ARTICLES

He's Not Like Your Typical Priest

Homosexual Pride Mass at Berkeley

BY BARTHOLOMEW JAMES

The unsettling series of events during the considerably-less-than-orthodox Mass came to a crescendo shortly after the consecration. Celebrant Father Richard Sparks announced that everyone present was welcome to participate in Holy Communion, even if they weren't Catholic. He said that Protestants, Buddhists, and anyone else was welcome to receive the sacrament. Most of those present accepted the invitation.

The occasion was the annual "2005 Pride Mass" at Newman Hall-Holy Spirit Parish in Berkeley. The theme of the Mass was "Winds of Change," and the invitations printed for the event elaborated on the this theme: "as we are swept up in the winds of change and we discern the Spirit in an ever-changing world, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender (LGBT) Catholics at Newman Hall-Holy Spirit Parish would invite you celebrate with us as a community of faith." About 80 people attended the Mass, including five who raised their hands when Sparks asked who was there for the first time. A significant portion of the Mass participants appeared to be homosexual couples, their friends and families. In his opening remarks, Sparks affirmed his commitment to the annual service even though, as he acknowledged, the Mass has had a history of controversy. He complained that flyers and posters announcing the service had been mysteriously removed from the Newman Center and that a previous Pride Mass had been videotaped and sent to church authorities for review.

For obvious reasons, many Catholics object to the annual event, and Sparks apparently sought to rationalize the format by pointing out that other Catholics defy church teaching by attending Mass even though they use birth control. The modified Mass liturgy included a "Reflections" segment -- before the Epistle and Gospel readings -- where a homosexual male and a lesbian individually gave testimonials. The woman, Catherine Cunningham, related the story of how she met her current same-sex partner at a retreat and how the relationship grew to its present state of contentment. One got the impression that the committed relationship was not celibate, which dove-tailed neatly with Sparks' own writings on the subject of homosexuality. Sparks asserts that theological support is growing for the qualified or full acceptance position, where "homosexual genital actions would be moral only within the context of a committed, monogamous, covenant relationship, akin to a childless marriage," according to his book, Contemporary Christian Morality. (See "Bless the Lord, for We Are Good," January 2003 Mission.)

I wanted to ask Sparks about his teachings, the Pride Mass, and the communion cattle call, but he refused to talk with me because of my association with the San Francisco Faith. "I don't want to be cooperative for the article because I have not respected the articles they put out. I find they do a real hatchet job on people," he said. I suggested that it seemed unfair to paint all the content, and all the reporters of the Faith, with such a broad brush -- surely he didn't mean the entire publication was always that bad. But apparently he did mean exactly that. "I would not have anything to do with that publication. It would be like if the Ku Klux Klan had a magazine: you could say, 'but some of the things that are in it are wonderful.' I don't care if they're very wonderful," he said. "I find it is much more of an opinion thing and they guise [opinion] articles as if they're news articles."

Newman Hall-Holy Spirit parish falls under the jurisdiction of the diocese of Oakland, and Father Mark Wiesner, communications director for the diocese, said he would arrange an interview with Bishop Allen Vigneron to answer questions about the Pride Mass. I was never contacted by Bishop Vigneron or his office, but Father Ray Breton, judicial vicar of the diocese, did provide his input on the controversial Mass. Although he was not aware that the Pride Mass had taken place, after I relayed what I had observed at the Mass, he said that all priests must always teach what the Church teaches as far as "morality, what offends God and what is sinful; but we must always be pastors to all." Being pastors to all, he explained, can present challenges. Nonetheless, he said, it is clear from the recent pronouncements of Pope Benedict XVI that "there is no room for same-sex marriage since it is completely opposed to the Church." Breton made it clear that no one in the Church should promote a homosexual lifestyle. It would be proper if a homosexual had gone to confession and sincerely received communion, because he or she had been freed from their sin. Outside of that context, however, receiving communion "is completely unjustified or even scandalous," he said.

Allowing Protestants, Buddhists and other non-Catholics to receive communion clearly constitutes serious error, Father Wiesner explained. "That is completely against the teachings of the Church, and I would think that the priest probably needs a little refresher course in the theology of the Church or the meaning of the sacraments. The sacrament of the Holy Eucharist is for those who are members of the Catholic Church and for those who are in full communion with the Catholic Church," he said.

Sparks, who writes and travels the country lecturing on education and morality, has been accused of error, and worse, before. Rick Hevier of Sacred Heart parish in Syracuse, New York is part of a loose knit group of lay Catholics that has documented verbal and written statements by Sparks that contradict Church teaching or otherwise offend many Catholics. Hevier was not surprised to learn about Sparks' Pride Mass and pointed out that the highly educated priest should know better. "For a man who the bishops have elevated as this very powerful theologian -- I mean he's not like your typical priest, this man was trained as a theologian -- he has no excuse; he knows exactly what's going on," Hevier said.

Hevier was instrumental in mobilizing parents to reject a national Catholic schools sex education program, Growing in Love, put out in 2000 by Harcourt Religion Publishers. The program was designed for Catholic grade schools (K-8), and Sparks was one of three principal advisors in the development of the publication. Among other things, Hevier and other parents objected to the program's attempts to normalize homosexual lifestyles.

In addition to classroom texts, the series included supplemental texts for parents. At the kindergarten level, the parent's text advised, "your child may also have questions about particular nontraditional living situations. Some single parents have live-in relationships. The partner, who may or may not be the parent of the children, may take a parental responsibility to a greater or lesser degree. Some children live with two women or two men. Same-sex parenting describes a situation in which gay male or lesbian partners share responsibility for raising the children of one or both partners from previous heterosexual relationships. Same-sex partners may also adopt children, act as foster parents, or conceive children through artificial insemination."

In a commentary on this section of Growing in Love, Margaret Whitehead of Women for Faith and Family noted that "clearly the intent is to indoctrinate parents and children into accepting homosexual cohabitation and the adoption of children as normal as similar behavior by married heterosexuals."

Edgar Suter, M.D. has compiled material on Sparks, including comments Sparks made on an audiotape, "Catholic Sexual Morality: More Than 'Thou Shalt Nots.'" On the tape, Sparks speculates on the relationship between Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene. "[Jesus] had to go through puberty. He had to decide 'should I get married.' He might have even had a prom date with Mary Magdalene. They might even have necked a little in the back seat of a car. He's like us in all things but sin -- necking isn't necessarily a sin. He might have even petted her once or twice -- it's like -- 'Oh, wait, wait, YES -- NOW,'" Sparks said.

Suter cites statements that Sparks made about the Holy Family at a 2001 religious education conference in Los Angeles. In his conference presentation, Sparks acknowledges Church teaching on the relationship between the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Joseph before expressing doubt that the relationship was in fact celibate. "But if somebody says, 'do you think Joseph ever wanted to jump her bones?' Do you think Joseph ever thought, 'God, why can't we consummate this thing? ... Now all I'm saying is -- even if they didn't have sex, did they ever neck? Or did they maybe cuddle and snuggle? Did he ever sort of fondle his wife? Did she ever kind of fondle him?" At the same conference, Sparks commented on the size of his genitals. "It's a little bigger than Mel Gibson's, but the bigger the better I say," he said.

Suter explains that Sparks' pattern in many speeches is to present Catholic teaching in passing, "usually with some disparaging comment, and then he'll spend the rest of his time saying 'but there are other views.' And he doesn't usually explicitly say, 'we endorse these other views,' but it's obvious from the context, where Catholic teaching gets one or two sentences and then the other views get 45 minutes or an hour's treatment about how much science is behind this, how these other priests support it, that sort of thing."

Hevier was not surprised that Sparks refused to discuss the Pride Mass. Several years ago when Sparks was in New York, Hevier said he challenged the priest to a debate about his remarks about the Holy Family. Sparks declined the challenge. "It's funny how the liberals expect so much tolerance, but they clam up, they just clam up [when challenged]. I've heard of other people who have encountered the same things with Father Sparks. It's very strange," Hevier said.

Hevier is frustrated that Sparks' superiors have not reined in the priest. "Until the Father Sparks problem is solved, this man is traversing the country spreading this misinformation and this bad theology. Think about it: that diocese is exporting this type of heresy. It's one thing for them to permit this in their diocese, but they know that this man is strutting his stuff all over the country." Hevier may have a point. One month after the Pride Mass, Sparks was slated to be the keynote speaker at the National Catholic Education Association's Education Law Symposium in Louisville Kentucky. The subject of the presentation was "Morality, Ethics and the Law." Sparks was also listed as teaching a workshop at the symposium on the subject of "Morality and Leadership."

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