“We Need Only Look at the Number of Abortions Among
Catholics, Look at the Homosexuals, and Ourselves.”
Sadly, a Bishop severely disciplines a priest for preaching about abortion and homosexuality, citing it “doesn’t meet the diocese’s goal of following Christ’s example of loving unconditionally.”
Fr. Donat Gionet
________________
SHAWN BERRY, Telegraph-Journal: An elderly priest on the Acadian Peninsula has been barred from performing church services in the Bathurst diocese after he made remarks about homosexuals and women who have had an abortion.
Rev. Donat Gionet, 85, gave the sermon at the Roman Catholic church in Saint-Léolin while replacing the regular parish priest late last month.
He stands by the comments he made in Saint-Léolin, a village of about 730 people located about 50 kilometres east of Bathurst.
Reached in Caraquet on Wednesday, Gionet declined an interview but did provide a written statement.
In a letter written in French that he provided to the Telegraph-Journal, Gionet stated the sermon in question was about the destruction of the Church and the need to seek forgiveness for past sins:
“I said: ‘Today, it is we Catholics who are destroying our Catholic Church. We need only look at the number of abortions among Catholics, look at the homosexuals, and ourselves.’ (That’s when I pointed at my chest – through that action I wanted to say, we the priests) and I continued saying: We are destroying our Church ourselves. And that’s when I said that those were the words expressed by Pope John Paul II. At that point, in the St-Léolin church only, I added: ‘We can add to that the practice of watching gay parades, we are encouraging this evil’ … What would you think of someone who seeing what was happening on (Sept.) 11, 2001, the crumbling of the towers, had begun clapping? We must not encourage evil, whatever form it takes.”
Bishop Valéry Vienneau
Bishop Valéry Vienneau has revoked Gionet’s rights to serve mass across the Diocese of Bathurst, a decision welcomed by Joseph Lanteigne, the openly gay mayor of Saint-Léolin.
“The action taken by the diocese is good and I know it isn’t easy for the diocese.”
Since the incident, Gionet has quit his position on the Saint-Léolin parish’s pastoral committee.
Rev. Wesley Wade, vicar general of the Diocese of Bathurst, said Gionet’s teachings don’t meet the diocese’s goal of following Christ’s example of loving unconditionally.
“We have to respect people on their own journey,” Wade said.
“The first message of Christ was to reveal to us a loving father and a merciful father and that we are all called to be his children and that we are all loved unconditionally by Him.”
While the Church gets criticized as a judgmental institution, Wade said the reality is “it’s full of compassion.”
In a letter to parishioners earlier this week, Vienneau said Gionet had been pulled from active ministry.
At a meeting last week, Gionet told Vienneau that he had no plans to change or temper his comments.
Gionet also said, as a priest, he has a duty to encourage those who aren’t living their lives according to Catholic teachings to mend their ways.
The truth hurts, does it not Bishop Vienneau? Your quote;“The first message of Christ was to reveal to us a loving father and a merciful father and that we are all called to be his children and that we are all loved unconditionally by Him,” is fine but it lacks Scriptural Truth by omission. In Genesis, chapter 1,27, it is written; God created man in His image, in the the divine image He created him, male and female He created them. God created Adam and Eve, NOT Adam and Steve.It goes further, for in verse 28 it states; God blessed them, saying: “Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it.” Now Bishop Vienneau, how in the world can one take anything away from that, but that homosexuality is not of God’s making. Further, we Catholics have an obligation to speak out against sin and as a priest, you have an obligation to condemn sin. Please do your duty as God’s servant and condemn what is right to condemn. remember this as well, you will have to answer to the Lord your God for what you do here on earth.
God Bless
Gary
Yes, we are all loved unconditionally by our Heavenly Father, but not all of our behavior is accepted by Him. When Jesus defended the woman “caught in adultery,” the last words He spoke to her were, “Go and sin no more.” He demonstrates to all of the shepherds that the Father has appointed to us how to be a Good Shepherd, through counseling their flock to, “Go and sin no more.” Bishop Vienneau urgently needs our prayers, that the Holy Spirit will shine His light in him to show him his responsibility to be more concerned about being a strong and loving shepherd to his flock, than about being “politically correct.” He seems to have the two confused. Thanks be to God for courageous priests like Fr. Donat Gionet! May our Lord Jesus Christ be his strength, and our Sorrowful Mother his consolation and advocate!
Cami Murphy
No worry for the priest at my parish church, St. Patrick’s, Bisbee, Arizona, Diocese of Tucson, being disciplined. Abortion and homosexuality are not talked about in sermons.
Catholics are getting plenty of help from some of their bishops. A recent example comes
to us from none other than the USCCB headed by Archbishop Dolan of New York who is by the way embroiled in his own controversies over the same sex marriage law recently passed in New York, with mixed messages coming from the leadership. According to Catholic Culture (Sept.2) an aricle was sent out by the Catholic News Service, a division of the USCCB, to diocesan newspapers across the United States, that presented Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis as a model Catholic politician, ignoring her voting record on the sanctity of life: she has earned a 100% rating from NARAL-Pro-Coice America for her uncompromising suppot of legalized abortion. While serving as a congresswoman from Calif. she even opposed restrictions on partial-birth abortion. No wonder Catholics vote for pro-choice canidates,can you blame them? If only all leaders in the Church were like Archbishop Chaput, there would be a whole lot less confusion. I
did`nt hear the sermon however, I don`t believe the good Father Gionet was short on charity for individuals, he was hating the sin not the sinners. Pax.
God blessed Fr Gionet for his faithfullnes in the face of persecution. Now he has a bigger flock than he ever dreamed of! Thousands applaud his act of mercy.Bishop Vienneau should remember that the spiritual acts of mercy include admonishing the sinner.
I spoke with a Radio Canada reporter who was doing a story on Fr Gionet and was very moved by him. He is an intelligent, holy, and now famous priest.
A modern day St Jean Marie Vianney!
We are to love all people unconditionally. We also want them to come to believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and therefore they must be taught that sexual impure acts by committing acts of fornication, adultery or sodomy are some of the most serious sins.
The following is from the link at the end of this post.
Saint Catherine of Siena, the great 14th century religious mystic, transmitted the words of Our Lord Jesus Christ about the sin of homosexuality, which contaminated some of the clergy in her time, the Renaissance.
Referring to sacred ministers who committed this sin, He told her:
Our Lord speaking to St. Catherine of Siena
They [the homosexuals] not only fail from resisting the weakness [of fallen human nature] …. but they do even worse when they commit the cursed sin against nature. Like the blind and stupid, having dimmed the light of their understanding, they do not recognize the disease and misery in which they find themselves. For this not only causes Me nausea, but is disgusting even to the devils themselves whom these depraved creatures have chosen as their lords.
For Me this sin against nature is so abominable that for it alone five cities were destroyed by virtue of the judgment of My Divine Justice, which could no longer bear their iniquity ….
It is disgusting to the devils not because evil displeases them or because they find pleasure in good, but rather because their nature is angelic and flees upon seeing such a repulsive sin being committed. For while certainly it is the devil that first strikes the sinner with the poisoned arrow of concupiscence, nonetheless when a man actually carries out such a sinful act, the devil goes away.
(St. Catherine of Siena, El diálogo,
in Obras de Santa Catalina de Siena, Madrid: BAC, 1991, p. 292)
http://www.traditioninaction.org/religious/n010rp_Homosexual_%20St.%20Cath.Siena.htm
To be banished for teaching the truth Jesus teaches is hard to understand. In these last 40 years society has forgotten what sin is. Society accepts the killing of the unborn, that fornication, adultery and homosexuality are acceptable because everyone has a right to do whatever they want to do. No matter what society says, however, spiritually the devil has entrapped the sinner and has the legal right to torment and harass the sinner until he confesses his sin and renounces that behavior and commands the afflicting evil spirit to leave him. This is deliverance prayer. God forgives us when we confess our sin but we still live with the torment and harassment by the evil spirits associated with our sinful behavior until we command them in the name of Jesus to leave us and go to the base of His Cross so that He may do with them as He will. Many people cannot stop their sinful behavior even after confession because they have not renounced the behavior and told the offending evil spirits to take a hike.
See for teaching of deliverance prayer the web site of Neal and Janet Lozano:
http://heartofthefather.com/
and their books by them called:
1. Unbound: A Practical Guide To Deliverance From Evil Spirits and
2. Resisting the Devil: A Catholic Perspective on Deliverance Minstry and
3. Unbound: Companion Guide and
4. Unbound Ministry Guidebook
Without prayer sessions and help from prayer ministers people who have been lured into sinful behavior may have a hard time stopping their sinful behavior unless they have an iron will, have a motivation to stop their sinful behavior, have great perseverance and are continually seek the face of God daily by attending Mass frequently, spending time in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, consecrating themselves to Jesus through the Blessed Virgin Mary and frequent confession.
Specialized prayer ministry sessions where the Holy Spirit comes into the prayer session and heals the wounds inflicted on us in our youth may be necessary. Also inviting Jesus to come into heal these wounds is very powerful as then the memory is changed from a hurtful memory to a memory that contains Jesus helping you to get through the painful and wounding memory. If you look at our life as a tree then the tree may being producing bad fruit in adulthood because it has bad, i.e. bitter roots. If we, heal the bitter roots of the tree of our life which are formed in our youth, then our tree of our life can start producing good fruit.
There are various minstries that can help the habitual sinner to break free of the evil one by individualized prayer. Jesus came to set all sinners free but we need to use the power of the Name above all names, Jesus, to do it. We have to stand up to the enemy and stand up for God in our lives and in our prayer life. We use the power of God to directly combat the enemy by when we are too weak to oppose him and cannot understand why we cannot break free of our sinful lives. As I said before the Catholic Church through use of the Sacraments (daily Mass) and through the consecration to Jesus through the Blessed Virgin Mary are very powerful against the enemy but sometimes the enemy comes against us powerfully and we need to have specific prayer help, learn how to pray for ourselves to obtain the help of the Holy Spirit to heal wounds, to quit believing lies the enemy has told us about ourselves, to quit believing lies inner vows we have made that have outlived their usefukness and quit living by judgements we made about ourselves and others. Seek God’s face whole heartedly. Don’t ever give up even if you are having trouble. God wants you to be His forever. If you persevere through all your trials you will end up in a good position with Jesus at your side, the Holy Spirit in you and our Heavenly Father smiling broadly from above and the Blessed Virgin Mary’s mantle of protection around you. It is a good place to be but Jesus never told us it would be easy. We all have to carry our Cross whatever that may be and it is different for each one of us. One helpful priest told me in confession one day to be a man in my trials. Although that may sound harsh it really means to accept that life is not fair because we constantly have an evil trying to bring us down but know that God is more powerful than the evil one and the source of all real good. Seek the good, seek God.
Bless you Fr Gionet. it takes great Courage to speak the truth! that is true love, true charity. This is what priests ARE SUPPOSED TO DO> if they are faithful to their calling. Unfortunately so many today are failing in this. they preach a false tolerance and instead do not admonish the sinner. by not helping to call back those in serious sin they will be responsible for that mans/ womans’ sin also.
bless you Father!! for doing what is right. we need more priests like you.
“We have to respect people on their own journey,”Wade said.
“The first message of Christ was to reveal to us a loving father and a merciful father and that we are all called to be his children and that we are all loved unconditionally by Him.”
WRONG WRONG WRONG. Rev. Wade had best check his bible, because mine states in Mark and Matthew that Jesus, after returning from his 40 day fast in the desert began his public minisrty in Capernaum of Galilee by saying “This is the time of fulfillment. The reign of God is at hand! Reform your lives and believe in the gospel!” (Mark 1:14 and Matthew 4:17) The truth hurts, yet it is the TRUTH that will set us free!
We can not love unconditionally if we are burdened down by sin. First and foremost if we are to lead a life for Christ WE MUST REPENT! Then and only then can we do the will of the Father . Only with His grace are we capable of unconditional love.
God will bless Father Gionet, his place in heaven will be great. Ore Lady has told us of the many priest in hell. A priest saves his soul by saving those of his flock. I’d suggest that some priest start preaching the TRUTH or be ready for a mighty hot eternity!
May God bless Pere Donat for his courageous defence of Catholic morality and may God grant Monseigneur Vienneau the grace to see the error of his ways!
FROM THE PRIEST THAT SAW HELL PURGATORY AND HEAVEN AND CAME BACK TO LIFE
A priest who saw heaven, hell (with bishops and priests in hell), and purgatory
The death experience of
Father Jose Maniyangat français -español
Fr. Jose Maniyangat is currently the pastor of St. Mary’s Mother of Mercy
Catholic Church in Macclenny, Florida . Here is his personal testimony:
AFTER HE WAS DECLARED DEAD:
I was rushed to a hospital about 35 miles away. On the way, my soul came out from my body and I experienced death. Immediately, I met my Guardian Angel. I saw my body and the people who were carrying me to the hospital.
I heard them crying and praying for me. At this time my angel told me: “I am going to take you to Heaven, the Lord wants to meet you and talk with you.” He also said that, on the way, he wanted to show me hell and purgatory.
Hell
First, the angel escorted me to hell. It was an awful sight!
I saw Satan and the devils,
an unquenchable fire of about 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit,
worms crawling,
people screaming and fighting,
others being tortured by
demons.
The angel told me that all these sufferings were due to unrepented
mortal sins.
Then, I understood that there are seven degrees of suffering or levels according to the number and kinds of mortal sins committed in their earthly lives.
The souls looked very ugly, cruel and horrific.
It was a fearful experience.
I saw people whom I knew, but I am not allowed to reveal their identities.
The sins that convicted them were mainly
abortion, homosexuality, euthanasia, hatefulness, unforgiveness and
sacrilege.
The angel told me that if they had repented, they would have
avoided hell and gone instead to purgatory.
I also understood that some
people who repent from these sins might be purified on earth through their
sufferings.
This way they can avoid purgatory and go straight to heaven.
I was surprised when I saw in hell even priests and Bishops, some of whom
I never expected to see.
Many of them were there because they had misled the people with false teaching and bad example.
Sin is taking what God made good and abusing it. Refusing to see sin is an eternal mistake. No one likes to hear they are wrong and need to change. Change their hearts Lord before it is to late.
I will pray for Fr Gionet. May our Lord and our Lady give him strength. His reward will be great in the Heaven. I’m praying for all priests. I especially pray that those that are in error like this bishop will repent and come back to the fullness of Truth. Mr. Kelly, your comments are always very informative. I’m going to check out the website links you provided.
“The floor of Hell is paved with the skulls of bishops.” St. Athanasius at the Council of Nicea in 325 when fighting the Arian heresy that had infected the Church. The Church in 2011 is infected with heresies! How did Our Lord triumph against the Arians? Through St. Athanasius and a remnant of Catholics faithful to the True Church. How will Our Lord triumph over this mess of Vatican II? With a priests like Fr. Gionet and a remnant of Catholics faithful to the True Church!
The idea of compassion is so necessary, but if a two year old wanders into traffic, and the responsible adult stands on the the side of the road and beckons, “Come on honey, come on back to safety” but the adult does nothing by action to yank the child back to safety, than the adult is responsible for the harm done to the child.
Bishops are our shepherds, sometimes when we wander far from the fold, and do it often, to the point of risking the damnation of our souls through mortal sin, we need to have our legs broken so that we will stay in the safety of the shepherd’s gaze.
Bishop, please give us the guidance we need to be able to partake of Heaven. Lead us not down the road of perdition. Every soul is your responsibility. Your very eternal life Bishop, rests on how you teach and guide those the Church has given to you.
Should we save the drowning man or show compassion by respecting his decision to drown himself. Speaking of drowning, Church leaders who reject the hard truths might be candidates for the “millstone” collar that Our Lord talks about in Gospel.
God bless you, Fr. Gionet!! It is true compassion to admonish the sinner. And we all need that!
“Unconditional Love” is not a Doctrine of the Faith. Jesus himself on earth gave many conditions to be a follower of his, including “Eat my Body” which people rejected and therefore were not united with Christ. Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; GO AND SIN NO MORE.” Sounds like a condition to me. We are not all going to Heaven. Some of us may not even make Purgatory and end up in Hell. WHY? God’s love is NOT unconditional. This is psychobabble, not religion.
The treatment of Fr. Gionet by his bishop is shameful and I hope he knows many admire him. The groveling of the bishop to the homosexual mayor is pathetic. We see who pulls the strings in that diocese.
So many priests and bishops are either homosexual themselves or confused in their faith that we are seeing these travesties almost daily somewhere. God help the Church, she is full of wolves in sheep’s clothing.
We had a pastor who spoke the truth about contraception and co-habitation. Our Bishop was caught having had sexual relations with a teen ,years before. he ran of course but the new bishop never gave the good priests any leeway on certain topics.Since then our good pastor left for portugal and became a hermit priest. His devotion to Mary was total.We miss him so much,he knew how corrupt our seminary was in Boston,then.
There are things you must say and do when you are in a position of authority.
And there are things you can finally say and do when you are retired!
God bless the retired courageous!
An American’s Prayer for Forgiveness
Heavenly Father, we as Americans have lost our way, we have forsaken your love and gone our own way into self indulgence through our desire for personal gratification in every aspect of our lives.
We have lost our grip on your eternal truth. We have chosen comfort over compassion; want over worship, pleasure over perseverance, personal satisfaction over eternal salvation, and now entitlements over personal efforts or sacrifice. Many now depend on the words, power, and promises of “Caesar” more than your eternal word.
We want to come home to you as prodigal sons and daughters seeking your mercy upon us and our nation that we may be forgiven for our many offenses marked by our willingness to permit evil intent and false doctrines espoused by our own leaders to creep into our lives and society.
We have not been vigilant, we have hidden our lamps under the bushel, and we have often remained silent as your tenants were judged unworthy by our authorities. As your word and laws were being removed from public buildings and our schools within the sight of our children we mumbled to ourselves rather than witness our faith to those who deny you. We’ve allowed evil to infiltrate our culture one “benefit” or “right” at a time.
We seek through your mercy and forgiveness that within our nation your truth may at last be saved from corruption by those evil forces that care not for your law or love.
We ask through this prayerful petition that for the sake of all the faithful here and in heaven that you might come to us as did the prodigal’s father and lead us back into your graces and grant that our beloved America may yet be returned to the one nation under God it once was and our founders intended it to be.
Amen
Yes, most reverend Bishop, Pere Gionet IS being loving and compassionate – he is telling gay and “straight” alike the TRUTH. We are not loving someone if we fail to warn them against the dangers of sin. Bishop, Mayor, repent, please, before it is too late. No one wants you to go to Hell, least of all our loving Father in Heaven. SO OBEY HIS TRUTH! He made us, He knows what’s best for us – and what’s best is to avoid sin. Thou shalt not commit adultery — prohibits abuse of the gift of sexuality outside of a HOLY marriage. That includes premarital, extramarital and certainly homosexual sex – which by definition is extramarital sex and adulterous! Please, come to light of God’s truth!
In Ireland we have had a decade of filth covered up by our bishops and not one has stood up to explain the cover ups that went on. The wolves are in the pen and letting on to be shepherds!
__________
Slight editing.
Appease the deviates & persecute the Faithful ??????? What kind of a Bishop is this ?