Pope Names Fr. James Martin, SJ as Vatican Communications Consultant

[In His Love]

From Church Militant:

"Pope Francis has appointed Jesuit priest Fr. James Martin of America Magazine, along with 13 other new consultants, to the Vatican's Secretariat for Communication. The group was established by the Holy Father in 2015 as a consolidation of the Vatican's various communication entities, including Vatican Radio and L'Osservatore Romano. Along with Fr. Martin, EWTN's Chairman and CEO, Michael Warsaw, was also appointed to the group of consultants.

Father Martin is one of six priests named to the advisory body, distinct from the membership of the dicastery itself, which has 16 members, consisting of several cardinals and bishops, as well as lay men and women, whom Pope Francis appointed last year.

Father Martin is the author of several books, including The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything, and the soon-to-be published Building a Bridge: How the Catholic Church and the LGBT Community Can Enter Into a Relationship of Respect, Compassion and Sensitivity. According to the Amazon book summary, it is an adaptation of Fr. Martin's address to New Ways Ministry, a dissident group censured by the Vatican that advocates for change in Church teaching on homosexuality, and which has previously given an award to Fr. Martin."

More here:

http://www.churchmilitant.com/news/artic...to-vatican

[Macarius]

The Church needs people in the right places to have an ongoing dialogue with populations who hitherto have utterly ignored (or felt utterly ignored) by Her. The LGBT community is among these. People too often fail to distinguish between out-of-order attractions towards the same gender and sexual acts against nature (which can take place between homosexuals, heterosexuals, and individually). They call LGBT people all sorts of derogatory names and they mistakenly tell them that they are "unwelcome" in Church. Wrong. While an active homosexual may not receive communion, he should feel more than welcome in Church. How else would he draw closer to the Fountain of Salvation?

In any case, Fr. Martin gets a bad rep in the traditionalist sphere. Particularly if you read what Life Site News has to say about him. He's the LGBT guy.

We forget he's also  editor-at-large of America Magazine (which, no matter how much we like or dislike it, is one of the oldest and most read Catholic magazines in the US) and that he's a frequent panelist at major mass media outlets (both TV and newspapers) who would usually tend to bash the Catholic Church.

Some of my favorite books by him include "This Our Exile (on his mission work in Kenya), "In Good Company" (which describes his journey towards the priesthood and consecrated life), and "My Life with the Saints" (which shows how the humanity of many saint can help us overcome human weaknesses).

[Eric F]

                                                                It's pretty obvious from reading his speech to the Building Bridges group, that he rejects Catholic teaching on homosexuality.

[formerbuddhist]

He's a mixed bag. He's not all bad. I must admit I actually read America regularly, and I enjoyed some of Father Martins books. I don't necessarily agree with much of what is in America or what he says all the time, but I don't think he goes out of his way to be in open dissent. America definitely makes you think sometimes. It's nice to know what the mainstream Catholics are thinking about, and there is no one more mainstream than America magazine and Father Martin.  Some of the articles make me cringe, but others are interesting in a good way.