Malta’s Archbishop Scicluna offers anniversary Mass for LGBT group

MOSTA, Malta (LifeSiteNews) — Marking a 20th anniversary, Malta’s Drachma LGBTI [Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transsexual, and Intersex] group recently welcomed a key Vatican official to offer Mass for the group, during which he urged reconciliation and for them to be accepting of their identities.

On September 17, Archbishop Charles Scicluna celebrated the anniversary Mass for Drachma LGBTI – a Maltese group which seeks to promote inclusion and acceptance of LGBT issues in society.

Scicluna – the Archbishop of Malta and adjunct secretary of the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith – was joined by a number of priests for the Mass. He preached on the group’s name – with their title “Drachma” being drawn from the Scriptural passage of Luke 15, about the woman who loses one of her ten drachmas and rejoices by holding a party when she finds it.

The Maltese prelate urged love and acceptance of personal identity – a message especially welcome for a group which promotes the “LGBTI” lifestyle and seeks to further that cause in the Catholic Church and in wider society.

The group aims to “offer a safe space for LGBTI persons” and – among a number of other goals – “inspire LGBTI people to explore sexual and spiritual integration whilst becoming more inclusive of the whole spectrum of sexuality.”

“In the integrity of those ten [drachmas], there is this desire of God to see us all together, all brothers, we all respect each other; we accept each other as brothers; and we welcome each other as a precious gift,” said Scicluna. “That’s how we have the Lord’s gaze on each other.”

He opined that the parable of the lost drachma includes “an invitation to be reconciled” and that “first of all we must be reconciled with ourselves.”

Appearing to confirm the members of the group in their LGBT identities, Scicluna asked: “Do you love yourself? Are you reconciled with yourself? Are you reconciled with your life story? Are you reconciled with the people the Lord brought you together with? It is possible that we humans hurt each other, serve each other and exploit each other.”

Re-iterating the importance of being “reconciled” with each other, he also urged the LGBT group to reconcile “with the society that does not always understand us; reconciled even with the Church, which sometimes used harsh labels and words against some of us.”

“Obviously,” he added, “the conversion is not one-way; the conversion must also be two-way. So we also pray that the Church has the heart of the Lord.”

Following the Mass, Scicluna was presented with a painting from the group representing its growth over the last two decades – an expansion largely in part due to his support.

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Archbishop Scicluna offering Mass for Drachma. Credit: Drachma

Credit: Drachma

The Catholic Church has come under increased criticism from LGBT groups and large parts of secular society for its teaching on human sexuality. The Catholic catechism teaches that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered” and “contrary to the natural law.” The catechism is very clear that homosexual activity can never be approved and states that “[h]omosexual persons are called to chastity.”

“By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection,” reads the Catechism.

The CDF’s 1986 document “On the pastoral care of homosexual persons” additionally instructed bishops that a “truly pastoral approach will appreciate the need for homosexual persons to avoid the near occasions of sin.” Such an authentic pastoral approach would “assist homosexual persons at all levels of the spiritual life: through the sacraments, and in particular through the frequent and sincere use of the sacrament of Reconciliation, through prayer, witness, counsel, and individual care,” stated the CDF.

The instruction adds:

But we wish to make it clear that departure from the Church’s teaching, or silence about it, in an effort to provide pastoral care is neither caring nor pastoral. Only what is true can ultimately be pastoral. The neglect of the Church’s position prevents homosexual men and women from receiving the care they need and deserve.

Therefore special concern and pastoral attention should be directed toward those who have this condition, lest they be led to believe that the living out of this orientation in homosexual activity is a morally acceptable option. It is not.

Scicluna has a long relationship with Drachma LGBTI and indeed with allowing a steadily permissive and non-Catholic stance with regard to homosexuality in Malta.

Dating back over a decade Scicluna has been a guest of honor to celebrate their Masses and has allowed them to use a number of venues throughout the Archdiocese.

In addition to making a number of conciliatory comments in favor of same-sex unions, Scicluna also moved to punish one of his priests who made strong public comments contemptuous of homosexuality.

Under Scicluna’s leadership, the bishops of Malta also approved communion for divorced and civilly remarried Catholics if they are “at peace with God.”

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