Please take this opportunity to contact Bishop Knestout directly, to ask that this speaking event be canceled in his diocese.
Although Martin's talk appears to have been completely removed from the main diocesan website (perhaps out of fear that the regular, church-going Catholics of the diocese might not give to the bishop's next appeal for funds...), it does still appear on several of the diocese's parish websites (as below, from the Holy Family parish in Virginia Beach).
The full title of Fr. Martin’s talk is “Building Bridges: Reaching out to LGBT Catholics ,” suggesting that individuals who are same-sex attracted are immutably stuck in that way of life - which they most certainly are not.
Of course, there is nothing wrong with "building bridges," but the question is: where are those bridges leading? To a new life, unshackled, by Christ, from the bondage of sin and homosexual acts? Or, to a life disordered by sexual sin and perversion, which goes unquestioned by those who are in a position to help?
Unfortunately, despite the harmless-sounding title of his book and talk, Fr. Martin cannot be trusted to genuinely help people in the Catholic Church with same-sex attraction. That would require the difficult task of charitably suggesting that Jesus and the Sacraments of the Church can help people change, and leave their sinful ways behind.
Please use the right-hand side of this page to contact Bishop Knestout directly, to ask that he cancel Fr. Martin's talk.
Indeed, since speaking to the dissident group New Ways Ministry in 2016 and publishing this controversial book in 2017, Fr. Martin has devoted himself to promoting the LGBT cause.
He has openly said that he wants to change the Catechism of the Catholic Church to take out language about homosexual activity being “disordered.” He has supported homosexual men kissing each other during the sign of peace at Mass, said that a Catholic attending a homosexual “wedding” is like attending a Jewish wedding, and suggested that his critics are secretly homosexual themselves.
Martin has stated support for transgender bathrooms and regularly accuses faithful Catholics of “homophobia” for believing what the Church has always taught.
Father Martin says homosexual priests should “come out” about their sexual proclivities, but has publicly declined to say whether he himself is homosexual.
Thank you for taking a few minutes to contact Bishop Knestout to ask him to cancel this event. God bless!
**Photo Credit: YouTube/Twitter Screen Capture