Priest who spoke against gay marriage ban suspended

Fr. Geoffrey Farrow is a hero to many of us. He spoke the truth about gay and lesbian believers, about religious dogma and about the 8th Commandment. Why would any church cede its moral authority by trying to place the 8th Proposition in civil law, when the 8th Commandment forbids the way some are attempting to put it there? We need to read again other passages in the book, such as the story of David and Jonathan.

Denial is not just a river in Eqypt.

Any bishop who does not know that a significant number of his priests are gay has got his head in the sand. What was he thinking in coming out so heavy in the politics when probably half his staff is gay?

More Catholic families need to challenge the hierarchy on this one or start withholding contributions. Marriage is when two become flesh. That is not just sexually, but legally. Literally, you are that person and that person is you. Your family no longer has a say in your affairs. Marriage is both the joining of two families and the exclusion of both from the affairs of the couple. It would be a healing thing for the Church to celebrate these marriages along with heterosexual marriages - not for the couples - they have God witnessing their union - but for the families.

The Catholic church hides pedophiiles while it fires Fr. Geoffrey Farrow because he simply told the truth and was honest when he spoke out against Prop 8. Go figure.

Without judging either side, I'd just observe that if all gay priests openly professed their sexual orientation, and were suspended in consequence, the gay and lesbian community would be the best resourced for priests in the entire nation!

Father Farrow has nothing to fear but how the administrators of our Church will mistreat him. He is a courageous man who sees bigotry in the church and speaks against it. God will not punish him for that!

May we all seek Peace and Understanding and try to particularly understand clerical bigotry against both sexual orientation and women. A misogynist and homophobic church that bans full sacramental life to so many is plagued by a poor and even sinful leadership.

Pax,
R. Dennis Porch, MD

Fr. Farrow should be promoted to Bishop instead of being suspended. Kudos to him for having the faith and courgae to speak/preach like Christ, who visited and ate with "sinners", prostitues and tax collectors, who called all people to himself and pushed no one away. Would that the RC Church be more Christ-like and less like an institutionalized club with rules to keep some people in and some people out.

It took courage to make a stand on this issue. God bless you Father Geoff. The "Church" may strip you of your priesthood but in God's eyes you are forever a priest.

Thank you Fr Farrow for speaking out for those who have no voice. We admire your courage.

The "Christian" organizations of this country have collectively raised over $50 million to ban gay marriage in California. Gay marriage affects straight people how? My real question however, how many hungry could you feed for $ 50 million? How many homeless could you feed for $50 million? How much disease could you cure for $50 million? Or better yet, If Jesus had $50 million, what would he do with it?

For the purpose of protecting the US citizens' right to religious freedom, it is important for the Catholic Church to respect the boundary between Church and State. This is far more important to the survival of the Church than is preventing the secular culture from accepting the marrying of two people of the same gender.

Imposing Catholic beliefs upon citizens who are not Catholic is such a violation of other people's freedom of religion that it would be appropriate for the State to reconsider the Church's standing as a tax exempt religious institution just based on Bishop Steinbock's words and activities.

The most appropriate response from the Vatican would be the reassignment of Steinbock to a place outside of the United States.

My dear friend Father Farrow,

I am a RC priest and gay as well. I am also celibate and the Roman Catholic Church is and will always be my home. However, as with many other issues, I am truly at odds with the hierarchy of our Church regarding the issue of homosexuality and "gay marriage". I am proud of you, for having the courage to stand up to say what many of us are saying to ourselves and are dead scared to do what you did. Unfortunately, it is not joy, enthusiasm and profetism that reigns among us RC clergy, but fear... Our bishops are afraid of Rome, as we are afraid of our bishops. We are tired, demoralized, scared and we feel we have been reduced to simple functionaries of this big multinational called RC Church. What a shame! What a sin! It is also a shame and a sin that we, priests of the RC Church, are not united... imagine the fire if the majority of us got up and, openly, actively, supported you! Would the bishops fire us all?

You have my prayers. You have my support.

As someone who knows Fr. Farrow personally and who actually has talked with him on biblical matters this whole situation is truly unfortunate. Here's a man who's been a biblical leader for 23 years and I've stumped him on biblical issues. It's disconcerting when an average believer can stump a leader. But what's truly unfortunate is that his entire ideology in the subject is defeated by basic logic. He can only make sense of what the Bible says by assuming that being gay is genetic when basic logic proves otherwise. (i.e. multiple studies dealing with identical twins. If being gay is genetic you would expect 100% of both identical twins being gay when one is but this is far from the truth. The original study was done by proponents of homosexuality and they found that only 54% of the time when one identical twin is gay that the other is as well. When other people have tried to duplicate the study they can't even get that high of a percentage.) I would urge Christians to read your bible, and not just the verses that Farrow brought up in his sermon but also the ones that he didn't. There's no way to come to the conclusion that Farrow did when faced with the reality that being gay is not genetic.

Fr Farrow- you are in my prayers. Perhaps its time to realize that the priesthood is not your calling. You can be a good Catholic/ Christian without being a priest. For you, and other gays, celibacy is freedom.

Again, you are in my prayers.

Fr. Farrow may have felt compelled by his world view to differ with his bishop; but doing so from the pulpit in Mass left his bishop no other choice than to suspend him. As a priest for more than 20 years, Fr. Farrow knew his homily did more than "risk" loss of faculties.

As to the issue being debated, every person alive has a mother and a father. Whether they married, separated, or are deceased, the parents were male and female. And as a general rule (to which there can be exceptions, of course) the integral family formed by mother, father, and child is the best setting for the good of a child. Same-sex "marriage" treats marriage as something designed for the mutual security and happiness of the adults. But traditional (monogamous, heterosexual) marriage has the special character of being oriented toward the bearing and rearing of children. There is a qualitative difference that can't be semantically dismissed as mere bigotry or oppression. The two types of relationships can never be the same. Respect should be accorded to domestic partnerships between committed couples, and in CA those relationships already have the same legal rights and protections as heterosexual couples (visitation, inheritance, etc). But this fight for the "right" to same-sex "marriage" is less about marriage than about forcing society to give formal affirmation to a lifestyle that does not have the approval of the majority of people.

How is it that all but one of the comments on here are supportive of the gay lifestyle? There can be no question that homosexuality is an abomination before God, but that's not going to stop many people. And no, those of us who are in opposition to homosexuality do not hate the gay people, we love them. What we hate is the lifestyle, and hope and pray each one of them will see the truth and turn away from it.

God bless you. Keep the faith. The truth will set you free. Those who have acted against you will be accountable to the Father and the Most High Priest, Jesus Christ.

Once again the old saw: "Fr. Farrow should be promoted to Bishop instead of being suspended. Kudos to him for having the faith and courgae to speak/preach like Christ, who visited and ate with "sinners", prostitues and tax collectors,"
As usual, some read the first part of the biblical stories and stop short of the point.
We always hear of Jesus rescuing the woman from being stoned, but seldom hear his last words to her.
John Chapter 8
"Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her."
8
Again he bent down and wrote on the ground.
9
And in response, they went away one by one, beginning with the elders. So he was left alone with the woman before him.
10
Then Jesus straightened up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"
11
She replied, "No one, sir." Then Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go, (and)from now on do not sin any more." THAT'S A RATHER IMPORTANT POINT.
The Church still says that to everyone. We love you, we welcome you, we wish the best for you, but we do ask that you follow the rules.
Chastity is required of everyone; it has nothing to do with orientation.

Let me first say that I have this utmost admiration and respect for Fr. Geoffrey Farrow for his fearlessness in "coming out"; it takes extreme bravery particularly for a Catholic priest to publicly "out" himself and for that, Fr. Farrow has, as I have already said, my utmost admiration and respect (I personally don't care if my pastor is gay or straight; if he is a great guy who can enliven up the parish and, more importantly, able to lead a celibate life, then more power to him). But when it comes to this Proposition 8, Fr. Farrow should have known better. Agreed, he has the right to express his personal views on any piece of pending legislation. But Proposition 8 involves an official teaching of the Church that he, on his ordination, pledged to uphold, support, and defend. So, Fr. Farrow is against it. Fine. And he exercised his right to free speech by expressing his opposition to it. Fine, too. But then, Fr. Farrow must be ready and willing to face the consequences of his actions. So, please refrain from criticizing, attacking, or badmouthing the institutional Church and, in particular, Fr. Farrow's bishop, Bishop John Steinbock. As far as I am concerned, Bishop Steinbock simply did his job as shepherd of his diocese. By the way, Fr. Farrow mentioned the support group Courage. I wonder if he ever attended any of their meetings or workshops. Courage would most certainly welcome him, no question about that.

The bishops' over reaching rhetoric also prompted Farrow to speak out. "I am flabbergasted by some of the sweeping statements bishops make that have no foundation in history or fact," he said, referring to, for example, "marriage has always been between a man and woman from time immemorial.

"I guess they forgot about King Solomon."

Fr. Farrow gives man's definition of marriage but I guess he forgot about God's definition found in Gen 2:22-25:

And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This [is] now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

Even Solomon in all his wisdom was wrong to take multiple wives and he certainly didn't take any husbands. So Fr. Farrow attempting to justify this sin using Solomon is self serving not God serving.

Fr. Geoffrey Farrow is a hero. Now, all the rest of the gay priests should be as courageous as he is. Fr. Geoffrey Farrow is more honest and truthful than the pope.

Quite frankly, the argument about separation of Church and State can be made in reverse, that is, if the State redefines marriage then the Churches can be sued for Hate Crimes or to perform homosexual marriages in the Church.

Barring any argument of whether homosexuality is genetic or isn't, it's quite clear that Roman Catholics & Orthodox Christians have reasons to defend the institution of the Family based on tradition + natural law. Notice, there are no arguments against Civil Unions, which provides the same legal protections & guarantees as marriage.

The whole teaching of the RCC is strictly this: you either believe all that the Church teaches or you don't. There's not much middle ground here.

While I empathize with the difficulties + challenges that homosexual people in the Church might be going through, emotionally, psychologically, in fact, I challenge all those religious who have some type of "overwhelming urge / desire / whatever it is", and to offer that up to Lord, shoulder it as he shouldered his cross for you.

I was away from the church for a very long time, living a life of drug use and promiscuity (heterosexual), and when I finally reached out to the Lord, I was able to turn away from all that. The point being that I was living a very selfish - self-centered life and by sacrificing the desires of the ego, I finally found a truly fulfilling way to life.

I will keep Fr. Geoffrey Farrow in my prayers, but I do not disagree with the Church on his suspension. I do pray that everyone finds God's Love in the way that He is calling, but will never condone an action by an Archbishop, Bishop, Priest, Deacon, or Nun that is contrary to Tradition + divisive to the flock.

Thanks to Fr. Farrow for being a beacon of light in an otherwise darkened Catholic Church. A church that has forgotten its roots in the trinity, and the gifts of the holy spirit, and it's teachings, only to sink to the depts of following in the footsteps of a cult like the Mormon Church. What happened to the Catholic Church that used to teach that you pray to the holy spirit and use your conscious. Anyone who does this, and is truely humble in prayer will quickly learn that the hatred of Prop H8te must be turned away from, and instead we must turn to the love of God's only begotton son, Jesus Christ, and show the compassion he taught us to love one another, and that love is love, and is the this is the true way of the lord. The leadership of the Catholic Church has failed it's followers..Cardinal Ratzinger is a poor shepherd.

The RC Church has never said that to have gay feelings or inclinations is evil,
as with any temptation; it's what you do after you are tempted that defines the moral quality of your act. Homosexuality is not genetic... in fact, an advocate of gay and lesbian rights (sry cant remember the name), of international standing, not long ago openly agreed that there was no scientific basis to come to that conclusion.
From various mystical revelations to holy men and women Our Lord has revealed much to us concerning His will and His love... sometimes about specific subjects.
To a certain holy woman He said "The demons that tempt man to lust after his own kind are among the ugliest of all demons." It is all evil acts that the Church condemns, and rightly so. If two men or two women preform a sexual act together, they are committing a sin similar to fornication - should the church perhaps say that fornication is acceptable... and if so, why not theft, murder. Sin is sin, and all sins of impurity; masturbation, fornication etc. are forbidden by the sixth commandment. There is much good literiture about gay men and women that have totally overcome homosexuality by prayer, devotion and effort. Finally - anyone that supports homosexuality is proven wrong at the outset. Nature, our bodies, which God created, are specifically designed so that male and female sexual organs should work together for procreation. Entire books have been written about this subject... love between man and woman is saturated in the Divine.
Godbless.

The Catholic Church has never been a basion of purity and complete holiness. It is made up of sinners (a.k.a. man), remember? It has made errors and committed crimes, but the Holy Spirit, if you truly believe, has preserved the Church from error on matters of faith and morals and in dogmatic teachings. So is someone suggesting that it be disbanded because of its sins? The sin I am referring to is the coverup of priests with scandal in the sexual domain. And before anyone dare suggest this implicates a large percentage of priests you better take heed. Secondly, most of these transgressions were by priests against males 13 or older. This should be noteworthy. The sins against children were far less as were those against females. So perhaps the Church's greatest sin was allowing the wrong kinds of seminarians in? Maybe we got what we deserve? And maybe homosexuality is one of the greatest of burdens to carry and endure, but maybe it is meant to be that and not meant to be celebrated? God is just and I truly believe he will be merciful upon those who were given heavier crosses. But I am not willing to say it is a condition we need to condone. Life is intense and difficult, but to go it alone without God, all the more difficult.

Dear Revernd Father, My son is a gay priest who has been persecuted since the day he trusted his bishop and seminary teachers. Interestingly enough, most of them are gay as well, but like the government follow the "don't ask, don't tell" policy. This is disingenuous at best, because it is a double standard and continues the split personality of the church which states; do what I say not what I do. Soon, the bishops will be facing many more such issues, but will likely throw millions of dollars of the faithful's money to cover up their own incompetence and fear like they have done with the sex abuse issues. Many a bishop will burn for their feigned concern about victims, while spending millions for lawyers to keep the victims at bay. May God have mercy on the current "heriarchical but not faithful church!" Hattie

Thanks to Pierce Williams! Finally, one comment that is true. People who have commented against the Bishop seem to forget that the Bishop is upholding Catholic teaching. You have forgotten that to be a Catholic, you are faithful to those teachings. No one is forcing you to be a Catholic. The church is not and has never beeen a democracy. It doesn't matter how many people rant and rave ( as they do with it's teaching on contraception). It doesn'tmatter how many gay priests there are, the Church is not going to exhange truth for a lie. There are plenty of churches out there who are okay with homosexual activity. After you really spend time studying the teachings of the Church,( I mean really take some time), and you still hate Catholic teaching so much, you should honestly consider changing where you worship.

I appreciate your call to Christians to read our bibles, Pierce Williams. But for those of us who believe that faith and reason work in tandem to lead us to God, listening to science is also important.

And what you have to say about the genetic underpinnings of sexual orientation misrepresents the truth. Various "ex-gay" movements have been circulating misinformation about the findings of the Human Genome Project vis-a-vis a gay gene. These groups have gone so far as to say that the project leader, Francis Collins, has declared that there is no genetic basis to sexual orientation.

Francis Collins has spoken publicly about the distortion of the findings of the Human Genome Project by groups who want to deny genetic connections to sexual orientation. As he notes, while no single gene has been found to determine sexual orientation, there are clear genetic indicators that sexual orientation is not merely a matter of choice.

Here's what the world-renowned geneticist Francis Collins has to say about the issues you address (see www.exgaywatch.com/wp/2007/05/major-geneticist-francis-collins-responds-...):

"The evidence we have at present strongly supports the proposition that there are hereditary factors in male homosexuality — the observation that an identical twin of a male homosexual has approximately a 20% likelihood of also being gay points to this conclusion, since that is 10 times the population incidence. But the fact that the answer is not 100% also suggests that other factors besides DNA must be involved. That certainly doesn’t imply, however, that those other undefined factors are inherently alterable . . . .

No one has yet identified an actual gene that contributes to the hereditary component (the reports about a gene on the X chromosome from the 1990s have not held up), but it is likely that such genes will be found in the next few years."

The Church is well within its rights to teach its members its understanding of marriage and to expect its gay members not to attempt to marry -- just like it expects its members not to have, perform, fund, or procure abortions, just like it expects it members not to worship Satan, etc. However, Fr. Farrow was moved to speak out because the legislative activism of his bishop. This activism is an attempt to interfere with the lives of people who are not Catholic and is not appropriate for a Catholic bishop in a pluralistic society. The suspension of Fr. Farrow may be an internal Church matter, but the activism of his bishop is not.

It doesn't matter if homosexuality has it's root in genetics. Alcoholism does, but the Church is correct when it states that an alcoholic should remain sober, and would be even more correct to resist any legislation that would encourage alcholics to fall to their particular temptation.

The exact same is true for those with a disposition towards same sex attaction. They are to be encouraged in every way to remain chaste. Any teachings to the contrary are no more signs of Christian love than giving an alcoholic a bottle of Jack Daniels.

Reminding the homosexual of their need to remain chaste follows exactly in the footsteps of Christ when He told the adulterous woman to "Sin no more". We are called to do no less. That is the hallmark of true Christian love, to challenge each other to avoid sin, and encourage each other to follow the way of Christ and His Body, the Church.

No one ever said that following Christ was going to be easy, He Himself told us otherwise. But we always need to remember that He gives us the Grace to carry our burden ( genetic or otherwise) and to carry our particular cross. What He does NOT tell us to do is to pretend that our cross does not need to be carried, that we have no need to "Sin No More".

Brendan Newell states that there should be laws to prevent alcoholics from falling to their temptation. Perhaps he is not a student of recent history or psychology and so does not realize that prohibition only makes the temptation greater. It appears he does not see the huge difference between encouraging someone to transgress, as in giving an alcoholic alcohol, and allowing it to be possible for someone transgress out of his own free will.

However, none of this has anything to do with gay marriage. Gay marriage is the antithesis of promiscuity, something with which it is often confused in the minds of people who likely themselves feel tempted toward the sin of homosexual promiscuity.

It would be far better if opponents to gay marriage went to the logical point of restricting marriage to those partners who are likely to concieve children as a result of their intimacies, rather than to try to prevent some of their fellow citizens from entering into the intimate lifetime partnerships known as marriage.

I wonder if all the bishops and priests came out of the closet and were suspended, would we have enough straight clergy to run the church? Sometimes I suppose it takes hypocrisy to be the glue that holds the Church together.
The Anglicans are fragmented because they endorsed a gay bishop and approve gay unions. It is clearly better to keep the hypocrisy going and keep the church going with business as usual. It serves to hold the institution together but does great damage to the genuine spirit of truth. If the Church really faced this issue it would have to totally change.
This change would be far more traumatic and comprehensive than Vatican II. The homocentric nature of the institution would have to be examined and restructured to reflect the changes in consciousness in the general society. It is the homocentric nature of the hierarchy that has allowed the subterranean culture of pedophilia and homosexuality to
run unfettered in the ordained.

I'm with you all the way, my brother and colleague. jimeyer

Marie R.

Perhaps you did not actually read what I posted. At no point did I address, or even mention, civil law.

Rather, I pointed out what our Christian responsibilities are to those who have a genetic disposition towards a moral disorder. And that any teaching (or preaching) to the contrary is the equivalent of giving an alcoholic a bottle of whiskey.

If you wish to discuss civil law, that is fine. It is the duty of the Church, as the 'Pillar and Foundation of Truth' to appose falsehood in any form. Any civil law that attempts to define marriage as being anything other than between one man and one woman is perpetuating a falsehood. The Church has a duty to appose that.

Telling Falsehoods is becoming to no one, least of all legislators. A legislature could pass a law declaring the Moon to be made of green cheese. There might even be a few unfortunate souls who actually believe that. But it is still a falsehood that Catholics would be bound to correct.

Likewise, any relationship between persons of the same sex is not, and cannot be, marriage; anymore than the Moon is made of green cheese. To say otherwise would be a lie, and to have a court or government participate is such a lie would be a very sad travesty.

True, Brian Newell did not mention civil law regarding marriage. However, there would be no issue here were it not for the fact that Bishop Steinbock was engaging in legislative activism in opposition to a civil law as if civil law were usurping the Church's teaching authority. Quite frankly, if the bishops of the Catholic Church have no better means of conveying Catholic teaching than to put it into the law of a democracy, then they are failures at their job.

Mr. Newell, I would like to take on your comparison of the genetics of homosexuality with the genetics of alcoholism. On the surface you seem to think this is an equal comparison based on the fact you consider both these conditions to be moral disorders. I do not think the two conditions are at all equal.

One of the confusions you may have is that you seem to see homosexuality as a disposition to seek sex with a member of the same sex. Although in the male gay community homosexuality is often acted out in this sense, just as it is in the heterosexual community, the reality is that gays find their LOVE relationships with members of the same sex. They fall in love with members of the same sex. It is primarily about love attraction which may or may not be expressed sexually. In this respect it is identical to heterosexual love, not alcoholism.

Alcoholics are physically addicted to alcohol, not in love with it. This is a huge distinction. I have never witnessed an alcoholic spend the time nurturing a bottle of Jack Daniels the way I have observed a gay man nurturing his partner in the death throws of AIDS. Nor have I watched an alcoholic spend hours tutoring his bottle of Jack Daniels the way I have watched a lesbian friend of mine tutor her partner's son on the intracies of calculus. I have never watched a bottle of Jack Daniels work tirelessly to bring a drinker out of a profound depression the way I have a gay man do so with his profoundly depressed partner.

The day you can prove to me that an alcoholic and his bottle of Jack Daniels treat each other in the loving way committed gay couples treat each other is the day you will win me over with your spurious argument.

i agree with the person who wrote the article titled i wonder if all the bishops they are nothing but hypocrits they carry on about gays and lesbians maybe gays should start about bishops and little boys or does god say its ok to molest little boys but when they are legal age its not allowed wake up to your selfs

To every homosexual friend I've asked the same question, "When were you abused?"
They bow their had and say, "When I was 3, or 7, 11, 13, etc."
Words can not express what happens with a boy when he is touched by an adult.
It's like connecting 220 Volts into a 6 volts electronic device.
It fries it up. The tiny cables are burned and twisted. What used to go right, now goes left, and vice verse.
It is the biggest crime a grown up can commit against an innocent child.
Now, I know that there are other factors that contribute for someone to have same sex attraction. The lack of a father growing up; over exposure to women role models and none or very limited to men as role models; a mother speaking to the boy in her belly and saying, 'hello little girl, I love you', and treating him like a she the entire pregnancy; mothers and fathers who, disappointed at the birth of their child, began to treat them the opposite of what they really were, a boy or a girl.
Now, as a Christian, we can take all these tendencies to Jesus as He agonizes on the Cross for us. He has overcome every sin in human existence; he understands us and is able to help. He will help us to overcome them; He will help us to forgive our parents for any wrong done to us; to forgive abusers in our lives; to forgive ourselves for sins committed. He is abundant in mercy an loving kindness.
If we love our God and read our bibles from cover to cover, asking God to illuminate our hearts and minds as we reed it, we will see how the sin of homosexuality brought disgrace and destruction to two cities; how it is condemned from Genesis to Revelation, and how homosexuals, as well as adulterers will not inherit the Kingdom of God.