The National Catholic Register portal reports on May 8, 2026, that the final report of Study Group 9 from the 2024 Synod on Synodality has been released, drawing sharp criticism for its attempt to alter the Church’s immutable teaching on homosexuality and for its gross misrepresentation of Courage International, a canonically approved apostolate. The report, which includes testimonies from “married” gay men, questions the sinful nature of same-sex relations, and promotes a “paradigm shift” away from established Catholic doctrine, is a brazen manifestation of the conciliar sect’s ongoing apostasy, seeking to replace divine law with the shifting sands of human experience and secular ideology.
The “Paradigm Shift”: A Modernist Revolution Against Divine Law
The very premise of Study Group 9’s report, as highlighted by the National Catholic Register, is its embrace of a “paradigm shift” initiated by the Second Vatican Council. This term, a hallmark of modernist thought, signifies a fundamental break with the past, a rejection of “models of ecclesial life prevalent over the past centuries.” For those adhering to the unchanging Catholic faith, this is not a development but a corruption, a direct contradiction of the Church’s divine constitution and her perennial teaching. The Council of Trent, Session VI, Canon 21, unequivocally states that if anyone says that the commandments of God are impossible to observe for the justified, let him be anathema. This “paradigm shift” is nothing less than a concerted effort to undermine the very possibility of living a chaste life according to God’s commandments, replacing the pursuit of sanctity with a relativistic “pastorality” that caters to human weakness rather than elevating it to supernatural virtue.
Relativizing Sin: The Testimonies of “Married” Homosexuals
The report’s inclusion of testimonies from two “married” homosexual men is not merely a pastoral exercise but a deliberate act of doctrinal subversion. The first witness, from Portugal, claims the Lord gave him all he needed for a “life of shared faith and service with my husband.” The report then asserts, based on this testimony, that “sin, at its root, does not consist in the (same sex) couple relationship, but in a lack of faith in a God who desires our fulfilment.” This is a direct contradiction of the Church’s constant teaching. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (pre-conciliar, e.g., the Roman Catechism, Part III, Chapter 8, or any standard pre-1958 moral theology manual) explicitly states that homosexual acts are “acts of grave depravity” and “intrinsically disordered.” They are “contrary to the natural law” and “do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity.” The report’s assertion is a modernist inversion: it places human desire and self-fulfillment above God’s law, effectively declaring that what God has condemned as sinful can be reinterpreted as a path to “fulfillment” based on subjective experience. This is the very essence of the “evolution of dogmas” condemned by St. Pius X in *Pascendi Dominici Gregis*.
The second witness, identified as Jason Steidl-Jack, a prominent proponent of normalizing same-sex relationships, goes further, stating his sexuality is “a gift from God” and that he is “flourishing as an openly gay Catholic.” He explicitly rejects the Church’s teaching that same-sex attraction is an “objective disorder” (a term used in pre-conciliar documents like *Persona Humana* from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, 1975, which itself was a modernist compromise, but even this term is now rejected by the conciliar sect). His claim that Courage International “did little to help” and that its members were “lonely, hopeless, and often depressed” is a direct attack on an apostolate dedicated to helping individuals live chastely according to Church teaching. The report’s authors, by presenting these testimonies without any critical theological rebuttal, implicitly endorse their heretical premises.
Slandering Courage International: An Apostolate Under Siege
The report’s treatment of Courage International is particularly egregious. Courage, a canonically approved apostolate, has for decades provided spiritual support to men and women experiencing same-sex attractions who wish to live chastely according to Church teaching. The report, however, conflates the witness’s words with the erroneous claim that Courage International was pushing reparative therapy, which the apostolate explicitly denies. This is a clear case of calumny and detraction, as Courage International itself stated in its May 8 response. The report’s authors, by relying on a single, hostile witness and failing to verify facts with Courage leadership, demonstrate a profound lack of charity and a commitment to an ideological agenda over truth.
Courage International’s mission is rooted in the Church’s unchanging moral teaching and the call to conversion. As Father Brian Gannon, Courage’s executive director, stated, the “key to Courage’s ministry” is “personal accompaniment, and grace through the sacraments.” This aligns perfectly with the Church’s understanding of spiritual growth and the struggle against concupiscence. The apostolate’s emphasis on chastity and the pursuit of holiness is a direct application of Christ’s command: “Be you therefore perfect, also as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). The report’s attempt to discredit Courage is an attack on the very possibility of living a chaste life according to God’s law, a denial of the power of grace and the sacraments to transform human weakness into strength.
The Modernist Agenda: “Relational Conversion” and the Denial of Objective Sin
The report’s emphasis on “relational conversion” that “demands learning through experience” is a hallmark of modernist subjectivism. It shifts the focus from objective truth and divine commandments to subjective feelings and personal journeys. This is a direct rejection of the Church’s teaching on the nature of sin and conversion. True conversion, as understood by the Church, involves a turning away from sin and towards God, a change of heart and mind in accordance with His revealed will. It is not merely a process of “learning through experience” but a response to grace, a submission of one’s will to the divine law.
The report’s assertion that “sin, at its root, does not consist in the (same sex) couple relationship” is a denial of the objective reality of sin. This is a fundamental error that strikes at the heart of Catholic moral theology. The Church has always taught that certain actions are intrinsically evil, regardless of the intentions or circumstances of the actor. Homosexual acts, like adultery, fornication, and contraception, fall into this category. To deny this is to deny the very existence of natural law and the moral order established by God. As Pope Pius IX declared in the *Syllabus of Errors*, “Moral laws do not stand in the need of the divine sanction, and it is not at all necessary that human laws should be made conformable to the laws of nature and receive their power of binding from God” (Proposition 56) is an error. The report’s stance is a clear embrace of this condemned proposition, placing human experience and desire above divine law.
The Hierarchy’s Complicity and the Call to Fidelity
The composition of Study Group 9, including figures like Cardinal Carlos Castillo Mattasoglio and Father Maurizio Chiodi, known for their heterodox positions on homosexuality, reveals the ideological bias at the heart of this “synodal” process. The report’s authors are not seeking truth but promoting a pre-determined agenda that aligns with secular LGBTQ+ activism rather than Catholic doctrine. The fact that such a document can be produced under the auspices of the Vatican, even by an antipope like Leo XIV, is a testament to the depth of the modernist infiltration within the conciliar sect.
Cardinal Gerhard Müller’s criticism, as reported by the National Catholic Register, is a rare voice of orthodoxy within the current structures. He correctly identifies the report’s authors as those who “do not openly deny revealed truths, but set them aside and, alongside them, build their own house of a comfortable and world-conforming Christianity.” This is precisely the strategy of modernism: not outright denial, but subtle reinterpretation and relativization, leading to a complete abandonment of the faith in practice.
The faithful, however, must not be deceived by these machinations. The Church’s teaching on homosexuality, rooted in Scripture, Tradition, and the perennial Magisterium, remains unchanged. As St. Paul writes, “Know you not that the unjust shall not possess the kingdom of God? Err not: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor the effeminate, nor liers with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor railers, nor extortioners, shall possess the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10). This is the unyielding truth that the conciliar sect seeks to obscure.
The path forward for the faithful is clear: to reject these modernist innovations, to cling to the unchanging doctrine of the Church, and to support apostolates like Courage International that uphold the truth. The “synodal path” is not a path to renewal but a path to further apostasy, a betrayal of Christ and His Church. As Father Gerald Murray rightly called it, this report is a “subversive attempt to overthrow Catholic morality on the question of homosexuality.” The faithful must pray for the true Church’s deliverance from this abomination and for the conversion of those who have led her astray. The ultimate triumph belongs not to the “spirit of the age” but to Christ the King, whose reign shall have no end.
Source:
Critics Say Synod Report Undermines Church Teaching, Misrepresents Courage (ncregister.com)
Date: 08.05.2026