IMPORTANT UPDATES: Blasphemous public sign at Sts Columba and Brigid in Diocese of Buffalo

IMPORTANT UPDATE: 2006 GMT:

I received this via email from a reader who contacted the office of the Bishop of Buffalo.  Here is the response he received.

Message:

Hello ___,

Please see the following message from Bishop Malone:

Thank you for your message regarding the sign at SS Brigid-Columba Church here in Buffalo. As soon as I learned of this sign, I took immediate action to have it removed. The pastor of SS Brigid and Columba Church told me that the “2 Dads” were meant to refer to a child who has both a father and stepfather. There are several children in his parish who have both a father and stepfather. However, given the potential for the meaning of this message to be misunderstood and even perceived in a heretical way, it was immediately removed.

God bless you!

Sincerely yours,
Siobhan O’Connor
Executive Assistant to the Bishop
Diocese of Buffalo

So, I consider this to be closed.

It seems that this was a matter of a poor word choice and that the pastor has taken action to correct the situation… to his credit.

That said, I don’t think it was wrong to jump all over this sign.  It was not a good situation, but it has been properly resolved.

I’m closing the combox now.

UPDATE : 1954 GMT:

From a comment, below, comes this important element that must in fairness be considered.

I called the parish office & verified the message from the woman who answered. She handed the phone to the pastor, and he said the message was targeted towards children of divorce. I gently warned him that he was going to be receiving a lot of complaints, and that he should re-word the message.

I like to give people the benefit of the doubt, but I have a hard time believing that anyone in these United States, where there was a whole “Heather has two mommies” thing, could post a sign like that and not intend a homosexual relationship rather than a “dad” and “step-dad” situation.

A hard time believing… it is not impossible.. but it’s hard.  Maybe it was merely a poor choice of wording.

Hopefully the pastor will immediately change the sign and issue a clarification.  If he does, I’ll happily let you know when I am made aware.

____ ORIGINAL Published on: Nov 9, 2015 @ 12:19Edit

A reader sent this horrid photo.

In the Diocese of Buffalo at a Catholic parish HERE:

15_11_09_church_sign

Jesus, the Second Person of the Trinity incarnate, has His heavenly Father from all eternity in the First Person of the Trinity.  Jesus, the incarnate Word, had His earthly Father in the person of St. Joseph.

That is not what this sign is trying to say, as you can tell from the second and third lines.

This is a pro-homosexual “marriage” and pro-homosexual adoption sign.

In that view, this sign is blasphemous and should be immediately taken down.

The pastor of the parish should be required publicly to apologize for his offense against the Faith and the scandal he caused.

UPDATE:

For those of you who think this might be fake or photoshopped, here are two more photos posted at the site of Catholic Family News.

UPDATE:

Check the top for updates.

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13 Comments

  1. Kathleen10 says:

    It would take me about 8 hours to get there. Please keep us posted on this. I am hoping there is someone who cares who lives closer.
    What a horrible abuse of Christianity, let alone Catholicism.

  2. FoolishThomist says:

    But as long as they’re being silly it’s worth noting that Anakin Skywalker was raised by two men. Thirty years later he destroyed a planet.

  3. I want to stand really far back from the Judgement Seat if I am behind them in line.

  4. Tony Phillips says:

    Hmm. Nothing on that sign about Mass being offered in the Extraordinary Form. What a surprise.

  5. thomas tucker says:

    There are a multitude of problems with this, but one of the biggest is, what do you tell your young kids when they see this on their way to Mass, or even just driving around? I hate having to explain how a Catholic church can post such a thing, and how priests and bishops can be wrong in what they teach. It is hard for them to understand and I hate having to do it but, by God, I will if I have to. Just a few weeks ago I had to explain to them how Father was wrong at Mass when he said Confession was only for mortal sin, but this is much worse than that.

  6. TomG says:

    Not surprisingly, there is a mention of “penance services,” but nothing I can find about the Sacrament of Penance being available at all.

  7. Cliff says:

    Are you sure that is not a photochop? The bottom line of text doesn’t sit on the rack the same way as the other two lines.

  8. It isn’t a photoshop. I called the parish office & verified the message from the woman who answered. She handed the phone to the pastor, and he said the message was targeted towards children of divorce. I gently warned him that he was going to be receiving a lot of complaints, and that he should re-word the message.

  9. ASPM Sem says:

    Cliff, having analyzed the photo in a few ways I don’t think it is photoshopped. Also, given the parish website, one cannot be surprised at this sign.

  10. Thomas says:

    This has the strong scent of Church Sign Maker:

    http://www.says-it.com/churchsigns/

    [It’s real.]

  11. anilwang says:

    I’m a bit wary of pictures of Church signs. For instance, if you wanted to create a sign from “Saint Walter Kasper, Roman Catholic Church of the Clinically Insane” saying “No-one goes to hell except poor widows who can’t pay the Church Tax”, you can do so with:
    http://www.says-it.com/churchsigns

    I looked at the parish web site and superficially, beyond a few hippy prayers and comments, I didn’t see even a hint that they’re actively going against the Church’s moral teachings. It might be true, and we know some parishes would put up such signs, but I wouldn’t go off running to the bishop without actually visiting the parish myself.

    [It’s real.]

  12. Scott W. says:

    The fairly new Bishop of Buffalo is solid, so if this is true, do drop him a politely-worded letter encouraging him to take action.

  13. I received this via email from a reader who contacted the office of the Bishop of Buffalo.  Here is the response he received.

    Message:

    Hello ___,

    Please see the following message from Bishop Malone:

    Thank you for your message regarding the sign at SS Brigid-Columba Church here in Buffalo. As soon as I learned of this sign, I took immediate action to have it removed. The pastor of SS Brigid and Columba Church told me that the “2 Dads” were meant to refer to a child who has both a father and stepfather. There are several children in his parish who have both a father and stepfather. However, given the potential for the meaning of this message to be misunderstood and even perceived in a heretical way, it was immediately removed.

    God bless you!

    Sincerely yours,
    Siobhan O’Connor
    Executive Assistant to the Bishop
    Diocese of Buffalo

    So, I consider this to be closed.   It seems that this was a matter of a poor word choice and that the pastor has taken action to correct the situation… to his credit.

Comments are closed.