TX Bishop Blasts Fr. Martin for Questioning Bible on Homosexuality

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TYLER, Texas (ChurchMilitant.com) - A Texas bishop is denouncing Fr. James Martin, S.J. for dissenting with Scripture on homosexuality.

"I know you have lots of support but you are challenging the Deposit of Faith that I promised to defend," tweeted Bp. Joseph Strickland of the diocese of Tyler on Wednesday. "As a bishop I'll keep defending it."

The bishop's remarks came in response to a tweet by the celebrity Jesuit questioning the inerrancy of Scripture.

"Interesting: 'Where the Bible mentions [same-sex sexual] behavior at all, it clearly condemns it. I freely grant that. The issue is precisely whether the biblical judgment is correct. The Bible sanctioned slavery as well and nowhere attacked it as unjust," wrote Martin.

Hundreds of Catholics have weighed in blasting the priest for his open dissent.

International pro-life leader Obianuju Ekeocha tweeted, "Who do you serve? God Almighty or the LGBT movement almighty?"

Priests and laity also offered frank opinions on the matter.

"Log off," said Fr. J. Waugh, CSC, citing the Vatican II document Dei Verbum, which affirms the inerrancy of Scripture as divine revelation: "Sacred Scripture is the word of God inasmuch as it is consigned to writing under the inspiration of the divine Spirit."

Others noted that Martin's tweet further exposes his open dissent to Church teaching.

Martin has repeatedly claimed he has never challenged Church teaching, but critics disagree, noting comments he has made in various speeches in which he praises same-sex marriage, going so far as to say that the "love" within gay marriage should be "reverenced," also hinting at the notion that homosexuals are exempt from the demands of chastity, and denigrating former gays who have left the homosexual lifestyle to embrace a rightly ordered orientation as not leading a "fully integrated life."

In an August 29, 2017 interview at Villanova University, speaking to the same-sex married host, Martin claimed that because homosexuals have not "received" the Church's teaching on chastity, they therefore are not bound by that teaching.

In the same interview, Martin said that ex-gays are internally conflicted and their lives aren't fully "integrated" the way self-admitted homosexuals are.

Canon lawyer Dr. Ed Peters wrote in response, "Martin might regret that, in virtue of Canon 1055 (which presents the nature of marriage itself), two lesbians cannot marry each other, nor can two homosexuals, but, if that is what underlies Martin's complaints about celibacy supposedly being imposed on such persons, he needs to take it up with the infallible Magisterium of the Church."

And at a Sept. 5, 2017 symposium at Fordham University, where the priest joined the panel with a same-sex married man, Martin praised gay marriage as "a loving act" and said the Church must "reverence" it.

Martin's routine endorsement of dissident LGBT ministries also calls into doubt his claims of fidelity to the magisterium. On numerous occasions he has expressed support for New Ways Ministry, which has been censured by the Vatican for its dissent on Church teaching on homosexuality. Martin has even proposed Sr. Jeannine Gramick, who has flouted the Vatican's ban on her public ministry to LGBT Catholics, as someone who should be canonized by the Church.

To learn more about Fr. Martin's errors, visit our FAQ resource page.

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