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SOUTH BEND, Ind. (ChurchMilitant.com) - One of the Democrats who could be running for president in 2020 credits pro-gay Jesuit celebrity priest Fr. James Martin with being an important influence on him.

Peter Buttigieg has been the mayor of South Bend, Indiana — in the vicinity of the University of Notre Dame — since 2012. But in January this year, Buttigieg announced an exploratory committee for the 2020 presidential campaign.

Buttigieg, 37, was baptized Catholic but was raised essentially non-practicing. He is now Episcopalian. He is also openly gay, being in a "marriage" with his male partner.

Due to how public he is about his religious beliefs, some in the mainstream media are trumpeting Buttigieg as a leader of the religious Left.

The Washington Post reported on March 29 that Buttigieg cites Fr. Martin as a major influence, alongside St. Augustine of Hippo and Garry Wills — a liberal author who defends abortion and contraception but still identifies as Catholic.



Both Martin and Buttigieg received LGBT leadership awards on April 1 from the Gay and Lesbian Alumni of the University of Notre Dame and Saint Mary's College (GALA-ND).

In addition to Buttigieg and Fr. Martin, GALA-ND also gave an award to pro-LGBT attorney John Sullivan.

Father Martin has spoken fondly of Buttigieg. For instance, Martin encouraged his social media followers to listen to Buttigieg's speech at the GALA-ND awards banquet.

The Jesuit celebrity priest was not able to be physically present for the awards banquet. Accepting the award on his behalf that evening was Shelly Fitzgerald, the lesbian guidance counselor who was removed from a Catholic high school in Indianapolis last August due to her same-sex "marriage."

That same school, Roncalli High School, recently parted ways with a second staffer who was in a same-sex civil union.

GALA-ND promotes the homosexual agenda on Notre Dame's campus, in part by funding and supporting PrismND, the university's official LGBT outreach organization.

On social media on Monday, a Protestant leader criticized Buttigieg for disagreeing with the biblical definition of marriage. Father Martin argued back that President Donald Trump is the one living in violation of biblical teaching, owing to his multiple divorces and remarriages.

As mayor of South Bend, Buttigieg blocked a pro-life pregnancy center from opening next to an abortion mill in April last year. To defend this decision, Buttigieg claims he was simply enforcing the city's zoning laws.

The 37-year-old Democratic mayor and potential candidate for president is in favor of allowing late-term abortions. When CNN contributor Catholic priest Fr. Edward Beck asked Buttigieg his thoughts on late-term abortion, Buttigieg replied:

Ironically, an issue like this is mostly for me about freedom from government. It is being aware that there are these incredibly painful, morally complex, but often also medically complex situations. And the question is: How do we make sure, as people navigate this in a really painful human way, that there are as few undue pressures on them as possible? At the end of the day these are, as I understand it, measures that are designed to preserve the life and health of the mother, who is only getting to that point, I imagine, for the most part, if she had every intention of carrying a pregnancy to term. And I just don't see how my intervention as a government official, making rules about what she can and can't do, is going to help.

Buttigieg's father was a professor at Notre Dame who devoted a significant portion of his career to Marxism, especially the writings of Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci.

Church Militant has been warning about Fr. Martin's un-Catholic approach to homosexuality for several years now. Father Martin has argued that homosexuals are not bound to chastity. Prior to receiving the recent award from GALA-ND, Martin received an award in 2016 from pro-gay New Ways Ministry, an LGBTQ organization whose founders were condemned by the Holy See.

The Jesuit celebrity priest has argued that Church teaching on homosexuality of being "deeply offensive" to gays.

During 2018, Fr. Martin was disinvited from a string of speaking gigs due to vocalized outrage from faithful Catholics.

Catholic laity have organized prayerful protests in opposition to Fr. Martin's talks at parishes around the country. Often organized by the Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property, such protests have been reported in Atlanta, New York City and Chicago.

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