The Holy Father's Odd Enthusiasm for the Writings of James Martin, SJ

By Joe Tevington

06/07/2024 • View profile

The Holy Father's Odd Enthusiasm for the Writings of James Martin, SJ

Pope Francis displays a very odd enthusiasm for the writings of his fellow Jesuit, James Martin, SJ

"Father James Martin, the author of many other books that I know and appreciate, deserves our gratitude for this new text devoted to what he calls 'Jesus’s greatest miracle': the resurrection of Lazarus. There are many reasons to thank him, closely tied to the way Come Forth unfolds. It’s always fascinating, and never predictable" (Pope Francis, 3/11/2024).

While I have not read this newest book, Pope Francis' enthusiasm leaves me perplexed. A third Jesuit, the late Paul V. Mankowski, SJ, would have shared my confusion:

"Is sodomy a sin? Perplexed readers of Fr. James Martin, S.J....will want to put the question to him....

"the Catholic Church teaches that sexual relations are the exclusive privilege of married love.... Same-sex attraction has received exceptional attention inside and outside the Church.....

"Disconcerting...is his [Father Martin's] failure to acknowledge the existence of those afflicted with same-sex attraction who believe that the Church has it right today and has had it right all along. Priests who frequently counsel and hear confessions can attest that there are many such Catholics, who fully accept the difficult doctrines as the teaching of Christ and who struggle heroically to keep them....Very few of these men and women identify themselves as 'gay' or wish to be so designated. They are simply Catholics, neither more nor less, struggling (as do the rest of us) with the spiritual and moral hardships that come their way. It is astonishing that Martin seems never to have met such a person....

"a person who announces himself as 'gay' ...(so it would appear) regards his same-sex attraction not merely as a libido experienced but as an identity embraced, and this embrace seems all but impossible to reconcile with Catholic doctrine....

"[The Church's] task, carried out by means of her sacraments and the pastoral exertions of her ministers, is to reconcile the sinner and to strengthen the weak, so as to be a conduit of supernatural aid—that is to say, of graces that have their effect in spite of the human limitations of those who transmit them" (Paul V. Mankowski, SJ, August 2017)

Holy Father, James Martin, SJ, needs your loving correction.

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About the Author

Joe Tevington

Joe Tevington is a proudly orthodox Catholic, a husband since 1986, a dad to two adult children, a grandpa to two, and a civil service retiree. He is a sign language fluent certified rehabilitation counselor with graduate degrees in deafness rehabilitation, religious studies/moral theology, & Christian counseling psychology, as well as a catechetical diploma and certificates in benefits planning and Catholic social ministry. He deeply appreciates Catholic teaching on the sanctity of human life and the sanctity of the transmission of human life, as well as how they are to inform us in our apostolates and ministries.

On much lighter notes, he fancies himself to be the foremost authority on his native Brooklyn, when it comes to architecture, cinema, geography, history, Italian food, stick ball, stoop ball, or wiffle ball.

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