Bishop bans LGBT Catholic groups from entering churches and attending mass

A Bishop of Detroit has ordered Catholic churches to sever ties with groups set up to support and affirm LGBT + Catholics.

Bishop forbids gay Catholic groups from meeting in churches and attending mass, just as Jesus wanted

Auxiliary Bishop Gerard Battersby wrote clergy orders on behalf of the Archdiocese of Detroit, slamming the proverbial door in the face of inclusive LGBT + groups Dignity Detroit and Fortunate Families.

The Bishop of Detroit bans mass for an LGBT + Catholic group.

Battersby banned groups from meeting in Catholic churches and ordered priests not to celebrate mass for them.

He insisted: “The Detroit Members’ Dignity Mass – one which rejects the church’s teaching on human sexuality – is not possible in any parish church, chapel or diocesan establishment, and is indeed prohibited everywhere. in the Archdiocese of Detroit.

“To refrain from offering Mass anywhere in the Archdiocese of Detroit for the dignity of Detroit, lest we confuse the faithful by appearing to endorse an alternate and contradictory path to holiness. “

Auxiliary Bishop Gerard Battersby ordered the LGBT + group Fortunate Families to disband. Dignity, which has been around for over 40 years, was stunned by the letter. Group chairman Frank D’Amore told the Detroit Free Press: “The dignity is still there, and we are not going anywhere.

“We just celebrated our 46th anniversary in May. We never went out of our way to embarrass the church hierarchy. We are our fourth Archbishop in 39 years, three cardinals. Now all of a sudden this is a problem? I do not understand.

Fortunate Families Detroit was established in 2014 to support LGBT + families and has been meeting for years at Christ the King Catholic Church in Detroit.

But in another letter, Battersby wrote: “Fortunate Families Detroit delivers a misleading and damaging message. To have such an organization, with its competing vision of the sanctification of its members, operating within the confines of the archdiocese is both confusing to the faithful and detrimental to the very members that the organization seeks to serve.

“As Archbishop Allen Vigneron’s delegate, I ask you to immediately suspend the meeting and dissolve your organization as a group claiming to be Catholic operating in the Archdiocese of Detroit.

“Wealthy families Detroit does not have the right to meet in a parish church, chapel or institution of the Archdiocese of Detroit. “

Linda Karle-Nelson, who leads the group with her husband, said Free press: “We had no idea … it was surprising, shocking, it was hurtful. It means that we have lost our parish, our home port for many years.

“The pastor over there has no right to associate with us. We are no longer a group with a parish house. We are not allowed in any Catholic parish. It’s pretty hard.

The Church wants homosexual members to abstain from any gender and pray for “salvation”.

The archdiocese has defended the decision to sever ties with the groups, suggesting their members join the church-sanctioned Courage and EnCourage group, which claims to provide “spiritual support to people with same-sex attraction” – a language commonly used among advocates of conversion therapy. Church-sanctioned groups tell homosexuals to lead lonely lives abstaining from sex and relationships while praying for “salvation” and forgiveness.

Spokeswoman Holly Fournier told the newspaper, “We have communicated these developments to the leaders of Fortunate Families and Dignity Detroit, and we have invited all members to join us in participating in a ministry faithful to the teachings of the Church. of Christ.

“Our desire is to provide pastoral care and to ensure the salvation of all the faithful, including those who are attracted to the same sex and their families. “

The bishop of Detroit, Allen Vigneron, had previously ordered Catholics who support same-sex marriage to stop taking Communion in 2013, saying their participation “would logically bring the shame of a double game which is reminiscent of perjury” .