Phoenix priest breaks with Church

April 14, 2009

Father Chris Carpenter, a priest of the Diocese of Phoenix, has announced he is leaving the Catholic Church to become the Reformed Catholic Church’s Vicar of California. Carpenter said, “The Roman Catholic Church today barely seems like the same church I was ordained to served in 1995,” when Bishop Thomas O’Brien served as bishop.

Father Carpenter had resigned his pastorate in 2006 following a dispute with Bishop Thomas Olmsted related to Catholic teaching on homosexuality. In 2006, Father Carpenter lectured on the “gay Oscars” at St. Matthew Parish in Long Beach (Archdiocese of Los Angeles), where he has since been involved in gay and lesbian ministry.

 

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Further information:

• Father Chris Carpenter breaks with Phoenix Catholic Diocese (East Valley Tribune)
• Phoenix Priest Who Was Outspokenly Positive About Homosexuality Resigns (LifeSiteNews, 2006)
• 2006 parish bulletin (St. Matthew Parish, Long Beach)