Update: Two corrections. The British newspaper got it wrong; it's not a Mass, but a "prayer service" taped last October. I also got Alison's background wrong. He's no longer a Dominican, but is an "itinerant preacher." He left the Dominicans in 1995.
Recall Fr. Stephen Meriwether, pastor of Most Holy Redeemer parish in San Francisco and chancellor of the same archdiocese. We most recently heard about him after he was suspended from his duties in a public relations stunt for having openly promoted a disgusting homosexual activist group at his parish, only to return a short time later. And it wasn’t the first time we’d heard his name in connection with promoting the homosexual lifestyle in contrast to Church teaching.
Now, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is
planning to broadcast a “gay Mass” from the same parish this weekend.
The 50-minute Mass at the Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in the predominantly gay Castro district of the city will feature prayers and readings tailored for the gay community.
The parish is described as “an inspiration” worldwide for what is essentially the flouting of the Church’s teachings on homosexuality, even while the depths of the sexual deviancy celebrated at the parish is acknowledged: “But it has also infuriated many Catholics in the U.S. who have complained about such activities as transvestite bingo nights during which sex toys and pornographic DVDs were handed out as prizes.”
Critics of the BBC broadcast anticipate similar fury in the UK after the showing.
“Religious broadcasting, apart from Songs of Praise, tends to focus on the out-of-the-ordinary and having this particular service I think will cause offence to people who feel that such practices are wrong and are taught as such in holy scripture,” Mr Beyer said.
“The BBC really ought to be focusing on mainstream services which are more in keeping with the public service requirement that it has.”
Incidentally, Meriwether will not be the celebrant. A Father Donal Godfrey, SJ, will be the celebrant and the homilist will be Fr. James Alison, OP, described in the article as “a homosexual British Catholic theologian.”
The question is what Archbishop George Niederauer of San Francisco will do to stop this travesty and to prevent a future reoccurence.
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Actually, Dom, so far as I know Meriwether was never suspended for anything. At the time that the “bingo” controversy was happening, he was in rehab for alchoholism and depression. Though I’m pretty sure he was the one who approved it in the first place.
Sad to say, but since he’s popular in SF, I think the archdiocese would be hesitant to discipline him at all.
If that was the circumstances of his “leave”, then the archdiocesan spokesman’s statement at the time was misleading because it left the impression that he was on leave from his duties as a consequence of these actions.
Three things:
-First, I am a regular reader of your blog, and I appreciate your “musings” very much. Thank you for sharing your writings with your readers.
-Second, I am a San Francisco Catholic, and, while I know our city gets a lot of press for being very liberal and our heterodox Catholics get a lot of air time, I would like to throw in my two cents: there are many, many quiet, faithful Catholics in this city who are more than happy to follow the Church’s real teachings on real subjects. We don’t make as much noise as most of the angry heretics and atheists because we’re too busy with families, charitable work, and prayer groups to pose for cameras. And it’s largely the parish priests here who make this all possible: they truly give their lives in service to their flocks.
-Finally, I sometimes wonder that homosexuality has become the sin that everyone seems to focus on- Catholics and non-Catholics alike. Is it somehow more or less sinful than other sins like masturbation, adultery, and fornication? It seems like Catholics are more willing to tolerate these other sins in friends and fellow-parishioners, and it also seems that dissenters seem to choose gay marriage as the heterodoxy of choice. Any thoughts on why that might be? I don’t believe the Church should change her teaching on any of these matters, but I wonder why the ideological battleground seems to be the particular sin of homosexuality.
For one thing I don’t think it’s what people focus on. Take a look at Catholic blogs on a typical day. How many posts are about homosexuality? Maybe because you are in San Francisco where homosexuality is a big part of the environment it only seems like it.
For another, if there is focus on it at times, perhaps it’s because no one is militantly trying to tell the rest of us that fornication or adultery or masturbation are God’s gift to us and how God made us and that the Church is wrong.
The number one sin, in the world’s eyes, is the denial of pleasure, i.e. not letting me do what I want. The pathology of homosexuality is an extreme narcissism. Those make a decidedly unhealthy mix.
If I had to make a guess, it’s likely because the homosexual lobby is the one group of sinners that insist that their sin isn’t a sin. They are also the ones with the thug class that insists that you believe it too.
I know the answer to you question, Dom. What will Neiderauer do? Nothing.