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Only Another Parish Club

LEGION OF MARY ADOPTS ARCHDIOCESAN GAY OUTREACH

By Maggie Garcia

A recently published booklet called Homosexuality and the Legion of Mary, details how Cardinal Roger Mahony has sent a directive to all pastors in the Los Angeles archdiocese urging them to set up gay and lesbian outreaches throughout the archdiocese. The Mission contacted several Los Angeles archdiocesan priests who said that no directive from the cardinal, but rather a letter which outlined ways in which a parish could become "gay friendly," was sent to the parishes by Father Peter Liuzzi, O.Carm, director of the archdiocesan Office of Ministry with Lesbian and Gay Catholics.

Certain members of the Legion of Mary are also urging the Legionaries to reach out to homosexuals that they may meet while out on their various Legion assignments. William M. Thompson, a former president of the Legion, wrote the booklet which he made available to the Legionaries in order to introduce them to the cardinal's supposed new directive on gay and lesbian ministries.

The booklet Thompson wrote draws heavily on Always Our Children, the document that was issued last year by the National Council of Catholic Bishops' (NCCB) Committee on Marriage and Family that sparked a firestorm of protest from various persons including Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz of Lincoln, Nebraska. In the nine-page booklet, which some Legionaries have pointed out was printed without official permission from the Legion's executive board, Thompson urges the Legionaries, when encountering homosexuals while going door to door, to tell them, "we have a choir in need of members, a Senior Citizen group, a Parent's Club, a Parish Library Committee, Lesbian and Gay Outreach, etc."

The fact that Thompson is suggesting that his fellow Legionaries act as a referral source for the archdiocese's gay and lesbian ministry has angered some Legionaries. One of these is Mike Johnson, a long time pro-life activist who, until recently, was president of the Santa Monica presidio (A presidio is the parish-based unit of the Legion of Mary). Johnson resigned his post after several exchanges with Thompson over the issue. The Mission questioned Johnson as to why he opposed the Legion's involvement with the gay and lesbian ministry. Johnson spoke of his reservations of sending homosexuals to the diocese's Gay and Lesbian Ministries. "The fact is," said Johnson, "that the few gay and lesbian outreach groups established to date in certain of the archdiocese's parishes by Father Peter Liuzzi, O. Carm., have in fact shown themselves to be substantially far off the mark that would identify them as authentically Catholic organizations which teach and observe authentic Catholic doctrine regarding homosexuality."

Even if, said Johnson, the archdiocesan homosexual ministry was "conducted in complete and full accord with the teachings of the Church regarding what the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith calls a 'grave disorder,' the predisposition of an individual to be sexually attracted to members of his own gender," the promotion of that ministry would not be appropriate to the Legion of Mary. "The only other parish functions in which the Legion may become legitimately involved," he said, "are those which have an essentially evangelistic or apologetic mission: CCD, RCIA, Eucharistic Ministry, and the like. Aside from these official parish activities, the Legion is much better and more commonly known for its hallmark activities: door-to-door evangelization, book barrows, Catholic discussion groups, and, more recently, the sidewalk counseling of prospective clients of abortion mills. The Legion may not become involved with or become coadjutors, as it were, with such organizations as the Knights of Columbus, Catholic Daughters, the St. Vincent de Paul Society, the Holy Name Society, etc. because none of these do anything which would give the Legion a venue for its essential purpose: to witness publicly and personally for Jesus Christ and His Church; to be the humble, gentle, yet knowledgeable presence of Him and His Holy Mother as an encouragement to those who may have fallen away from a practice of the faith or who may not know of Him and His Church so as to draw such into her bosom.

"So the same is true for a Ministry to Gay and Lesbian Catholics, even presuming its conduct and presence within the parish to be utterly Catholic and integral with the teachings of the Church. Such an organization under the best of conditions would have nothing essentially which the Legion could do that would be an appropriate exercise of the Legion's specific mission: "Go out into the whole world teaching all nations."

Johnson opined that a parish Gay and Lesbian Outreach is not the proper venue for homosexuals coming into the Church: "A wise and holy priest whom I know, and who himself happens to be a spiritual director for the Legion of Mary, [holds] that the complex, conflicted, and wounded psyche of such a one will be very poorly served within a group setting such as the Ministry to Gay and Lesbian Catholics, no matter how orthodox the group, and that such a soul would be better directed first to seek the counsel of a wise, holy and prudent spiritual guide, preferably a priest. Perhaps, as the one so directed began to progress towards a full reconciliation and reintegration of his faculties within himself; and of himself with the Church and with God, he could be invited by the priest and not by the Legion of Mary to visit the parish's Gay and Lesbian Outreach group to find others like himself who are struggling successfully and peacefully to live chaste and/or celibate lives. The chaste camaraderie available in such a group hopefully would provide a setting of relaxed friendship and encouragement from positive role models for one who has been already for sometime under the care of a spiritual physician."

In his booklet, Thompson suggests that one way in which Always Our Children can be utilized is by placing it in the Book Barrows Apostolate. The Book Barrows Apostolate consists of displaying pamphlets and tracts on various subjects out on the street where people are passing by. Thompson writes: "There is a pamphlet entitled Always Our Children...it presents a most balanced view--explaining that any homosexual sex is absolutely morally wrong and that no one can accept this lifestyle." The booklet failed to note that Always Our Children advises parents that in some cases, when dealing with a child who may be experimenting with a homosexual attraction, the best approach may be a "wait and see" one.

Thompson's booklet has the support of the Legion of Mary's spiritual director, Monsignor Lawrence Donnelly. At the July 16 Cenatus meeting (the Cenatus is the regional governing body of the Legion of Mary), Monsignor Donnelly told the Legionaries that it was the cardinal's desire to have Always Our Children used in ministering to homosexuals though he noted that there were some concerns among the Legionaries: "Reaction of some has been as though we were approving heresy when all we were doing is accepting direction from the archbishop ..." At that same meeting, a heated discussion ensued as one of the Legionaries very vocally objected to the proposed ministry for the Legion. The Mission contacted Monsignor Donnelly, who said: '"[The booklet] is just a tangential thing for the Legion of Mary. We are just following our leader. When this reporter pointed out that Cardinal Ratzinger had said Always Our Children "remains, so to speak, on an experimental, provisional level," Monsignor Donnelly commented that he has been retired for four years and is not always aware of these changes.

The Los Angeles Legionaries were not the only ones receiving the booklet from Thompson. The booklet was sent to various dioceses in California. One priest who received the booklet objected to its contents. In a letter, dated July 20, a copy of which he sent to Thompson, the priest explains his concerns with Always Our Children. He cites Bishop Bruskewitz's criticism of Always Our Children: "The flaws in the document...were great enough to draw the comment of Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz...'Calamity and frightening disaster' are terms which are not too excessive to describe this document. It is my view that this document carries no weight or authority for Catholics, whom I would advise ignore or oppose it... Always Our Children is a committee document...it has not been approved by the NCCB in the United States. It has not been endorsed by the Vatican...neither can this document be studied alone without the foundational letters from the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, [the] 1986 'Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons.'" This priest also tells Thompson of the Vatican's revision of Always Our Children and points out that " ...deficiencies still exist; clarifications need to be made."

Thompson responded to the priest's concerns with a letter dated July 22 which pointed out that the Legion of Mary has distributed the booklet and copies of Always Our Children to "the 93 Councils operating in our eight western states under our jurisdiction, but also covers many Councils throughout the rest of America and Canada. The response has been overwhelming for the Always Our Children pamphlet and we have back orders waiting to be filled; the Los Angeles Chancery is expected to send us a supply of the 3rd edition soon." With regards to the questions about the Vatican's approval of Always Our Children, and given the controversial way in which the letter was issued, Thompson goes on to say "It is my understanding from our Chancery Office, that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has approved the Pastoral in its entirety, thus placing those who contend that it contains teachings contrary to the Church in a strange relationship with the Holy See".

The Mission contacted Laura Morales, the secretary for the executive committee; however Morales declined comment about the controversy. Phone calls to Thompson's phone number were unanswered.

Father Paul Peterson, chaplain of Nazareth House in Los Angeles, who works closely with the Legion of Mary, assessed the controversy this way: "Those who are familiar with the Legion of Mary, will testify that in her history [over 75 years] Satan has attempted to destroy the Legion of Mary and her works of evangelization. However, the Holy Spirit through the hierarchical structure of the Legion of Mary, has been able to remove and/or correct the problems within herself; without any outside intervention or publicity."

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