DAYTON, Ohio (LifeSiteNews) — Prominent pro-LGBT Jesuit Father James Martin appeared as part of an “LGBTQ Catholics” event recently that featured blasphemous images of Our Lady wrapped in pro-LGBT flags.
In social media posts on June 30, Fr. Martin praised the organizers of the recent Imago Dei conference, which was held in Dayton, Ohio, and described as “a Marianist assembly celebrating LGBTQ+ ministry.”
“Dear friends: I was happy to spend the last few days at the Imago Dei LGBTQ Ministry Conference at the Bergamo Retreat Center, near Dayton, Ohio,” Martin wrote.
As noted by Martin and the conference organizers, the event marked “the 50th anniversary of one of the first conferences for gay and lesbian(-identified) Catholics, which took place at this same location, way back in 1974.”
The organizers themselves wrote how the event “aims to celebrate the 50th anniversary of a 1974 groundbreaking conference centered on” so-called “LGBTQ inclusion and ministry.” “We hope to honor those who foresaw the importance of developing pastoral care and outreach, and to envision how we can continue to respond to the needs of the LGBTQ+ community within our Church and world,” they added.
Martin’s pro-LGBT group Outreach was a sponsor of the conference, at which the notorious Jesuit gave a keynote address on “LGBTQ people and Synod.”
Delivering his speech in a church on the grounds of the Marianists’ property, Martin stood at a pulpit adorned with a banner that appeared to show Mary holding a transgender flag.
The banner showed a woman wearing a Muslim-style burqa, while clutching onto the transgender “progress” flag. Forming the background on the banner was another “progress” flag.
In an image posted by Martin himself, the Jesuit appeared with the conference organizers, proudly displaying a conference t-shirt that mixed images of Christ and Mary with the rainbow flag. Another participant wore a t-shirt with an image of Our Lady wearing the LGBT flag around her.
Also attending the conference alongside Martin was the controversial transgender-identified “diocesan hermit” – “Brother Christian Cole Matson,” who, though born as Nicole Matson, now presents herself as a man.
READ: Catholic ‘hermit’ approved by heterodox Bishop Stowe comes out as ‘transgender’
Though a controversial figure through much of the Church in America, Martin is a favored personality at the Vatican currently, being regularly received in private audience by Pope Francis.
He was personally selected by Francis to participate in the current Synod on Synodality and is also a papally appointed member of the Dicastery for Communications.
His record also includes promoting images drawn from a series of blasphemous works by homosexual artist Douglas Blanchard. Martin has additionally promoted homosexual unions and called for openly homosexual individuals to kiss during the sign of peace at the Novus Ordo Mass.
He also became perhaps the first priest to publicly confirm he would offer “blessings” of homosexual “couples,” following the December 18 publication of Fiducia Supplicans, which he then did on December 19.
Regardless of Martin’s personal activism, the Catholic Church teaches that the homosexual inclination is a “an objective disorder” and “a disordered sexual inclination which is essentially self-indulgent.”
The Church also condemns the promotion of the homosexual lifestyle or activities. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s (CDF) 1975 document Persona Humana warns how “there can be no true promotion of man’s dignity unless the essential order of his nature is respected.”
A subsequent 1986 CDF document on the pastoral care of homosexuals explicitly stated that bishops should ensure the immorality of homosexual activity is made clear: “we wish to make it clear that departure from the Church’s teaching, or silence about it, in an effort to provide pastoral care is neither caring nor pastoral. Only what is true can ultimately be pastoral. The neglect of the Church’s position prevents homosexual men and women from receiving the care they need and deserve.”
The CDF added how “special concern and pastoral attention should be directed toward those who have this condition, lest they be led to believe that the living out of this orientation in homosexual activity is a morally acceptable option. It is not.”
The Catholic teaching further notes that a “truly pastoral approach will appreciate the need for homosexual persons to avoid the near occasions of sin.”