He gave it at the first annual educators conference hosted by the homosexual activist organization Jer’s Vision, now called the Canadian Centre for Gender and Sexual Diversity, in Toronto’s City Hall April 10. (…)
Skinner presented Cardinal Collins with his choice selection of Church quotes on homosexual persons along with his plan to uphold the dignity of LGBTQ students via these texts, telling the Cardinal that he only wanted what the Church wanted.
“What we did is we sat with the Cardinal and I said this is what we’re doing. And near the end he said: ‘Well, I have,…’ It was never really about right or wrong. It was about sensibility. And I was like, ‘OK, that’s a good idea.’ And I put those things in [the proposal]. And then he was like: ‘OK,’” Skinner said.
Showing how his method of co-opting Church teaching works, Skinner told a story about how a male student in the school where he was chaplain wanted to bring his “male date” to the prom a few years ago. Skinner told the principal at that time that not allowing the student to attend would be “judgment,” saying: “Don’t ask me to discriminate against this young man, because the Church forbids it, and the Catechism.”
He also gave the example of defending the pro-gay “Day of Pink” by comparing it to the two Church feasts where pink vestments are worn by the priest. (…)
Skinner says his method is one of opening a “closed mind” by “speak[ing] a language the person understands,” whether that be to a cardinal, a bishops’ conference, or a parent. He related how he addresses concerns raised by what he called “orthodox” parents who oppose the LGTBQ agenda in Catholic schools. He convenes a meeting where he invites people “all from different belief systems and spectrums within the Catholic community” to “talk” with the concerned parents. Surrounded by voices from all sides, the “orthodox” parents usually crumble and give ground. “And we work it out. Because that’s how you do it. That’s wisdom,” he said.
