Lewandowski Sees Himself As 'A Reconciler, Not a Divider'

FITCHBURG -- The Rev. Richard P. Lewandowski doesn't consider himself a dissident.

He doesn't think he's "unorthodox " either, though some Catholics have accused the priest of abandoning his church's teachings on homosexuality.

"Those are all the buzz words to try to dismiss me, but the fact is, instead of dismiss, why don't we dialogue," said Lewandowski, pastor of St. Camillus di Lellis Parish on Mechanic Street. "Everything that I've been doing in this parish has been according to the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church."

... why don't we dialogue? Talk about a phrase that can be a litmus test for those who are not orthodox. Complain that they are saying things contrary to the teaching of the Church and we will hear how we need to dialog on them. I doubt that everything he is doing in his Church is according to Church teachings. He was one of the priests that testified to the Massachusetts Legislature in support of same-sex marriage.

When the political arm of the state's four Catholic dioceses, the Massachusetts Catholic Conference, distributed a video denouncing gay marriage, Lewandowski apologized to gays and lesbians for "the hurt" he said the organization caused.

Fr. Lewandowski goes on not to say what parts of the video were hurtful, but just calls it troubling. He also says "That's not the Catholic teaching," Lewandowski said. "There are some people that think that it is. It's not." Again no specifics on what it is he considers is against Church teaching."

He goes on to say:

His church, he says, has always come to his side.

This is probably true, unfortunately.

In another article published back when Always Our Children came out he excused homosexual sex by saying we are not talking about heterosexual sex outside of marriage. This is the old "other people are doing it" argument and just holds no wait. Though a lot of parishes are at fault for not talking about the sin of fornication and pretty much looking the other way. Either way the Catechism is very clear on both of these subjects.

And of course the article goes on to interview his parishioners that really just do not have a problem with their pastor.

"He's an activist priest. He's got a lot of enthusiasm," she said. "I don't always agree with everything he says, but people can't always agree. I don't feel as though I need to change my church."

I find this statement sad. Too many times when we hear about fallen priest we also hear he had a lot of enthusiasm. Enthusiasm without orthodoxy is pretty much like being a snake oil peddler. They also had a lot of enthusiasm for their false products.

The priest got help from the diocese to form an organization, Gay/Lesbian Outreach (GLO), that meets at the church and works with gay people and their families.

This organization looks like it concentrates on suicide and acceptance of homosexual acts. Chastity does not appear to be part of the program. They really had no reason to start a new program. They could have started a Courage chapter instead. But since Courage is actually faithful to church teaching that might not have been an option for them. I am greatly leary of apostolates for those with same sex attraction who adopt the words of gay activists. Especially since often they adopt more than just the language of these activists.