Update: LifeSite has launched a petition to support Fr. Chisholm. Sign here!

KINGSTON, Ontario, June 14, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – A Canadian bishop has distanced himself from a priest who told his parishioners in a bulletin announcement that they should “not attend” pro-homosexual pride events in June.

Fr. Robert Chisholm of St. Gregory the Great parish in Picton, Ontario, had told parishioners that “Catholics and all other Christians should not attend LGBTQ2 'Pride Month' events held this month.”

Fr. Robert Chisholm bulletin announcement, June 9, 2019.

“They promote a culture and encourage activities that are contrary to Christian faith and morals. This is especially harmful to children because it could lead them away from God’s revealed Truth,” he wrote in his June 9 bulletin.

The announcement provoked immediate backlash from LGBT activists who made plans to hold a demonstration outside the parish during Mass this weekend. Parents and teachers from the local Catholic school even joined in the fray, going as far as wearing “pride” colors on Friday morning outside the school to show their support for the LGBT movement.

Kingston Archbishop Michael Mulhall issued a statement on the archdiocese’s website late Friday afternoon, calling the priest’s statement “inappropriate.”

Statement by Archbishop of Kingston Michael Mulhall, June 14, 2019. SOURCE: Romancatholic.kingston.on.ca / screen shot

“I did not sanction this message, and it does not reflect the spirit of accompanying charity and compassion that should always characterize our faith. The archdiocese has spoken with the pastor of the parish. He regrets any hurt his inappropriate comments have caused,” he stated.

Archbishop Mulhall, appointed to the Archdiocese of Kingston in March after serving as bishop of the Diocese of Pembroke, Ontario, for 12 years, has been known as one of the stronger Canadian bishops. For a number of years he was the only bishop in Canada to withhold funds from the Canadian bishops' charitable arm Development and Peace over its contributions to pro-abortion organizations in the developing world.

The Catholic Church teaches that homosexual acts are “intrinsically disordered” since they are “contrary to the natural law” and they “close the sexual act to the gift of life.” The Church also teaches that same-sex attraction itself is “objectively disordered” since God created sexual attraction to be between a male and female for the sake of procreation.

The Church teaches that everybody, including those with a disordered sexuality — often expressing itself in lust, masturbation, fornication, pornography, homosexuality — are called to chastity, that is to the moral virtue of a rightly ordered sexuality integrated within the person. The Christian faith holds that homosexual acts, along with murdering the innocent, depriving a laborer of his wages, and oppressing the poor, are one of the four sins that cry to heaven for justice.

PETITION: Support Fr. Robert Chisholm for warning his flock about 'LGBT Pride'. Sign here!

Catholic saint and doctor of the Church St. Peter Damian called homosexuality a “vice” that “opens up hell and closes the door of paradise.”

“This vice [of same-sex activity] is the death of bodies, the destruction of souls, pollutes the flesh, extinguishes the light of the intellect, expels the Holy Spirit from the temple of the human heart, introduces the diabolical inciter of lust, throws into confusion, and removes the truth completely from the deceived mind,” he wrote in his 11th century Book of Gomorrah. He added: “It prepares snares for the one who walks, and for him who falls into the pit, it obstructs the escape. It opens up hell and closes the door of paradise.”

Fr. Chisholm’s bulletin announcement closely resembles one made earlier this month by U.S. Bishop Thomas Tobin, who tweeted a “reminder” to Catholics that they “should not support or attend LGBTQ ‘Pride Month’ events held in June. They promote a culture and encourage activities that are contrary to Catholic faith and morals. They are especially harmful for children.”

Backlash against Bishop Tobin was also swift and severe. A petition by LifeSite supporting the bishop's position has garnered over 26,000 signatures to date.

The late Pope Saint John Paul II in 2000 spoke strongly against a pro-homosexual "pride" parade that marched through the streets of Rome, calling it an “offense” to Christian values.

''In the name of the Church of Rome I can only express my deep sadness at the affront to the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 and the offence to the Christian values of a city that is so dear to the hearts of Catholics throughout the world,'' he told pilgrims in a Sunday July 9 message one day after thousands had marched in the event.

The Pope then went on to reaffirm Church teaching on homosexuality, stating that ''homosexual acts are contrary to the natural law,'' adding: ''The Church cannot be silent about the truth, because she would fail in her fidelity to God the Creator and would not help to distinguish good from evil.''

When Global News asked Fr. Chisholm why he included the message against Pride events in his bulletin, he replied: “Because as a shepherd, it’s my duty to keep my flock safe.”

Contact information for respectful communications:

Archbishop Michael Mulhall

Archdiocese of Kingston, Ontario

Ph: (613) 548-4461

[email protected]

To support Fr. Robert Chisholm

Ph: (613)-476-6276

Email: [email protected]