WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) – Jesuit Father James Martin has received further criticism for a series of tweets that he released last month in defense of the so-called “marriage” between Biden Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and his “husband” Chasten.
Father Philip Bochanski, president of Courage International, an organization dedicated to helping Catholics with same-sex attraction live in accordance with Catholic teaching, called Martin’s tweets “irresponsible” in comments made to the National Catholic Register.
Martin’s claim that Buttigieg is “married” is “irresponsible, especially for a priest or bishop who has taken an oath to uphold Church teachings” and affirms “something that the Church says that we mustn’t say, which is that homosexual unions are the same or even remotely analogous to marriage.”
Bochanski cited a 2003 document issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) which stated that “in those situations where homosexual unions have been legally recognized or have been given the legal status and rights belonging to marriage, clear and emphatic opposition is a duty.”
“[A]s we’ve seen in the whole question of laws and court decisions around abortion, most people, especially young people, assume that what is legal is moral,” Bochanski continued.
According to Bochanski, for Martin to say that “according to the laws of the United States, these two people are married” and nothing further means that someone could conclude that, as same-sex “marriage” is legal, “it must be good or at least neutral, morally speaking.”
Dominican Father Thomas Petri, president of the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. also criticized Martin’s tweets.
Speaking to the Register, Petri said “Even though it is the case that in our country same-sex relationships are legally given the name ‘marriage,’ as Catholics, but also as right-thinking individuals, we understand that marriage can only be between one man and one woman.”
“You don’t have to be a believer to accept that,” Petri added. “All sorts of nonbelievers who are rational and have thought through the issue can understand marriage is between one man and one woman. It’s the institution that provides children to society and provides for the upbringing of those children.”
Petri also noted that homosexuality could be recognized as morally wrong independent of faith, noting that the nature of marriage could be known by reason as well as by faith.
Petri further stressed the pastoral danger of Martin’s tweets, stating that the claim that Buttigieg is “legally married” “suggests then that the Church’s understanding of marriage is one understanding among many, and therefore has equal weight with the rest.”
Both priests noted that same-sex attracted people should be treated with compassion, a view which Bochanski cites from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. “We ought to be able to deliver that message with a great deal of compassion, patience and gentleness,” Bochanski said, adding “it’s something that we ought to speak truthfully, [as] we owe the truth all the more to people who we care a great deal about.”
“There’s nothing pastoral or charitable about lying to people,” Petri said, noting “it’s recognizing the truth of my situation before God that gives me access to his mercy and his grace.”
Lay criticism of Martin’s tweet
Martin also faced criticism from Garrett Johnson, a member of Courage International. Johnson, also speaking to the Register, noted that Martin’s statements could make it difficult for same-sex attracted people to live in obedience to the Church, saying “It’s like the foundation underneath you keeps getting yanked out from under you.”
Johnson added that Catholics in public life should announce what the Church teaches in order to contrast a culture of permissiveness. “This is what the Church teaches; and, look, there are all these people who are living it who have good lives.”
“The truth brings joy, and then we need more people in the Church in positions of power to believe that,” Johnson added.
Last month, Martin reacted to a tweet by the Catholic League that said Buttigieg’s “marriage” to Chasten was a “legal fiction.”
His tweets received criticism for being in contradiction to the Church’s teachings on homosexuality, and one priest, Fr. Francisco Jose Delgado of the Archdiocese of Toledo, Spain, called Martin a “prophet of Satan” for the tweets.
Fr. Martin is notorious for his open and heretical promotion of homosexual lifestyles and his celebration of homosexuality as a great “gift” for the Church. As LifeSiteNews’ Michael Haynes has previously reported, Martin has a longstanding record of promoting LGBT ideology in dissent from Catholic teaching and is described as “arguably the most prominent activist” in the Church for LGBT issues.
As Haynes states, “Among his most notorious actions, Martin has promoted an image drawn from a series of blasphemous, homoerotic works, showing Christ as a homosexual, promoted same-sex civil unions, and has described viewing God as male as ‘damaging.’”
Neither Courage International nor Petri responded to LifeSite’s request for comment.