Quest Conference

Catholic Action UK have put up a post alerting people to a forthcoming conference of Quest. Quest is described as a dissident organisation dedicated to undermining the teaching of the Catholic Church on homosexuality.

I had a look at the group's website: although they claim to be Catholic, the constitution does appear to be ambiguous, as one of the stated aims of Quest is:

"...associating lay men and women who are seeking ways of reconciling the full practice of their Catholic faith with the full expression of their homosexual natures in loving Christian relationships..."

The ambiguity is, of course, the understanding of what is meant by "full expression of their homosexual nature."

Certainly they are in favour of homosexual civil partnerships, and that is definitely contrary to Church teaching. They attacked Archbishop Vincent Nichols' stance on the Sexual Orientation Regulations, and rejected the Vatican's 2005 statement on admitting homosexual men to seminaries. The organisation has been excluded from the Catholic Directory since 1998 because of the ambiguity in its constitution. So it does seem strange that their conference is to be hosted by Digby Stuart College (once a Catholic teaching college), and they will be having Mass celebrated by Fr Alan McLean, who is acting as chaplain to the conference. Fr Michael Seed is one of the speakers.

Catholic Action UK are asking people to write to Archbishop Kevin McDonald protesting that the use of Digby Stuart College as the Quest Conference venue is unacceptable while the organisation does not support the teachings of the Church on homosexuality. More information (including the address of the Archbishop, and the email address of the Archbishop's Private Secretary) can be found HERE.