The Subversive Ambiguity of Father Martin and Friends, by Phil Lawler

By Phil Lawler, Catholic Culture, Oct 24, 2019

Emboldened by an unmistakable sign of papal support, Father James Martin is now escalating his war on the Church’s perennial teaching that homosexual acts are immoral. In his latest foray, the popular Jesuit questions the authority of Scripture, with a deliberately provocative Tweet:

Interesting: “Where the Bible mentions [same-sex sexual] behavior at all, it clearly condemns it. I freely grant that. The issue is precisely whether the biblical judgment is correct. The Bible sanctioned slavery as well and nowhere attacked it as unjust…”

As always, Father Martin is being clever with this Tweet, carefully preserving his own “plausible deniability.” The substance of the comment is not his own; he is quoting Father Richard Rohr, the Franciscan proponent of “alternative orthodoxy.” The Tweet comes from Father Martin, but he contributes just that one ambiguous word: “Interesting.”

So you can’t say that Father Martin is questioning the judgment of the Bible. Oh, no. He just finds it “interesting” that someone else has done the questioning. Yet it seems fair to point out that he does not find it “interesting” when someone affirms the Scriptural message. ….

Read more at https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/subversive-ambiguity-father-martin-and-friends/