Diocese of San Jose LGBT Ministry Leader is married to same-sex partner

(Pictured above: the former Pastor of St. Julie Billiart Catholic Parish in San Jose, CA – Fr. Jon Pedigo.)

According to his Linkedin.com page, John Huân Vũ is currently:

LGBT Ministry Leader, Young Adult Ministry Leader, Mass Coordinator, Eucharistic Minister, Lector
Saint Julie Billiart Catholic Church [in San Jose, California]
November 2009 – Present (6 years 10 months)

Listed under the subheading “Education” on his same Linkedin.com page, Vũ attended the Diocese of San Jose – Institute of Leadership Ministry in 2014; according to Vũ:

“The Institute for Leadership in Ministry is a three-year program which provides formation in Catholic theology, pastoral ministry and spirituality; and education and training in leadership. Our goal is to prepare competent ministerial leaders to serve throughout the Diocese of San Jose.”

None of this would seem remarkable – except Vũ also married his gay partner, Greg Ripa, in 2014. In 2015, both Vũ and Ripa recorded testimony videos of the “gay” affirming project “Owning You Faith,” which is sponsored by the Church of Saint Paul the Apostle in New York City. The first film in the series, featured a “married” same-sex couple – Matt and Rick Vidal; in that video, Matt Vidal said:

“If we leave it, if we abandon the Church then it’s never going to change. So we have to continue living here, being an example and encouraging other people to be that example because that’s what’s going to change the Church.”

Vũ is also an “Ordained Minister” with American Marriage Ministries (AMM); according to AMM: “American Marriage Ministries is proud that the Supreme Court has recognized the equal right of all people to marry. We support the rights of our ministers to perform same sex marriage for members of their community!”

In 2015, a local TV news-station reported on the LGBT ministry at Saint Julie Billiart; the Diocese of San Jose posted the completed segment to their official Facebook page; here is part of the transcript:

“Nothing the Church teaches has changed,” Vu said. “The tone has changed.”
Deacon Ruben Solorio with the Diocese of San Jose agrees.
“I think Pope Francis has been that prophetic voice that we have needed to hear in a society that is changing,” Solorio said.
It won’t be easy to change hundreds of years of church doctrine, but this could be a first step…

In 2015, Vũ and Ripa made a donation to the dissident group Fortunate Families: “in honor of Arthur Fiztmaurice.”

Fitzmaurice occupied a leadership position with the Catholic Ministry with Lesbian and Gay Persons (CMLGP) in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

The CMLGP has a long history of dissent: Arthur Fitzmaurice, Resource Director of the Catholic Association for Lesbian and Gay Ministry (CALGM), formerly served as Chair for the CMLGP. In 2015, Fitzmaurice spoke at the Congress and had this to say about the Church’s stance on homosexuality:

“The paragraph on homosexuality, which describes it as ‘intrinsically disordered’ while also demanding respect for gays and lesbians, is placed in a section of the catechism paragraphs condemning ‘pornography, prostitution, and rape.’ To keep this abusive language in the Catechism and other Church writings is, in itself, gravely evil.”

In a 2013 video interview for The IN [Ignatian News] Network, made in cooperation with St. Monica’s Catholic Gay and Lesbian Outreach in Santa Monica, Arthur Fitzmaurice said: “I tried to be directed towards God…How do I be the person that God made me to be; and then it gets converted into a realization that God made me to be this gay person.”

At the 2015 LA Congress, in an interview with “America” magazine, Fitzmaurice said this about the “inclusion of LGBT people” in the Church: “…it’s the slow movement of the spirit within us…it’s not about a few words in the Catechism.”

Fortunate Families a pro-gay “Catholic” apostolate for the parents of homosexual children; according to their Mission Statement, Fortunate Families: “serves as a resource and networking ministry with Catholic parents of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender children.”

Fortunate Families is a strong advocate for the legalization of same-sex marriage:

“Fortunate Families celebrates with our LGBT children the opportunity to share in the same rights as their straight siblings. The Supreme Court decision brings legal stability to our children’s lives and security to our grandchildren. We applaud this decision and continue our work in the Catholic tradition seeking social justice for all our children, and we look forward to the next hurdle, the passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act,” said Deb Word, President of Fortunate Families.

The former pastor at St. Julie Billiart is Fr. John Pedigo; currently, “[he] serves as Pastor at Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish, in the East Side of San Jose. He is the Chair of the Interfaith Council for Economics and Justice, and continues to lead the Diocesan efforts for immigration reform through Justice for Immigrants.”

In a 2015 homily, Pedigo said:

When I hear from the people from the LGBT Catholic community I am struck by their faith and resilience. They believe that there is no such thing as a “disorder” in their lives. They do not see any “grave evil” in their love. In fact, if there is any “disorder” it is the disorder of the lack of self-acceptance. The LGBT Catholic community has a story to tell and their story affirms for us what we should experience within our own lives: that God made us and what God made is good.

The 25th Anniversary Ordination Mass of Fr. Pedigo, presided by Bishop Patrick McGrath.