corrupt

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Jan 03, 2007

Gerald Augustinus draws our attention to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles's latest bit of sacrilege in the service of sabotage, a gay-rainbow Jesus-fish. The tease consists in painting the traditional ICHTHYS symbol in the livery of the gay liberation movement (yes, of course it's deniable), in order to signal willingness to dismantle Church teaching about you-know-what -- all under the pretense of "outreach."

The stunt belongs to the Archdiocese's Ministry with Lesbian and Gay Catholics, whose very name points to the root problem. As NARTH's Dr. Joseph Nicolosi says, a gay Catholic, like a pro-abortion Catholic, is a contradiction in terms: gay is not a condition but a proclamation, entailing not simply possession of a same-sex libido, but moral acceptance thereof. Look at the Holy See's language on the subject, and you won't find the term "gay" outside of scare-quotes. It's inherently counter-Catholic, and the artillery of gay ministry is aimed inside, at the Church that it insists needs to change. This is true not just in L.A. but across the board, though L.A.'s advice to parents of gays may be taken as typical:

Catholic parents typically experience a lack of knowledge about Church teachings and base their beliefs on outdated Church teachings, stereotypes, misconceptions, and ignorance. The participation of a priest allows for a direct dialog about Church teachings and the Church's acceptance of gays and lesbians and inclusion in the Church of their baptism.

Outdated Church teachings. Right.

You'll remember the Archdiocese's original animator of gay ministry was a Carmelite named Peter Liuzzi, who dismayed orthodox Angelenos with his counter-Catholic advocacy and who was constantly protected by Mahony's inner circle. That Liuzzi's abstract advocacy fronted for a personal lifestyle issue became obvious when fellow Carmelite Dominic Savino was found to have molested high school boys, and Mahony's right-hand man Msgr. Richard Loomis, in a hacked e-mail, urged his fellow apparatchiks to play down the Savino-Liuzzi connection (3/19/2002):

A complicating fact: I believe that Father Peter Liuzzi is being assigned to Crespi Carmelite HS as a faculty member. A representative of the "Lay Catholic Mission" has approached a Carmelite priest who occasionally helps here at Saint Charles to question "the wisdom of assigning Father Liuzzi to an all-boy school." On top of that, Father Liuzzi and Father Savino have lived in the same community house for as long as I have worked at the ACC -- not quite seven years. They are close friends. I am not sure how many people know these facts and I would not want to tip my hand. Everything in this "complicating fact" paragraph would be tracked right back to me. I would not want it made public if it can be avoided. But my thought is that one issue might ignite the other in the press, both secular and retro-Catholic.

Here's how the daisies were chained: Liuzzi was the Archdiocese's gay ministry guru. He left the job, and was teaching part time at a Carmelite high school, while sharing a bungalow with his boyfriend Savino, who'd molested boys at the same school. Loomis, the director of the Cardinal's secretariat for administrative services, ran interference for Liuzzi when the Savino story broke. But it doesn't end there. Loomis himself later left ministry after being accused of molesting two boys. ("Loomis. That case proves that our procedures are working," said Cardinal Mahony, when taxed by Jason Berry in 2005 with his adjutant's perfidy in the matter.)

The conflict of interest here speaks for itself. Yet the Archbishop, and the Archdiocese's Ministry with Lesbians and Gays, are still under full sail -- which indicates that the authorities that share their sympathies have more clout than those that don't. Those of us Loomis calls retro-Catholics might object to the Gay Rainbow Jesus, but it's clear that most senior churchmen in the Archdiocese would be bewildered at the suggestion that there's anything objectionable about it. In heraldic terms, it's an eloquent emblem of Cardinal Mahony's tenure as bishop and, indeed, of what they understand as religion full stop.