2018 Irish Caravan: In Defense of the Catholic Faith
Dublin - the capital of Ireland - was chosen to host the 2018 World Meeting of Families. The event has been held every three years since 1994 and attracts numerous pilgrims both lay and religious from all over the world. This year’s Meeting, taking place between 21st and 26th August 2018, will conclude with a visit of Pope Francis.
Sadly, the event was clouded by the invitation of an infamous priest, Fr James Martin SJ, who advocates homosexual sin in the Church. Fr Martin is a prominent Jesuit from the United States, attempting to normalise homosexuality and bringing gender ideology into the Church in the name of “compassion, respect & sensitivity”.
He implies that people who are proud to embrace unnatural vice can be fully integrated and even should be promoted in parishes, without indicating a necessity for them to convert and change their lifestyle.
Online Petition
The Irish branch of the international movement Tradition, Family, Property -TFP called Irish Society for Christian Civilisation launched an online petition asking the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, to disinvite Fr James Martin SJ from the World Meeting of Families. Concerned Irish Catholics anticipated that his lecture with the title “Showing Welcome and Respect in our Parishes for ‘LGBT’ People and Their Families” would be a platform to advance homosexual agenda & gender ideology in the Church.
The petition was available under the address: tfp.ie . Within less than a month the appeal gathered over 16,000 signatures originating not only from Ireland but from all over the world, with a significant support from the United States, Italy, Poland and many other nations.
Street Campaigns
In the first week of August, members and volunteers of Irish Society for Christian Civilisation organised a 7-day caravan, travelling to cities and towns all over Ireland. The purpose of this campaign was to distribute leaflets presenting the problem of Fr J. Martin speaking at the Catholic event and referring the public to the online petition. The caravan was hallmarked with the sound of bagpipes, red TFP standards with the rampant lion and red capes worn by the 5 participants.
The caravan arrived in Cavan, Sligo, Navan, Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Tralee, Cork, Waterford, Kilkenny, Dungarvan and other smaller towns. One of the campaigns took place in front of the Irish national shrine in Knock. The participants targeted both well-frequented public streets and footpaths outside of churches. The campaign resulted in many conversations with passers-by, many of them showing support for the volunteers.
The petition was supported by over 16,000 Catholics concerned about the confusion being spread among the faithful. Regrettably, the Archbishop did not heed this appeal and did permit Fr Martin’s talk to proceed.
Given the confusion and ambiguity promoted by wolves in sheep’s clothing, let us reiterate what the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches regarding homosexuality:
2357 … Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.” They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.
Our Lady of Sorrows! Pray for us!