NEW YORK – A controversial American Jesuit priest has made a robust defence of the forthcoming Vatican synod in the face of claims by critics that it will produce division and schism within the Catholic Church.
Jesuit Fr James Martin (pictured), one of the foremost apologists of the global gay rights agenda in the Church, and among the American delegation chosen by Pope Francis to attend the Synod on Synodality in October, has asked what is schismatic about “asking how the church might grow?”
“I don’t think that asking how the Church might grow – as it has on many issues, like slavery, ecumenical relations, and so on – is in any way schismatic,” Martin, the editor-at-large of America magazine and a longtime leader in outreach to LGBTQ+ Catholics, told Crux.
