“Boston Catholic Tea Party” Against Social Justice Conference: Update 1

Momentum is building in our protest against the Boston Archdiocese’s upcoming Social Justice conference, that is still featuring a backer of a pro-abortion politician who is also co-chair of an organization closely linked with the GLBT agenda.  (Keep reading). If you or your friends have not let the Vatican know you are fed up with the Boston Archdiocese, click the “Fed Up” picture to take action immediately. 

We already told you how on October 9, the archdiocese is sponsoring yet another Social Justice Conference, this time featuring Fr. Thomas Massaro, SJ from Boston College along with Fr. Bryan Hehir. We told you how Fr. Massaro, was one of 26 signatories to a public letter supporting the nomination of pro-abortion former Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius as U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services in the Obama administration.  And we told you how 3 archbishops in Kansas City rebuked her for pro-abortion views that ran contrary to Church teachings, with Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann asking her to not receive Communion until she repudiated her stance and make a “worthy sacramental confession.”   And we’ve already shared our complaints about Fr. Hehir’s undermining Church teaching for nearly 40 years, and thus helping lead souls from salvation–including his presiding over Catholic Charities of Boston when they brokered adoptions to gay couples and when they honored the pro-abortion/pro-gay mayor of Boston, and his undermining Catholic teachings on abortion, Catholic conscience exemptions, women priests, and voting for pro-abortion politicians. Are you mad as hell and fed up yet?  Hit the Fed Up graphic and sign the letter to the Papal Nuncio, Cardinal O’Malley, other Vatican officials. But wait, there’s more.

What we only learned a few days ago from Paul Melanson over at LaSalette Journey is that Fr. Massaro is a member, and actually co-chair, of the Cambridge Peace Commission, an organization linked with the GLBT agenda. Paul writes:

this past May the Cambridge Peace Commission held its 12th Cambridge Peace and Justice Awards and an award was given to Sarav Chidambaram of the Cambridge GLBT Commission.  Mr. Chidambaram “was chosen for his work as an advocate and activist within the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender community.”  In a recent interview, Mr. Chidambaram said, “The kind of work I do is considered very controversial within our communities and I hardly get any acknowledgement for the work I do.”  If he thinks his work isn’t acknowledged, he should try defending the authentic teaching of the Catholic Church.  Such a task virtually guarantees pariah status.  He continues, “..I accept [this award] as a pat on the back and an inspiration to do more.”  There you have it.  The Cambridge Peace Commission award has inspired Mr. Chidambaram to continue working to undermine marriage and family life within our communities.  Beautiful huh?  See the full interview here.

Just to repeat, Fr. Massaro is co-chair of the commission that made that award a few months ago.  Fed up yet?  He  joined the commission in 2003, not long after the Cambridge Lavender Alliance honored Cathy Hoffman, long-time Director of the Cambridge Peace Commission for her “exemplary activism,”  and not long after Hoffman was also recognized by the City of Cambridge for her GLBT activism: 

Cathy Hoffman was a member of the filmmaking collective that made the groundbreaking “Pink Triangles,” and she was a leader of the Boston Gay and Lesbian Speakers Bureau.  In particular, she is known and loved for her dedicated work and leadership in … the Gay and Lesbian Defense Committee, an organization dedicated to the overturning of the Dukakis administration’s anti-gay foster care policy.  For all this work on behalf of justice, peace and equality for all, we honor and appreciate Cathy Hoffman; now therefore it be

RESOLVED:  That the City of Cambridge does hereby recognize Saturday, June 9, 2001, as the official Cambridge Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Day, and urges the citizens of Cambridge to recognize this special tribute by joining in the activities of the day and continuing their support for this critical part of our community; and be it further

RESOLVED: That the City Clerk be and hereby is requested to prepare a suitably engrossed copy of this resolution for presentation to the Cambridge Lavender Alliance and Cathy Hoffman.

Fr. Massaro was also on the commission in 2006 when they honored Emmy Howe, who “planted ‘seeds’ of diversity in Cambridge for school families and GLBT communities” and worked in Cambridge “as the first liaison for GLBT families.”

Fr. Massaro is scheduled to speak on “Introduction to Catholic Social Teaching” on October 9.  Is “How to give a clear message to society about the Church’s opposition to abortion and homosexual activity by your words and deeds” a part of his talk?   

When a lay Catholic asked Cardinal O’Malley a few days ago how Massaro got approved, according to several people present the Cardinal responded that he was unaware of objections to Fr. Massaro.  Unaware?   That sounds kinda like how Fr. Bryan Hehir’s Catholic Charities responded to complaints about their honoring Mayor Menino of Boston a few years back. (“The people at Catholic Charities were not aware of the statements against Church policy from the mayor”).  How about the email we sent on September 3 to the Cardinal the Vicar General, the Cardinal’s two priest secretaries, and Communications Secretary, Terry Donilon.  Didn’t anyone show that to him?  How about the broadly-distributed email sent to the Cardinal’s delegate for religious, Sr. Marian Batho, by a lay Catholic leader who said:

I hope you bring my concern to His Eminence and tell him that this lineup makes a mockery of Catholic teaching and is why many Catholics, both practicing and non-practicing, are confused.

Did Sr. Marian not share this with the Cardinal?  How’s about the 4 posts we wrote and emailed the archdiocese about speakers at Fr. Hehir’s last two social justice conferences, including the 2006 Social Justice Conference sponsored by the ACORN-funding Catholic Campaign for Human Development with a speaker who organized a church’s march in Boston’s Gay Pride parade.

Someone suggested via email that we should start referring to Cardinal O’Malley as either “Cardinal O’Malleable” or “Cardinal O’Blivious” but we have sufficient respect for the office of the Cardinal Archbishop that we’re uncomfortable doing that, at least for now.  We did send him, the Vicar General, and the two priest secretaries yet another note letting them know our perspective.  We wrote:

The continued defending of the choices of Fr. Massaro and Fr. Hehir as speakers for this conference send a rather clear message that this archdiocese values  dissent from Church teachings that harms the Body of Christ and leads souls astray over the true teachings of the Church that lead people to salvation in Christ.

Fed up now?  The best way for Cardinal O’Malley and the Vicar General to get the message is for their bosses in the Holy See to tell them their judgment might be a little off the mark.  Click on the “FedUp” graphic to the right, fill in a short form, click “Sign the Letter,” make sure your information is accurate, and then click “Submit.”   This will automatically send a fax or email to the Holy Father, U.S. Papal Nuncio, Prefect for the Congregation of Bishops, Prefect for the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, and Cardinal O’Malley.

And please tell 5 friends to do the same.  If this isn’t enough for you to be mad as hell over, just wait until next week.