AUSCP and Bishop Allies Support Homosexual Activism in St. Louis

All last week, the Lepanto Institute was on location at the Airport Marriott in St. Louis to observe and counter goings on at the Association of US Catholic Priest’s (AUSCP) 2019 Assembly.  Early in the week we were there, we exposed the fact that the AUSCP has officially and formally called for the ordination of women as Catholic priests.  Other areas of concern regarding the AUSCP can be explored in the following other reports:

• AUSCP’s Plan for Ordained Women and Priestless parishes
• AUSCP’ Idea for Priestly Formation and Info on Conference speakers
• AUSCP’s Desire to Obtain Funding from Unsuspecting, Pew-sitting Catholics
• AUSCP’s Membership in an International Network of Heretical Organizations
• AUSCP’s Alliance with Heretical, Pro-Sodomy Organizations
• AUSCP’s Keynote Address from Notorious Priest, Fr. Richard Rohr
• AUSCP’s Vision of the Church in Relation to the Vision of Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich

Our first day in St. Louis, we met with a number of faithful and deeply concerned St. Louis Catholics who organized a Rosary rally in reparation for the heresy spread at this conference. You can see clips from the Rosary Rally here:

We were also blessed to have a priest from the Fraternal Society of St. Peter offer a Mass of reparation there in the same hotel.

On Tuesday, Michael Hichborn gave a talk to CREDO, a faithful St. Louis Catholic organization, on the current crisis in the Catholic Church and the enemies of the Cross of Christ. You can watch the video of this talk here:

During the Rosary rally, the AUSCP’s media and communications specialist Paul Leingang approached us and was no doubt either recording the interactions or taking our pictures.  He immediately recognized me from my presence at last year’s Assembly, and he asked me why I had returned.  What I told him was nothing short of the truth … the AUSCP is spreading heresy, and I fear they are enticing souls to follow them into Hell.  Of course, to him this is all a matter of opinion, and he didn’t want to discuss the matter any further.

One of the most concerning aspects of this AUSCP Assembly is active spread of false teachings coming from the AUSCP’s sponsors and vendors.  For instance, both New Ways Ministry and DignityUSA had booths with free heretical literature supporting notions that homosexual acts are not sinful, promoting dissent from legitimate Church authority, and even advocating same-sex “marriage.”

New Ways Ministry, a homosexual advocacy group, is an organization officially condemned by both the Vatican and the USCCB and permanently prohibited from any pastoral work involving homosexual persons.  According to the 2010 USCCB condemnation penned by Cardinal Francis George:

“No one should be misled by the claim that New Ways Ministry provides an authentic interpretation of Catholic teaching and an authentic Catholic pastoral practice. Their claim to be Catholic only confuses the faithful regarding the authentic teaching and ministry of the Church with respect to persons with a homosexual inclination. Accordingly, I wish to make it clear that, like other groups that claim to be Catholic but deny central aspects of Church teaching, New Ways Ministry has no approval or recognition from the Catholic Church and that they cannot speak on behalf of the Catholic faithful in the United States.”

New Ways Ministry not only promotes homosexual “marriage equality”, it also publishes articles (examples here and here) that suggest that homosexual sexual acts are not sinful.

At the AUSCP Assembly, New Ways Ministry handed copies of their new publication for lesbian nuns – “Womanjourney Weavings.”  The tagline for “Womanjourney Weavings” is “An occasional forum for and about lesbian religious to exchange ideas, experiences, and events.”  In this “introductory issue,” the headline article Prayers from the Closet by a self-professed “lesbian nun,” Linda Taylor, CSJ said, “I had lived in the closet as a lesbian for almost fifty years … I like being a sister and I like being a lesbian.”  While the publication claims to express the stories of celibate lesbian nuns, the issue of sexual identity in a religious community is absurd!  Sister Linda said that expressing her feelings as a lesbian “filled every nook and cranny of [her] thoughts and feelings.”  If that’s the case, then there is clearly no room for Christ.

New Ways Ministry also handed out brochures promoting both gay and lesbian religious retreats as well as copies of their homosexual activist newsletter “Bondings.” The retreat brochure for “Gay priests, Bishops, Brothers, and Deacons” bears the title, “All Are Welcome!  Are All Welcome?”  In the description, it indicates that the sex abuse crisis is being unjustly blamed on homosexuals in the clergy, and pointedly asks if homosexual clergy can “feel welcomed” as long as the Church maintains the teaching that homosexual inclinations are “intrinsically disordered.”  But one thing that is of particular interest in this brochure is that the retreat leader is Father Peter Daly.  The arrow below shows that Fr. Daly is “on the leadership team of the Association of United States Catholic Priests,” which is to say that he is an officer for the AUSCP and is involved in all the planning for it. This also puts AUSCP directly in alignment with New Ways Ministry and helps to explain why he was named as a “convener” for the Colloquium “Supporting Gay Priests in Times of Crisis” (details below).

The retreat for lesbian nuns applies a stylized ankh with a heart in place of a circle, and indicates that it is for “sisters who identify as lesbians … and wish to celebrate the gift of their identity.”  Again, this notion of sexual identity has no place in religious life.  But of particular note is the line indicating that there will be an opportunity for “rituals.”  It is worth noting here that there is a very strong connection between homosexuality and witchcraft.

Also of particular concern was this flyer handed out by New Ways Ministry that calls on Catholic institutions to adopt “non-discriminatory policies” against homosexuals who have “married” or “have positive views about same gender relationships” or, in other words, are actively practicing homosexual behavior.  In short, New Ways Ministry was given a platform to advance the ideology among attending priests that same-sex “married” individuals should be protected in maintaining their “jobs” within the Catholic Church.  This pamphlet blasts bishops who have faithfully exercised their ministry of safeguarding their institutions from perversion.

As we indicated above, Fr. Peter Daly was identified as a “convener” for an official assembly session titled “Supporting Gay Priests in Times of Crisis.” With him in the same colloquium is Sr. Jeannine Gramick, co-founder of New Ways Ministry.  Gramick was specifically censured by the Vatican in 1998.  In the notification from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Sr. Gramick is “permanently prohibited from any pastoral work involving homosexual persons and are ineligible, for an undetermined period, for any office in their respective religious institutes.”  As such, this act of giving her a platform regarding homosexuality is an act of disobedience.

As we indicated above, DignityUSA was also handing out literature and other items at the AUSCP assembly.  DignityUSA, like New Ways Ministry, is also a homosexual activism group that promotes homosexual “marriage” and condones sodomitical homosexual acts.

DignityUSA’s mission statement proclaims, “We believe that gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex persons can express their sexuality and gender identities and expressions in a manner that is consonant with Christ’s teaching.”

Furthermore, Dignity USA expounds on this in a document on the goodness of homosexual acts:

“Now Church officials admit that our sexual identity may not be the result of deliberate choice. To some extent they distinguish between sexual orientation and genital activity. Yet they still insist that our sexual identity is an objective disorder, a tendency toward an intrinsic moral evil, and that any genital expression of it is absolutely forbidden.

This we cannot accept. We see sexuality as an intrinsic, integral, and essential aspect of our human personhood, not a separate one. We reclaim our sexuality and its genital expression as intrinsically good.” [emphasis added]

In 2009, according to DignityUSA president Mark Matson, DignityUSA adopted a more “inclusive” mission statement that includes a call for the ordination of women to the priesthood. Furthermore, in 2010, DignityUSA issued a press release “expressing outrage” that the Vatican excommunicated several women who attempted priestly ordination.

In addition to handing out homosexual supporting “equally blessed” pins to assembly attendees as well as its “Statement of Position and Purpose.” This document claims homosexuals “can express our sexuality physically, in a unitive manner that is loving, life giving, and life affirming.” 

Another document handed out by DignityUSA was a flyer of its 2018 accomplishments. This document proudly boasted that Dignity USA protested Catholic Charities of Buffalo for deciding to end its foster program rather than place children with “queer prospective parents.”

All this activity was openly flaunted in front of the bishops in attendance at the Assembly.

• Archbishop Carlson celebrated Mass
• Bishop Stowe was in attendance and ran a discussion group
• Cardinal Cupich gave a keynote address
• Bishop McElroy and Archbishop Wester were spotted as well.

Given these bishops’ active support of the AUSCP and their lack of any action against these vendors, we must conclude that they at least tacitly approved of this promotion of evil.

This is scandalous beyond measure! These bishops must disavow and condemn the AUSCP, bar them from any diocesan activity and publicly repudiate the errors promoted at the assembly.  Anything short of this is an active betrayal of their God given ministry of safeguarding the flock Christ entrusted to them.

Be sure to contact your bishop and ask him to publicly condemn the AUSCP and forbid his priests from being members!

Click here to find the contact information for your bishop!