Fr Gerald E Murray, a canon lawyer and pastor of St Joseph’s Church in New York City, sharply criticised the final report of Study Group 9 of the Synod on Synodality on May 9, claiming it represented an internal attack by some shepherds on perennial Church teaching on the immorality of homosexual acts and the nature of marriage.

In an article titled “Synodal Shepherds Attack the Sheep”, published in The Catholic Thing, the American priest examined the report released by the General Secretariat of the Synod on May 5. The document, one of 10 study group reports established by Pope Francis in 2024 and continued under Pope Leo XIV, addresses theological criteria and synodal methodologies for discerning emerging doctrinal, pastoral and ethical issues.

Fr Murray argued that the report sought to dismiss longstanding Catholic teaching on homosexuality as an obsolete “paradigm”. He wrote that it stigmatises the Church’s doctrine on “the inherent immorality of homosexual acts – and the disordered nature of the homosexual inclination” as no longer reliable to communicate God’s will. Quoting the report, he highlighted its call to address “with parrhesia the currently recurring question of whether one can speak of ‘marriage’ in relation to persons with same-sex attractions, equating their relationship to heterosexual conjugal union without recognising the differences”, including the “evident impossibility of procreation”.

The report includes two appendices with personal testimonies from Catholic men in same-sex civil marriages. One testimony, from American theologian Jason Steidl, states: “My sexuality isn’t a perversion, disorder, or cross; it’s a gift from God. I have a happy, healthy marriage and am flourishing as an openly gay Catholic.” Fr Murray questioned the decision to publish such accounts from individuals who openly reject Church teaching on marriage as inspired by the Holy Spirit.

He further criticised the report’s broader methodological approach, quoting its assertion that the Church’s mission involves “fostering a living encounter with the person of the risen Lord Jesus, by engaging with the lived experience of faith of the People of God” rather than “abstractly proclaiming and deductively applying principles that are set out in an immutable and rigid manner”. The document speaks of a “fruitful circularity between theory and praxis” and warns against the “sterile and regressive ossification of principles”.

Fr Murray, a frequent commentator on ecclesiastical affairs and co-author with Diane Montagna of Calming the Storm: Navigating the Crises Facing the Catholic Church and Society, warned that this represented the Synod positioning itself as “the Holy See’s officially sponsored agent of destruction of Catholic doctrine”. He contrasted this with the words of Christ in St John’s Gospel: “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (John 14:6), asking whether this is merely “a paradigm needing improvement”.

The critique comes days after Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, prefect emeritus of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, also condemned the report for what he termed the “heretical relativisation” of marriage and “fraudulent and blasphemous” blessings of same-sex couples. Study Group 9’s work forms part of the implementation phase following the Synod assemblies of 2023 and 2024, with reports submitted for further consideration by Pope Leo XIV.

Fr Murray concluded by calling for an end to what he described as this “poisonous betrayal”, urging the Holy Father to strengthen the brethren in the Faith. His intervention reflects ongoing debates within the Church over the proper relationship between doctrine, pastoral practice and personal experience in addressing complex moral questions, with many voices emphasising fidelity to the unchanging teaching rooted in Scripture and Tradition.