Gay Retreat Director is Cafeteria Catholic

Remember our New Year's book list from a while back, given by Father Bob Schwarz at Our Lady of Grace? Well, one of the featured authors is giving a retreat at Miami Archdicoese's St. Thomas University.

January 25, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Miami Archdiocese’s St. Thomas University is once again sponsoring spiritual exercises by a gay-activist priest, who is known for encouraging his followers to immerse themselves in pagan rituals.

Fr. Richard Rohr, a Franciscan, is scheduled to deliver a “Scripture and Spirituality” reflection at the university’s Chapel of St Anthony. The evening of reflection is noted approvingly in the Archdiocese’s latest “pastoral bulletin,” dated January 15.

Fr. Rohr is known for his dissent from the teachings of the church, despite his being a Franciscan monk.

He is on record admitting that he does not adhere to Catholic teaching on contraception, the ordination of women to the priesthood, and homosexuality. In answer to one question about homosexuality, Fr. Rohr answered, “I think God would ask of the homosexual relationship exactly what God asks of the heterosexual relationship: truth, faithfulness, long-suffering, and the continuing forgiveness of the other.”

Additionally, Fr. Rohr has faced criticism due to his advocacy of radical feminist critique of Judeo-Christian “patriarchy” (including the Bible’s references to God in masculine terms), as well as his encouragement of the use of various pagan rituals in devotions he leads (e.g., the enneagram). He is also known for conducting spiritual retreats where men practice ritual nudism.

Fr. Richard Rohr serves as director for the Center for Action and Contemplation (CAC), which he founded in 1987. The Center serves as a hotbed for radical Christian dissent. It is a frequent sponsor and constituent of “Call to Action,” an umbrella sect known for its “pseudo-Catholicism.” In 1997, CAC endorsed the 4th National Symposium on “A National Dialogue on Lesbian/Gay Issues and Catholicism,” sponsored by New Ways Ministry.

Both the University and the Archdiocese declined to comment when contacted by LifeSiteNews.com (LSN).

This is not the first time the Miami Archdiocese has hosted and promoted Fr. Rohr’s ministrations. In June 2006, another of the Archdiocese’s “pastoral bulletins” advertised that Fr. Rohr would be the keynote speaker at a convocation of Catholic preachers.

As LSN has documented previously, the Miami Archdiocese is not new to sponsoring such events. In February 2009, the Miami Gay Men’s Chorus held their season premier concert at a Miami Beach Catholic church. Earlier that same month, Saint Thomas University's School of Theology Ministry featured a guest-lecture by "ecospiritualist" Sr. Miriam Therese MacGillis, a Dominican nun who promotes goddess-worship. In 2007, LSN reported Barry University's granting a theology award to another notorious goddess-worshipping feminist Dominican nun, Sr. Elizabeth Johnson.

Two of the Archdiocese's parishes, Saint Anthony and Saint Maurice, are listed as "Gay-Friendly" in a directory published by the Conference of Catholic Lesbians. Both of the Archdiocese’s universities, Barry and St Thomas are also categorized as "Gay-Friendly" by the Conference.