Church funding of Homosexuality; i.e., that which begat FS

 Church Funding of Homosexuality

Most churchgoers would probably be very surprised—if not upset—if

they knew that monies they contribute during Sunday services are diverted to homosexual organizations, or that facilities built and supported

with church funds are used by homosexual organizations to procure funds

with which to carry out their activities. After all, the nearly universal

belief of people who attend church services—other than those in churches

organized by homosexuals—is that homosexual practices are an abomination,

that homosexuality is a perversion of human nature, and that the

Scriptures of all religions reject homosexuality. Yet our survey revealed

that a number of homosexual organizations (8.75%) are partially funded

by churches. Although the percentage of church funds (no less than $395,847)

flowing yearly to homosexual organizations is small compared to their

gross income (a mere 1.23%), the symbolic value of this funding is extraordinary

for the homosexual movement. If the validators of behavior

from an ethical standpoint (i.e., religious institutions) are willing to provide

financial support for homosexual organizations, the most elementary

logic dictates that homosexual practices themselves must be acceptable.

Documenting such support, however, is not easy. 

Church leaders, even

those who are inclined to accept active homosexuality as a valid “alternative”

lifestyle, know that the faithful will object to the diversion of

church funds toward homosexual organizations. However, enough has

been published to make it incontestable that church funds are indeed

being used for the promotion of the homosexual ideology.

The simplest and “cleanest” way for a church to provide financial support

for homosexual organizations is to allow its facilities to be used for

homosexual fundraisers (cf. chapter VII). For example, on Wednesday,

May 7, 1980, the Parish Hall of Christ Episcopal Church in Georgetown

(Washington, D.C.) was used to stage a musical comedy “cabaret style”

to raise funds for New Ways Ministry.68 The work was presented by the

Georgetown Workshop Theatre. As noted above, Catholic University of

America (also in Washington) lent the Caldwell Auditorium—located in

the building where church law and theology are normally taught—also

for the same purpose.69 The evening was also used to propagandize in

favor of the homosexual ideology. Three frankly prohomosexual “experts

on the subject” discussed the topic “Lesbian/Gay Coupling: Can It Work?”

Catholic University has become a center of prohomosexual and other

feminist activities, and has lent its facilities for other political leftist events.

504The Funding of the Movement

The school has also been utilized to raise funds for “Catholics for ERA,

”

a Catholic radical feminist organization, in an event that featured Theresa

Kane, the nun who acquired national notoriety for “standing up to Pope

John Paul Π” on national television.70 (Theresa Kane was also scheduled

to be a panelist on a prohomosexual symposium sponsored by New Ways

Ministry in November 1981.)

There are instances, however, in which church funds actually flow for

homosexual organizations, usually for specific projects. For example, the

Washington office of the UFMCC, as reported in Gays on the Hill, received

a contribution from a “straight church” in Milwaukee. The name

of the church was intentionally not revealed, probably because the donation

was made without the knowledge of the majority of church members.

The editor of the prohomosexual newsletter was quick to draw the

logical consequence in support of the homosexual ideology: “There is

support for our work in other churches.

”71

Wesley Theological Seminary, a United Methodist institution in Washington,

D.C., gave Jeannie Boyd Bull—a theology student for the

UFMCC—an “Urban Ministries Grant” to direct an MCC Washington

project.72

The Provincial Council of the Eastern Province of the Claretians (a

Roman Catholic order) donated $3,000 to the national network of prohomosexual

Catholics’ “Catholic Coalition of Gay Civil Rights.

” The chairman

of the province’s “Justice and Peace Committee” wrote to the network

leaders: “The Provincial appreciates your efforts to minister to gays, to

create a relationship of concern between the Church and gays, and to

afford basic human rights to gays. We hope our help will make a contribution

to that end.

”73 There is little doubt that the function of the prohomosexual

Catholic network was not solely to express the opinions of

its members but also to seek funds for the movement. Bondings, the

publication of New Ways Ministry, expressed this function clearly: “We

are also contacting other religious communities who have already endorsed

the Coalition for financial support.

”74

The Church World Service, an arm of the National Council of Churches,

donated $30,000 to the UFMCC for its program with Cuban homosexuals.75

A similar grant of $8,000 was provided by the American Baptist Churches

of the U.S.A.76 The two grants were apparently linked and required the

establishment of a close relationship between the UFMCC and the American

Baptist Churches. According to John Chasteen, an MCC layman:

“To qualify as a resettlement unit under Church World Service, the

American Baptist Churches in effect ‘adopted’ the MCC as one of its

own.

”77

An article in the National Catholic Reporter, a radical leftist publication,

indicated that New Ways Ministry was funded by the School Sisters of

5°5THE HOMOSEXUAL NETWORK

Notre Dame and the Salvatorian order.78 This has been vehemently denied

by Sister Jeannine Gramick, SSND: “Although both codirectors have

received encouragement and support from their religious superiors for

their assigned ministry, New Ways is not supported financially by their

religious congregations. We here at New Ways depend primarily on donations

and stipends from retreats and workshops to fund our works. . . ,

”79

This cannot be independently verified, since financial data of the three

organizations involved are not a matter of public record. The author was

personally informed by Father Nugent, codirector of New Ways Ministry

with Sister Gramick, that the organization obtains substantial donations

from religious orders. It would be surprising if the orders which have

provided the personnel and many individual supporters for New Ways

Ministry did not contribute financially to this organization.

There are instances of cross-funding. A typical example is the grants

which Dignity (Catholic homosexuals) and Integrity (homosexual Episcopalians)

have made to the Washington office of the UFMCC.80

An interesting approach to church funding of homosexuals is provided

by George W. Casper, treasurer of Integrity. In this instance, strictly

speaking, no church money is given to a homosexual organization, but

the church is used as a cover for individuals interested in taking advantage

of the tax status of churches and/or making their money available to a

homosexual organization without fear of discovery. Casper is very explicit

in his advice:

For potential donors of large sums, or for the very careful, I recommend that

you channel your contribution to the discretionary fund of a priest whom you

trust to a high degree, or I can recommend several such priests to you if you

desire. Your check should be payable to “St. W-----

’s Discretionary Fund,

Rev. J-----

, trustee” and designate your contribution to be given to Integrity,

Inc. The trustworthy priest will then transmit a different check to Integrity,

drawn on his discretionary fund in the same amount.

This procedure is perfectly acceptable and is also a useful technique for persons

who need to maintain a degree of “closetedness” in their financial matters.81

A similar system was suggested by Gays on the Hill. Apparently, the

Washington Square United Methodist Church in New York City has

offered itself as a conduit for funds to “Affirmation,

” a homosexual organization

for Methodists. The instructions offered were also quite explicit:

“Checks can be made out to the Washington Square United Methodist

Church so that they can be tax-deductible, and the checks should indicate

on the bottom left memo section that they are for Affirmation.

”82

From a financial point of view, church funds are not critical for the

survival of the homosexual movement. Nevertheless, the fact that churches

are willing to finance the homosexual movement is of the utmost impor-

506The Funding of the Movement

tance for its social and political survival. In the eyes of a substantial number

of Americans, many politicians are greatly discredited; it is expected that

they will do virtually anything for the sake of votes. However, church

leaders are not generally expected to behave in a manner contrary to the

principles of religion. Yet in the perception of vast numbers of Americans,

funding homosexual organizations probably qualifies as antireligious behavior...

New Ways Ministry has used religious facilities for some of its prohomosexual

activities. The Sisters of St. Joseph of Springfield (Massachusetts),

as indicated earlier, fund the Center for Reflective Action used

for a homosexual symposium.118 In some instances, local church authorities

are willing to lend their facilities, but public pressure or direct orders

from higher church authorities make such a use impossible. This was the

case of the pastors of St. Clement’s Church (Roman Catholic) and Grace

Episcopal Church, who agreed to allow a New Ways Ministry workshop

to take place on church property but cancelled the offers under pressure

from their respective bishops.110 The authorities of the Holy Trinity Seminary

(Roman Catholic) in Silver Spring (Maryland) were willing to allow

a prohomosexual symposium to take place on its premises, but later denied

their permission for the event, in this case because of excessive registrations.1

https://www.newwaysministry.org/2023/10/17/pope-francis-receives-sr-jeannine-gramick-at-vatican/