Rememberg The Gay San Francis Church That Was Torched Out Of Hate In 1973: SFist

Contents:

• GAY FRIENDLY
• SAN FRANCIS'S LARGT GAY PARISH TO GET NEW PASTORS
• GAY-IENDLY PARISH CALIFORNIA
• CALIFORNIA DCE ‘THE MOST GAY-IENDLY THE NATN’
• SAN FRANCIS'S LARGT GAY PARISH TO GET NEW PASTORS
• U.S. HOMOSEXUAL ACTIVIST WEBSE PROVIS LIST OF 'GAY FRIENDLY' CATHOLIC PARISH
• REMEMBERG THE GAY SAN FRANCIS CHURCH THAT WAS TORCHED OUT OF HATE IN 1973

GAY FRIENDLY

We, of the Metropolan Communy Church of San Francis, are a beloved muny jog together om diverse spirual backgrounds and misterg primarily wh the Lbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgenred Communy as a hoe of prayer of all people and a home for queer spirualy.

The parish offers a spirual home to all: senr cizens and youth; sgle people and fai; those who are straight, gay, lbian, and transgenr; the healthy and the sick, particularly persons wh HIV/AIDS. Gay Friendly.

SAN FRANCIS'S LARGT GAY PARISH TO GET NEW PASTORS

Peace has been a gay iendly church sce 1991. All are part of God’s fay and all are weled here: Gay and straight, bisexual, transgenred, young and seasoned, out or not; Sgle, married, mted, love, widowed.

Our Mic Director, Gary Sponholtz, is a member of the San Francis Gay Mens’ Choir and the San Francis Gay and Lbian Band. Gay Friendly Church. The s-long stggle for equal rights for the gay muny clud an unlikely transformatn wh a lol Catholic church that is now thrivg San Francis's Castro District.

GAY-IENDLY PARISH CALIFORNIA

Everywhere you look their dg room, you'll see fac, young, old, gay, and straight, cludg one of Mike's favore relics of the Virg Mary. Their fah is their foundatn as a gay Catholic uple, even when their relign and homosexualy - practice and theology - still don't mix many ways.

Jim and Mike vividly rellect the stggle for gay marriage. "It is hard [beg gay and Catholic], pecially when I go to other church that don't feel as welg, " said Daly.

"The elrly of this parish started an AIDS mistry and outreach to the young men and beme an improbable fah fay of the gay muny and senr cizens and beme known affectnately as gays and grays, " said church member and San Francis Supervisor Matt Dorsey.

CALIFORNIA DCE ‘THE MOST GAY-IENDLY THE NATN’

We didn't choose to be gay. Gay upl nnot get married the church by a Catholic prit. The newly appoted pastor of San Francis's largt gay parish, Most Holy Reemer Catholic Church The Castro District, says he has no marchg orrs and only to "be prent, to be pleasant, and to love of the people of God.

Most Holy Reemer parish, long known for s active gay mistri and rich lurgi, is a relatively small parish wh some 400 members, although draws Catholics each Sunday om around the Bay area.

SAN FRANCIS'S LARGT GAY PARISH TO GET NEW PASTORS

They say the mistry was veloped to foster dialogue, renciliatn and jtice wh people who are lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr.

Part one of a seri on “gay-iendly” parish and mistri the Catholic Church. At a rapidly growg number of proudly “gay-iendly” parish, same-sex upl who flout the Church’s teachg on the immoraly of homosexual acts are exercisg learship rol and receivg Communn wh enuragement om their pastors. However, a mon thread seems to n through all of them: the persistent unwillgns of the dcan thory to enter to nflict wh a powerful and aggrsive homosexual movement.

Sce the 1970s when certa Amerin and Canadian parish beme known as “gay-iendly, ” and wayward clergy and lay began “non-judgmental” homosexual outreach mistri such as “New Ways” and “Digny USA, ” the number of parish that tolerate or accept homosexual behavr has ballooned to clu parish most of the dc of the Uned Stat. Although New Ways Mistri has been repeatedly nmned by the Catholic hierarchy, currently lists about 240 parish 165 ci and towns that nform to s “gay-iendly” standards.

U.S. HOMOSEXUAL ACTIVIST WEBSE PROVIS LIST OF 'GAY FRIENDLY' CATHOLIC PARISH

The parish often mata “LGBT outreach” programs that affirm the homosexualy of members and even enurage homosexuals to be “proud” of their sexual activy. They place active homosexuals posns of parish learship. They participate homosexual pri paras which same-sex acts are ndoned and even engaged , and celebrate Mass memoratg the paras and other events of importance to the “gay” subculture.

What appears to be absent such parish is any mentn of the Catholic Church’s doctre regardg the natural purpose of human sexualy and the trsic evil of homosexual acts. The Catechism of the Catholic Church unequivolly nmns homosexual sodomy as “acts of grave pravy” and “trsilly disorred. In “gay-iendly” parish, however, the Church’s ncept of marriage, fay, and sexualy is openly treated differently.

Instead of guidg those wh “same-sex attractn” to a life of celibacy and addrsg psychologil problems, homosexuals are told that their impuls stem om their very nature, that they were created by God as homosexuals and that the “gay” ethos is part of their inty. In fact, some have actively enuraged the “gay” activy. The rult is an atmosphere of impuny which pastors and parishners are growg creasgly bold their public claratns favor of the homosexual liftyle.

REMEMBERG THE GAY SAN FRANCIS CHURCH THAT WAS TORCHED OUT OF HATE IN 1973

At San Francis’s Most Holy Reemer parish, which is suated the predomantly homosexual Castro district, the gay subculture has received open support sce the 1970s by pastors and parishners. Unr the guidance of “gay iendly” learship, the parish openly subverts Catholic teachg on human sexualy, participatg paras that celebrate the homosexual liftyle, memoratg anniversari of same-sex unns, and matag a library of books fendg and celebratg same-sex sodomy.

In the Archdce of Los Angel, where New Ways lists no ls than 10 “gay-iendly” parish, a homosexual uple was recently permted to brg up the gifts durg the offertory re of a natnally-televised Mass prid over by Archbishop José Gomez. The event was the culmatn of years of operatn the homosexual subculture on the part of the archdce, cludg active participatn “gay pri” events by s “Catholic Mistry wh Gay and Lbian Persons.