After Pope allows same-sex blessings, response from N.S. parish draws scrutiny

As Catholics in Halifax mark Easter, the response by one parish to the Vatican's decision to allow priests to bless same-sex couples is drawing scrutiny in some corners.

It is also illustrating the challenges Catholic churches seeking to attract LGBTQ members may face in 2024.

A New Year's Eve homily delivered by Father Isaac Longworth at Saint Benedict Parish in Clayton Park, which was also shared online, drew scrutiny for what some viewed as a homophobic message. 

In it, Longworth spoke out about the "widespread acceptance of homosexuality as just another form of love," as images of Pride parades and affirming queer slogans like "love is love" were projected behind him.

"Homosexual relationships, while they may feel very normal to the people involved in them, it's not in line with what God's plan for the family is," the priest said. "It's not true love, it's not true marriage." 

His comments came just weeks after the Vatican released a pastoral document that gave priests permission to offer blessings to same-sex couples on some conditions, writing that those who ask for a blessing should not be subject to an "exhaustive moral analysis" in order to receive one. 

Following the remarks, Daniel MacKay, the publisher of Wayves, an online publication that covers news related to the LGBTQ community in Atlantic Canada, condemned the homily and questioned its timing, urging readers who were upset with its message to write directly to Saint Benedict Parish.

"What makes this sermon more peculiar is the context of Pope Francis, his boss, asserting just a couple of weeks ago that blessing same-sex couples was acceptable," wrote MacKay.

For MacKay, there's real harm in a Catholic priest standing at the pulpit and stating that same-sex couples will never form a true family. 

"There's kids and there's closet cases in there who will be really sad because their priest, someone they trust, has just told them they will never be in a family. What a horrible thing to say," he said in an interview Wednesday. 

MacKay said it's this kind of attitude that can turn queer people away from faith altogether.

Pastor stands by homily

In an interview last month, Father Simon Lobo, Saint Benedict's lead pastor, said he stands by Longworth's words.

Lobo said his colleague's homily, and another he gave himself the following day, were an attempt to bring "clarity in the midst of confusion," following the missive from the Vatican.

In the past few months, Lobo said he and his colleagues had a little over "a dozen one-on-one conversations with individual people impacted by the message." 

"Every single person is dealing with a unique situation and to have that space to talk and even to pray with them has been so beautiful," said Lobo.

Some of these individuals were parishioners with family and loved ones in same-sex relationships, while at least one person identified as gay.

The Catholic Church's stance on homosexuality has never been a secret, and it has long held that marriage is only possible between a man and a woman. 

Lobo, for his part, maintains his church is a welcoming place for people of all genders and sexualities. 

"I want people to know and hear emphatically that they are loved. They are loved by God, that we love them, and that there's even real love that we believe exists between them," he said.

He also said he would happily bless same-sex couples, but only in the context allowed by the Pope.

But when asked point blank if he still considered acting on homosexual desires to be a sin, Lobo said yes. 

"I believe what the Catholic Church teaches … there's this very clear distinction between an inclination or an attraction … and an action. And so feelings are not necessarily moral or have moral character, but actions can," he said. 

Queer Spirit Church an alternative, says church leader

Whether this belief means that LGBTQ people may feel more comfortable at other churches is something he didn't feel capable of answering, but at least one church in the Halifax Regional Municipality aims to be a home for queer individuals looking for a safe-space to explore their faith.

Queer Spirit Church operates each month out of the First Baptist Church on Oxford Street in Halifax. It offers a secular, non-denominational service for all interested parties. 

Tamsin Robson, who is a worship leader at the church, said the message from Saint Benedict's was "intense, but it's not unexpected." 

"When we hear anti-LGBTQ rhetoric coming from religious spaces, it tends to be the same set of arguments over and over," they said. "I think if we continue to repeat these assumptions … they have the potential to do a lot of harm." 

Robson said part of their decision to enter the ministry had to do with hearing from friends who grew up having adverse experiences with non-affirming churches. 

Every year around Christmas, Robson helps organize a midnight mass, which is attended by people of all backgrounds, many of whom previously attended Catholic churches.

"People will come up to me afterwards and say … this is the first time I've ever felt able to take communion, or this is the first time I've ever walked into a church and felt safe, and that's huge for a community with so much religious trauma," Robson said. 

Archbishop welcomes Vatican direction

Dignity Canada is an organization that has long pushed for more open recognition of sexual diversity in the Catholic church. 

Treasurer Norman Prince said his initial response to Longworth's homily was to not "dignify it with a response," but later clarified, stating that he viewed it as kowtowing to church doctrine.

He said that while he views the recent decision to allow priests to offer blessings for same-sex couples to be a small step in the right direction, it shouldn't be seen as the same thing as the Vatican endorsing same-sex relationships or marriage.

In an email, Brian Joseph Dunn, the Archbishop for the Halifax-Yarmouth diocese, declined to answer specific questions about Longworth's homily, but said he "welcomes the direction given to us through Fiducia Supplicans, the Vatican document on "pastoral" blessings which can be extended to same-sex couples."

"My hope is that all the people entrusted to my care find churches, pastors, staff and volunteers involved in ministry, who welcome everyone wherever they are in their faith journey and support their desire to know and love a God who knows and loves us all," he said.