Masses for Gay activists

Current status: local responses are best. For example:

Mass was celebrated for Birmingham Quest in St Catherine of Siena, Bristol Street, Birmingham, 18th December 2005, for the 30th Anniversary of the local group; further Masses were arranged for 14th Jan, 11th March, and 9th April.

Mass was celebrated for the Leicester and East Midlands Quest in Holy Cross, Leicester, 18th Feb 2006.

A monthly Mass is said for Quest in the Archdiocese of Westminster. Fr Jim Kennedy, the diocesan priest with responsibility for the pastoral care of homosexuals, allows Quest to use his own parish hall for meetings and parties.

See the CDF document at the end of this post.

"The dissenting homosexual group 'Quest' that operates in the United Kingdom, under the Chairmanship of national broadcaster and journalist Mark Dowd, is becoming more active and gaining support from bishops and priests around the country. Various Masses, private and public, are regularly being celebrated for this group across the UK in spite of its open dissent from Catholic teaching. Nationwide, there are seven local Quest groups. Inspired by the success of the RCCLGCM Masses in the Westminster Archdiocese, Quest members are now seeking to have public Masses in Catholic churches, and appear to be having some measure of success. "(CFNews)

Quest has been excluded from listing in the Catholic Directory since 1998. For a taste of Quest's approach, see their Statement from Quest regarding the Vatican Document on Admission of Gay Men to Seminaries and Holy Orders

24th November 2005

"Same-sex attraction, whether it be in women or men, is once again dismissed by this text as being 'objectively disordered', a phrase that appeared in the 1986 document written at the time by the then Cardinal Ratzinger. It confirms that the Church pastors have failed to listen to the voices of modern medicine, science and psychology, which does not see the homosexual state in such pathological terms. Lesbians and gay men are not accepted for who they are, but are condemned by such language to be seen as merely ‘defective heterosexuals’, rather than evidence of a strand of love and commitment which is at the heart of God’s pluralistic creation."

Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, 'The Pastoral Care of the Homosexual Person', 1986: (See here for the full text.)

17: 'All support should be withdrawn from any organisations which seek to undermine the teaching of the Church, which are ambiguous about it, or which neglect it entirely. Such support, or even the semblance of such support, can be gravely misinterpreted. Special attention should be given to the practice of scheduling religious servicds and to the use of Church buildings by these groups, including the facilities of Catholic schools and colleges. To some, such permission to use Church property may seem only just and charitable; but in reality it is contradictory to the purpose for which these institutions were founded, it is misleading and often scandalous...'