Members of the St. Columbia-Brigid Roman Catholic Church in Buffalo, NY suffered a serious crisis of faith after their pastor posted a “shocking” message on the church’s sign last week.
“Jesus had two dads,” it read, “and he turned out just fine.”
A photo of the sign quickly began circulating on social media, attracting negative attention from other Catholics all around the world who felt it promoted same-sex parenting.
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Perhaps no one was more distraught over the sign than John Vennari, a blogger for the website Catholic Family News.
“The sign was so scandalous I had a hard time believing it was not photo-shopped,” Vennari wrote last week. “This morning I drove to the church to see for myself. With great sadness I report it is true.”
Vennari went on accuse the “pro-homosexual sign” of displaying “actions bereft of the Holy Ghost” and making a mockery of “the most sacred components of our Catholic Faith.”
As a result of the controversy, the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo’s offices were bombarded with phone calls “from around the world, from callers protesting the contents of the sign,” a spokesperson said.
The church’s online guestbook was also targeted, with people calling the sign “an abomination,” “blasphemous,” “heretical” and “an outrageous mockery of the Catholic faith.”
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When word got back to Reverend Roy T. Herberger that his 10-word sign had literally caused an international outcry, he quickly took it down.
In an interview with Buffalo News, Herberger said the whole thing was a misunderstanding and that he never intended to promote a “pro-homosexual” message.
“I just Googled ‘funny church signs,’” he said, adding that he thought the message was about fathers and stepfathers, not gay dads.
“My only purpose was to say, ‘Look, hang in there. People understand what you’re going through. Don’t give up on yourself,’” he added.
The Diocese of Buffalo then released a statement clearing the air: “The pastor of SS. Columba-Brigid Parish told me that the ‘2 Dads’ were meant to refer to a child who has both a father and stepfather,” it read. “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.”
Peace in Buffalo has been restored.
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Stache
Wow. The excuse reminds me of the game twister.
People are fucked up. Let’s get worked up over one tale of fiction over another. Dumb.
Gil Gordon
Georgie Land
Yes, how dare someone use the myths of the Churches against their ignorant bigotry! If these ‘Christians’ can’t accept the first myth, they must jettison the second, namely, homophobia , or they have to admit that the whole ideology is bs!
Ben Stimpson
There are quite a few clergy who are actually gay, they just can’t come out nor express it. In a way, perhaps this was a way for a clergyman to share his personal views. I can see why some would hate it, but then thats their ow hatred isn’t it.
Tony Chaplinski
why the controversy? Digging way down into the Bible, it’s true
ingyaom
What was the replacement sign, “Jesus had a surrogate mom and he turned out okay”?
Justin Weeks
No one cares what they think! They just need to stfu and get over it
Daniela Strobl
And Jesus mom had sex before marriage…
Gavin Bowerman
Read the room, Gil.
Markajv
You are late to the Bar-B-Q. This sign is OLD news. I had it up on my Facebook page last year. Maybe it was not the same church but it was the exact same comment.
captainburrito
Replacement sign: Abstaining from sex does not necessarily mean you will not fall pregnant. Ask Mary.
Markajv
https://www.google.com/search?q=Jesus+had+two+dads&es_sm=122&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAWoVChMI09PY08mVyQIVgfI-Ch2OIQ0z&biw=1366&bih=643
Just do a google search. You will see that this has been done before.
artgolden
Unfuckingbelievable. Religion = mental illness.
paul dorian lord fredine
last week? that saying has been around for almost a year and has been displayed on several different forums. was whoever wrote this in a freaking coma??
BJ McFrisky
Why do Christ-ies and Muzzies hate us so much, when heir practitioners constantly proclaim that they’re all about the love?
GayEGO
Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! This just proves how ignorant and brainwashed these negative religious nuts are. They feel the fear installed in their brains by their church leaders who told them that these kinds of comments are evil and against Jesus, which is false. How do they know for certain who Jesus’s parents were, Mary and Joseph, Adam and Steve, or Eva and Treva?
How this is happening in this day and age is unbelievable. Gender identity and gender attraction are a natural part of human beings, seeking loving relationships or casual sex between two adults. This is not the same as those who have mental problems such as sexual molesters and predators.
GayEGO
@Ben Stimpson: And they need to learn to obtain knowledge about humanity, loving, and inclusiveness so they can toss their meaningless hatred and begin to live happy lives.
GayEGO
@captainburrito: How about Adam and Eve eating the apple?
onthemark
This sign has appeared at liberal Protestant churches (such as UCC), many times over the years, which is probably where this priest saw it online on “funny church signs.” It only created a “controversy” this time because it was a Catholic parish.
1EqualityUSA
If only they were as wildly emphatic about child exploitation.
nmharleyrider
not so much a heretical issue as it was a hysterical reaction to it. Lighten up people, I am catholic and I thought it was a terrific blooper on the priest’s part. The funny thing about it is that if you think about it, it’s a true statement.
Ward Dustin
Stepdad and dad so yes we could be talking about a deceased father but we also could be talking about divorce!!
Jeff Boyle
So divorce is ok?
Cam
At least Queerty didn’t call God, Joseph and Mary a “Throuple” to get some click bait. 😉
Mack
The Catholics just have a problem with the truth. They can’t handle it.
Bad Ass Biker
@ingyaom: Actually, abstinence didn’t work out too well for her.
Chris
Awesome!
Dr. Arthur Frederick Ide
Every day I am more grateful to have left the Catholic churh and Christianity. It is unbelievable that people are worked up over a sign that tells the truth according to the bible.
kevininbuffalo
The diocese didn’t order him to take it down, it was the bishop Richard Malone. Malone was previously a bishop in Maine where he fought a Gay marriage proposition on the ballot there, mostly with money from the Knights of Columbus. When he was appointed to Buffalo the Vatican allowed him to stay longer in Maine to finish his dirty work there. He’s a homophobe 1st class. He had a major hissy fit when marriage equality passed in New York. And there are stories about Dick Malone and another priest, kind of like Benedict 16 and his pal “Gorgeous Georg.” Thank God I’m an ex Catholic!
Scott McIntosh
If there really was a god he would be terribly embarassed by the idiot ‘friends’ he has here on Earth. In the old days he seems to have done a lot of smiting, pity he doesn’t smite these people dumb for a time.
Connie Bratten
What was the intended message?
Berkleyguy
What is scandalous about the sign? It certainly did not promote anything fraudulent or a lie. In reality he did have two fathers. This is the very thing that is wrong with Christianity today and why it’s on the verge of imploding. People allow themselves to make something more than it is. It certainly got everyone’s attention and that’s the purpose of a church marquis anyway other than to show service times.
gaym50ish
How about this chamge? “The Virgin Mary had a sperm donor and Jesus turned out just fine.”
SFHarry
Are the father and step-father the kid’s dad and the dad’s new husband?
bambamboom777
I can’t imagine that the priest put that sign up without knowing how it would be perceived. If I saw a sign like that I would never think it was referring to fathers and step-fathers. There was nothing in the sign that even hinted that that was what it was about. He’d have to be totally clueless to not know that most people seeing “2 dads and he turned out just fine” would assume that was about same-sex parents given current events and the controversy involving religion and same-sex families. In any case, if he did do it purposely, then good for him. It takes all kind of little acts undo centuries of authoritarian indoctrination and I’m sure there are plenty of priests in the Catholic Church who are silent allies working silently behind the scenes chipping away at the ignorance without the hierarchy taking notice.
DuMaurier
@bambamboom777: I was going to post the same thing. The phrase has been circulating for too long as a pro-LGBT thing, and as others here pointed out, it’s been on pro-equality church signs specifically to convey that message. I think the guy did it very slyly, to get his message across and knowing it’d have to come down when it caused a fuss–and also that the sign is ambiguous enough that he’d have plausible deniability.
And for which I repeat what you said: “Good for him”!!!!!
crowebobby
The “SS.” Columba-Brigid Parish – They should add the “SS” to the name of most Christian churches.