Pray for Father Geoff Farrow

Many will remember Father Geoff Farrow, the Fresno, Calif., Catholic priest who came out in 2008 against the Church’s stance regarding Prop. 8. Fr. Farrow now has a blog where he speaks out against, most notably, Catholic doctrine, Catholic organizations and Catholic moral teaching.

While there’s no question that Fr. Geoff Farrow is a sincere, intelligent person, who believes that gay marriage is a civil rights issue, Fr. Farrow’s adamant opposition to Catholic Church teaching should be a wake up call to us.

St. Paul wrote of our faith as a marathon, of how we must persevere until the end. If a Catholic priest can fall so far from the Magisterium of the Church, we should be on the alert for temptations against our own faith.

Previously we noted Fr. Farrow’s support of DignityUSA, the so-called Catholic LGBT group that features activities like the “Leather Ministry.”

Fr. Farrow also encourages Catholic priests to work against Catholic Knights of Columbus, because they supported Prop. 8:

“Borrow the full amount against your Knights of Columbus life insurance policy immediately. Take the check and invest the funds with an LGBT friendly fund. Do not pay back the loan. If every priest and K of C insurance policy holder were to do this, it would create a considerable capital drain on K of C and cripple their ability to write large checks to thwart LGBT legislation and ballot initiatives.”

I’m not making this up. This is Fr. Geoff Farrow’s Knights of Columbus boycott plan in black and white.

It’s odd that Fr. Farrow, a Catholic priest, would fail to understand that the Catholic Church – guided by the Holy Spirit – is not a city council that decides issues based on votes or popularity. He writes on his blog:

“If every priest and bishop in America who is gay were to stand in the pulpit this Sunday and state that in so many words to their congregations, it would be IMPOSSIBLE for Rome to continue to attempt to oppress LGBT people.”

It’s sad to hear a Catholic priest state that the Church’s moral teaching against homosexual acts is tantamount to oppression. God has revealed to us that homosexual acts are immoral and charity demands that we speak the truth.

And as far as Catholic priests with same sex attraction who “come out” and “demand” that the Church change, it’s just a complete misunderstanding of what the Church is.

The Most Rev. Patrick O’Donoghue recently gave a talk to the Cardinal Newman Society in Oxford, England, where he addressed Catholics who want the Church to change its doctrines:

“They also attempt to impose a political model of decision making on the Church, misusing the term ‘Sensus fidelium’ to mean the democratic rule of the majority. The unspoken assumption is that the Church develops doctrine like a secular government, through lobbying, protest, and pressure groups.”

Rev. Patrick O’Donoghue also points out that personal conscience trumps Catholic Church authority among so-called Catholics in groups like DignityUSA and Catholics for Choice:

“Rejection of the moral authority of Church in favour of the authority of conscience…For many, the authority of the autonomous conscience has overthrown the authority of Christ given to Peter and the Apostles.”

Finally to look at one more example from Fr. Farrow’s blog. He writes, in the context of the Catholics in Maine who oppose gay marriage, that “LGBT Catholics” should stop “collaborating” with these faithful Catholics:

“It is time for LGBT Catholics, their families and their friends to stop collaborating with those who actively work to undermine the rights of others and thereby oppress them.”

We need to pray for Fr. Farrow, for it’s clear that he’s gotten far from the truth of Holy Mother Church and our Lord.

We as Catholic people need to care for our priests. For we must never forget that no matter how far they may stray from the truth, our Lord personally called them to be priests, and He is always ready to flood them with mercy when they repent.

We must recall that our Lord at one time chose to work through Fr. Geoff Farrow to bring his sacramental grace to the Catholic people through the Eucharist and Confession. The Catechism of the Catholic Church speaks of the special gift that Catholic priests receive at ordination:

1538 … “the word ‘ordination’ is reserved for the sacramental act which integrates a man into the order of bishops, presbyters, or deacons, and goes beyond a simple election, designation, delegation, or institution by the community, for it confers a gift of the Holy Spirit that permits the exercise of a ’sacred power’ (sacra potestas) which can come only from Christ himself through his Church.”

Dear Blessed Mary, please pray for our priests, and in particular for Fr. Geoff Farrow!