AN FRANCISCO, California, September 5, 2017 —(LifeSite News) A former homosexual turned natural marriage advocate has received some vicious criticism in his lifetime, but nothing like the virulent emails from liberal Catholics after recently writing about pro-gay Father James Martin, S.J.
“I am disturbed and somewhat surprised by the amount and content of vicious messages I have received due to my last blog,” Joseph Sciambra posted on Facebook.
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| Joseph Sciambra |
“I have NEVER EVER received the ugly sorts of emails and posts from either the gay community or the porn industry — that I now get from fellow Catholics.”
The former gay porn star, who has been sharing his story of repentance and conversion for seven years, is a popular blogger. Last week, he noted how Father Martin urges everyone but himself to “come out of the closet.”
Sciambra quotes the Jesuit as praising homosexuals who “come out and be honest and transparent and open about the way God created them,” using the rhetoric that homosexuals are “born” that way, God designed sodomy, and is pleased with it.
Such gay-validating “coming out,” Father Martin proclaims, “is terrific. I think it’s something the Catholic Church can support.”
And yet Martin’s own homosexual biographer, Brian Bromberger (a Catholic deacon who concelebrates with Protestants and leads Catholic parishioners in gay pride parades), quotes Martin saying “that he prefers not to make public his own sexuality.”
Sciambra in his Monday blog exposed Martin’s inconsistency to influence others to go public with what the controversial priest keeps private. In other words, to advocate doing what he himself is unwilling to do.
Sciambra explained in a later Facebook post that he considers Martin’s hypocrisy cruel. “These men and women whom (Martin) forcefully advises … are taking all the risks – including … HIV among gay men and the disturbing reemergence of syphilis as well as … antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea.”
The converted Christian says the Jesuit reminds him of other Catholic priests he met while living the gay lifestyle in San Francisco. “I have met priests such as Martin,” Sciambra explained, noting they are entrusted “with the care of precious souls.”
“In my experience with radical gay-affirmative priests – I found that they often received a vicarious thrill through their interaction with the LGBT community,” Sciambra observed firsthand, speculating that perhaps this is due to “latent desire,” or inner rebellion.
For whatever reason, gay-affirming Christian leaders are “exploiting the confusion and desperation in the gay community” to “substantiate their own identity,” he says.
“James Martin has always been a total fraud — but now it’s just really obvious,” Sciambra said. “He wants everyone else to come out and be open … but he won’t do it.”
The backlash from Sciambra’s blog post was immediate. That fact didn’t surprise Sciambra — he has endured vitriol before. What surprised him was where the attacks were coming from: Christians.
“I had anticipated that there would be opposition from the secular proponents of gay rights, but what surprised me was the vehemence of those within the Church,” Sciambra lamented.
Merciless condemnation and personal attacks from Catholics shows how duped people of faith are today, Sciambra said. “This issue runs deep (among Catholics) and it’s been ignored. Pro-gay priests and parishes have been allowed to spread errors and thrive.”
“Now, the men and women they have deceived are in the Church,” Sciambra continued, and when someone exposes the deception “the anger is malevolent and palpable.”
Despite receiving hateful judgments and death wishes, Sciambra does not place culpability on his critics for their angry sentiments. “I don’t blame these men and women. The onus is completely on certain bishops who continue to look the other way.”
Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois, in an interview with Sciambra, agreed with the tragic worldliness of many within the Church. Referring to a 1986 encyclical to Catholic bishops, “On the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons,” the bishop observed, “The fact that there would be such an outrage … shows how strong the LGBT lobby is both in the secular world as well as in the Church.”
Bishop Paprocki warned Christians that gay pressure to morally approve of sodomy is just beginning. “The push for gay rights has always been incremental,” he said. “Domestic partnerships was the first thing (‘so I can visit my gay partner is in the hospital’). Then it moved to civil unions and then it was ratcheted up to same-sex marriage.”
“Well, they’ve achieved all that in civil law,” Paprocki continued. “What they don’t have is moral approval. And the only place that can give them that approval is the Church. So I think (we’re) the next target.”
In his interview with Bishop Paprocki, Sciambra warns against Martin or any Christian leader who positively spiritualizes homosexuality. “Be careful,” he warned. “It looks like they defend Catholicism, but really (they) are attacking it.”
Sciambra has written a book about his life as a gay man and his conversion to the faith titled “Swallowed By Satan: How Our Lord Jesus Christ Saved Me from Pornography, Homosexuality, and the Occult.”
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