"Shadow Churches" UPDATE: "Queering the Rosary"

An article (disclosure: written by us) from this morning's California Catholic Daily.

Queering the Rosary
“Relational Mysteries” Prayed at Berkeley’s Newman Center

When Oakland’s Bishop Salvatore Cordileone visited Berkeley’s Jesuit School of Theology at the Graduate Theological Union on September 22, he was greeted by approximately 20 protestors. The protestors were seminarians and faculty from the theological union’s schools. The bishop was there to commemorate the merging of the Jesuit school with Santa Clara University. The protesters were there to oppose Bishop Cordileone for his defense of natural marriage.

According to the QueerToday.com website, protestors included Rev. Dr. Rebecca Parker, president of the Starr King (Unitarian Universalist) School of Ministry; Rev. Roland Stringfellow, the organizer of the GTU’s Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies; Rev. Sanna Reinholtzen, a Lutheran minister; and graduate student Eugene McMullan, apparently a Catholic.

According to the Bay Area Reporter, Mr. McMullan is the founder of Catholics for Marriage Equality. There is more than one organization with that name; presumably they mean the one in the bay area. On August 13, the BAR published an article called “Pray for Equality Outside St. Mary‘s.“ The article began: “The recently formed Catholics for Marriage Equality will be holding a prayer vigil outside St. Mary's Cathedral in San Francisco Saturday, August 15, which is the feast of the Assumption. Organizer Eugene McMullan noted that on the Assumption, the Catholic Church celebrates Mary being bodily raised into heaven. Catholics for Marriage Equality will be praying the rosary while contemplating the Relational Mysteries.”

Many Catholics, even devout ones, may be excused for never having heard of the “Relational Mysteries.” That’s because they exist nowhere except on the agenda of homosexual activists. According to the June 2009 issue of “Impact“, the international newsletter of the Metropolitan Community Church, under the heading “Queering the Rosary,” the “relational mysteries” were devised by Mr. McMullan.

A crystal-clear description of purpose of the “Relational Mysteries” was given in the online calendar of the New Spirit/MCC Church in Berkeley. The entry was for an event held on Sunday, May 31, 2009, and reads: “GTU doctoral student Eugene McMullan and Reverend Jim Mitulski will lead a two part class on "Praying the Queer Rosary," based on stories from the bible which depict Queer Families or Relationships. The class will include a brief history of the rosary, introduction to Catholic devotions, sharing of stories, and praying together.”

The MCC is an overtly homosexual activist church; that was its founding purpose, so it is not surprising to see such an event held there. Unfortunately, the homosexual activists have managed to introduce the “relational mysteries” into at least one Catholic parish as well. The September 13 web bulletin of Berkeley’s Newman Hall - Holy Spirit Parish announces: “Praying the Rosary in solidarity with LGBT Catholics. Join us Sept. 17, 7:30-9:00 p.m. in the lounge as we explore the Relational Mysteries: Fidelity—Ruth's pledge to Naomi (Ruth 1:16-18); Grief—The parting of David and Jonathan (I Sam 20:35-42); Intercession—Esther intercedes for her people (Est 4:9-5:2); Restoration—the raising of Lazarus (John 11:38-44); and Discipleship—the two encounter Christ on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35). The group will be co-facilitated by Mike Campos and Eugene McMullan, Ph.D. students at the Graduate Theological Union.”

One may ask just how these biblical events fit in to the homoactivist agenda. The process is defined as “eisegesis” (the interpretation of a text by reading into it one's own ideas) as opposed to “exegesis,” and it seems to be an ecumenical practice among religious homosexual activists. For example, the relationship between Ruth and Naomi will be interpreted as a lesbian one. The relationship between Saul, David, and Jonathon was interpreted by Episcopal Reverend John Kirkley, one of the nominees to be the next Episcopal suffragan bishop of Los Angeles, as a “Biblical Love Triangle.” The raising of Lazarus was the subject of a homily at San Francisco’s Most Holy Redeemer by Fr. Donal Godfrey, the executive director of University Ministry at USF. He titled his homily “The Call to Come Out.”

The purpose of all this is to redefine the faith into an instrument that serves the homactivist agenda. At Most Holy Redeemer, at USF, and now apparently at Holy Spirit Parish in Berkeley, the homoactivists have established "facts on the ground." But if such actions are left unchallenged, others inevitably build upon the error. They homactivists know this. It is something they are counting on, long-term. For this strategy to work, the actions must be public. Here's an honest statement from Nanette Lee Miller in the September 27, 2005 San Francisco Chronicle. The article was titled “Gay Catholics Keeping Faith Despite Vatican”:

"I'm someone who believes you have to live how you believe, and by doing that people will change."

I take Ms. Miller to mean that if she (and likeminded people) just stick to their guns, the Church out of laziness or weakness, will eventually just accomodate them. Is she right?

Well, today Ms. Miller serves as an openly same-sex "married" acolyte and lector at Most Holy Redeemer Parish; a worship committee member at MHR; the Coordinator of acolytes at MHR; and as a Board Member and the Treasurer of Catholic Charities of San Francisco.

As Archbishop Raymond Burke said last Saturday, public scandal requires a public response.

Posted by Gibbons J. Cooney