Chicago City Wire

Old St. Patrick's Church in Cardinal Cupich's Diocese of Chicago is staying silent on accusations of blasphemy after allowing a gay couple to give a “reflection” in place of the church’s homily on Father’s Day. 

Fr. Joe Roccasalva allowed the couple to give the “reflection.” Church staff did not respond to emails or phone calls from Chicago City Wire on the replacement of the homily. 

"In all honesty, if you had told us as young boys who wasted countless hours of our lives in church trying to pray the gay away that we someday would be standing in front of all of you in our Catholic Church talking about our family on Father's Day we would never have believed you,” the couple — Alex Shingleton and Landon Duyka — said. “So with that in mind if there's anybody watching today who may be in a similar place in their lives listen closely for the next few minutes.” 

LifeSiteNews similarly contacted the church to ask if it had received permission from Cardinal Blasé Cupich for the “reflection: and received no response. The church staff ignored a similar request.

The Vatican has noted its stance against blessing homosexual unions. 

’In order to conform with the nature of sacramentals, when a blessing is invoked on particular human relationships, in addition to the right intention of those who participate, it is necessary that what is blessed be objectively and positively ordered to receive and express grace, according to the designs of God inscribed in creation, and fully revealed by Christ the Lord,” the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 2021 noted in 2021. Therefore, only those realities which are in themselves ordered to serve those ends are congruent with the essence of the blessing imparted by the Church."

The Vatican also explained that for the reason stated above, "It is not licit to impart a blessing on relationships, or partnerships, even stable, that involve sexual activity outside of marriage (i.e., outside the indissoluble union of a man and a woman open in itself to the transmission of life), as is the case of the unions between persons of the same sex[6]. The presence in such relationships of positive elements, which are in themselves to be valued and appreciated, cannot justify these relationships and render them legitimate objects of an ecclesial blessing, since the positive elements exist within the context of a union not ordered to the Creator’s plan."

The church’s bulletin includes pro-gay messaging including a July 7 “LGBTQ + ALLYSHIP WORKSHOP PART 2.” 

“Join us as we continue our conversation facilitated by Justin Hoch, LSW," the bulletin reads. " We will continue to unpack the narrative between faith and sexuality in the Church, and learn ways to be an ally for the LGBTQ+ community. All are welcome!”  

Another announcement in the same bulletin offered a musical collaboration between Old St. Patrick's and Old St. Mary’s named "Beloved” which was held on June 21. In fact, Gay+ is listed as a Social Life Old St. Pat's is supporting, and has a particular section on its website pages. 

Cupich has close ties to leftists in Illinois politics, including Gov. J.B. Pritzker. The church, according to a spokesman for Chicago Cardinal Blasé Cupich, is not in favor of a Madison, Wisconsin-based organization called CatholicVote's effort to have books like Gender Queer, which features images of young people engaging in gay oral sex with one another, pulled from libraries. The book has been a flashpoint for those seeking to protect their children from overt sexual messaging in schools. The inclusion of the book in classrooms has drawn criticism from parents around the nation because of how overtly sexual and kid-unfriendly it is.