from around New York and the five dioceses in New Jersey. “I am your brother, as a disciple of Jesus. I am your brother, as a sinner who finds mercy with the Lord.”
The welcoming of a group of openly gay people to Mass by a leader of Cardinal Tobin’s standing in the Roman Catholic Church in this country would have been unthinkable even five years ago. But Cardinal Tobin, whom Pope Francis appointed to Newark last year, is among a small but growing group of bishops changing how the American church relates to its gay members. They are seeking to be more inclusive and signaling to subordinate priests that they should do the same.
#1: IbJensen To: A K A Stone (#0)
I believe that indeed the original Church was founded by Jesus who left the power in the hands of Peter. That power as it passed down from pope to pope had its ups and downs, but the clergy kept sight of the true goal: the Holy Trinity and a true Heaven. Thanks to God a sedevacantist movement began after Vatican II. It is one that rejects the tragedy that is the Vatican and all their company churches throughout the western world. In the United States their chapels and churches may be found and there has been now for some time a true seminary in Brooksville, Florida whose rector is Bishop Donald J. Sanborn.
Those who know that Vatican II is rupture, should not seek to compromise with the heresy, but should utterly reject it, and reject those who promulgate it. In so doing they do not impose upon God some human solution of compromise with heresy, as if there were a political solution, but are remaining perfectly faithful to the religion of their baptisms and are leaving to God’s providence, the solution to the problem...it is our job to preserve the faith, and God has given us the means to do so...we should have no truck with the new religion.”
IbJensen posted on 2018-01-18 09:05:37 Reply Private Reply