Tearing Fr Martin a New One (a Rant)

                                                          +AJPM+

THE MILLENNIAL CATHOLIC:

In my post about the Jesuits, I mentioned a current Jesuit named Fr James Martin, who put up a Facebook post about his stand on the Supreme Court ruling concerning so-called same-sex "marriage". I mentioned that his post was so sugary and asinine that no one should take it seriously.

Initially, I did plan to copy and paste the actual post from Facebook and point out everything wrong with it…then I couldn't find the post on his Facebook page.

For some reason, it was taken down. I don't know if this was because of how controversial it was, or it was being misunderstood or it wasn't what Fr Martin meant. In any case, if you go to the page, it's not there.

But I was able to find an article that captured the post, so I can refute it that way.

Let me make one thing clear here before I continue: contrary to what people believe the Church says, it is okay to call out a priest on an issue, especially when they say something so obviously wrong. This is why it's acceptable to call out Fr Robert Barron (soon to be auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles) when he says we have a reasonable hope all mean are saved. That notion is wrong not only in light of several Church documents, Church Fathers, Doctors of the Church, but also Jesus Himself refutes that notion.

So now, here's Fr Martin's post, with my refutations in red letters:

No issue brings out so much hatred from so many Catholics as homosexuality.

(Maybe if they stop trying to trample on religious people's rights, we wouldn't have this problem.)

Even after 25 years as a Jesuit, the level of hatred around homosexuality is nearly unbelievable to me, especially when I think of the all the wonderful LGBT friends I have.

(Fr Martin, at any point did you point out to your so-called LGBT "friends" how destructive their lifestyle is, not just religiously but objectively speaking? I would think someone who has been a Jesuit for 25 years would have at least some concern over their friend's salvation.)

The Catholic church must do a better job of teaching what the Catechism says: that we should treat our LGBT brothers and sisters with "respect, sensitivity and compassion."

( Sorry, Fr Martin, but you don't get to decide what the Church should do a better job at. And what catechism are you talking about? Every catechism I'm familiar with condemns homosexuality. In addition, do you expect anyone to believe your order's founder would promote compassion at the expense of Church teaching?)

But God wants more. God wants us to love. And not a twisted, crabbed, narrow tolerance, which often comes in the guise of condemnations, instructions and admonitions that try to masquerade as love, but actual love.

(I'm confused. Are we supposed to take the Catechism's word on things or not? If we are, then shouldn't we keep it in mind when it condemns and admonishes homosexuality? If we aren't, then why did you even bring it up?)

Love means: getting to know LGBT men and women, spending time with them, listening to them, being challenged by them, hoping the best for them…

(So we're supposed to be challenged by them? What if we want to challenge them? What if we want to call them out on how many LGBT are responsible for new HIV cases? What if we want to challenge them on how many sexual partners the average gay person has? Aren't you duty bound to call on people to live lives of chastity, no matter who they are?
And where is your definition of love coming from? It can't be the Bible, because that's not how it defines love. It couldn't be from Loyola's spiritual exercises, because that's not what he says love is. So where is your asinine definition coming from?)

, and wanting them to be part of your lives, every bit as much as straight friends are part of your lives."

(Considering how they've treated religious people who disagree with them, why would I want them to be part of my life? Doesn't this sound like something I can do without?)

Love first. Everything else later. In fact, everything else is meaningless without love. 

(Didn't Jesus say if we love Him, we should keep His commandments? And didn't He also say we should love the Lord with all our heart? Don't those two commands refute everything you say?)