Chicago priest apologizes for same-sex blessing, saying it violated Church norms

 

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CNA Staff, May 14, 2024 / 07:48 am (CNA).

A priest in Chicago has apologized for the controversial way in which he blessed a same-sex couple in April, calling it a “very poor decision” that violated Catholic Church’s new guidelines.

In a statement dated May 8, Father Joseph Williams, the pastor of St. Vincent de Paul Parish near downtown Chicago, offered an apology in which the priest said he “regrets the language of the blessing and the use of vestments and the church itself, which he now recognizes were a violation of the norms approved by the Church.”

The priest blessed a same-sex couple in the city parish in April. In a video of the event posted to social media, Williams — wearing priestly vestments — can be seen asking the couple if they “freely recommit yourselves to love each other as holy spouses and to live in peace and harmony together forever.” The two women respond, “I do.”

Williams in the video asks God to “increase and consecrate the love” the two women have for each other, stating that the “rings that they have exchanged are the sign of their fidelity and commitment.”

The priest had initially suggested that the Vatican’s December 2023 document Fiducia Supplicans allows the type of blessing he administered in April. That document said that Catholic priests can bless same-sex couples as an expression of pastoral closeness without condoning their sexual relations and without making the blessing seem like a wedding.

The way in which he conducted the blessing “came about due to my attempt to provide for them a meaningful moment of God’s grace,” the pastor said in the statement.

“I wanted to do it well,” he said. “A week or so after the fact, I viewed the video. I immediately realized that I had made a very poor decision in the words and visuals captured on the video.”

The controversy “has been a valuable learning experience” for the priest, the statement said.

“I am deeply sorry for any confusion and/or anger that this has caused, particularly for the people of God,” Williams said.

The statement was issued by the Congregation of the Mission, also called the Vincentians, who administer the downtown Chicago parish.

The Archdiocese of Chicago did not immediately respond to an emailed query on Tuesday morning.

Fiducia Supplicans generated global controversy after it was announced on Dec. 18, with bishops around the world either declaring their support for it or stating their intention not to implement it.

The Vatican declaration, which also applies to Catholics civilly remarried without having received an annulment as well as to couples in other “irregular situations,” underscored that such blessings cannot be offered in a way that would cause any confusion about the nature of marriage.

“The Church’s doctrine on this point remains firm,” the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith said when the document was released.


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6 Comments

  1. Is there anyone of you who takes this ‘apology’ seriously, meaning that this ‘Priest’ knew EXACTLY what he was doing and what the consequences would be BEFORE he did it and had the ‘apology’ ready to go? If so please raise your hand.

    You in the 3rd row – you believe it?

    You need to go to the restroom? Go ahead.

    Anyone else?

    No one?

    I thought so.

  2. Maybe he overstated himself. It’s hard to create guidelines in a gray area. There’s no need to apologize for practicing what FS authorizes.

  3. It actually sounds like someone with a backbone took Father aside for a major talking-to.Likely he was told he needed to disavow what he had done or he would be removed as a priest. As well they should have. WE need MORE church leaders with such a backbone. He called them “spouses” and blessed their rings??? He wore vestments? Yet he couldn’t figure out how that would appear? Really?? A kid in grammar school would understand that was forbidden. I am dubious that “Gods grace” is extended to those living in mortal sin, unless they sincerely repent.

    The Pope has done the church no favors with this pronouncement, he has only sown more discord. One cannot compromise with the truth. Couples who persist in these sorts of relationships need to understand they have put themselves outside the teachings of the church. They should stop trying to seek a way to force the church grant legitimacy to their behavior.

  4. I would think that any apology would need to include a correct statement of the Church’s teaching on marriage (that it can only occur between a man and a woman) and homosexual acts (that they are gravely sinful even in a committed relationship) and his agreement with these teachings. Perhaps we didn’t get the whole thing?

    Without that it comes off as a “I’m sorry that you were offended” “apology”.

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