The procession set out on Tuesday, October 13, from St. Patrick’s Cathedral and wound through downtown Manhattan with several thousand faithful. Earlier, a Mass had been celebrated, presided over by the auxiliary bishop of New York, Joseph Espaillat. Each autumn the event is organized by the Napa Institute, a Catholic organization based in California. It was founded in 2010 by businessman Tim Busch, who chairs its board, and Jesuit Robert Spitzer. It has become one of the most visible public expressions of Eucharistic faith in the United States.
“They invited me to carry the monstrance”
Martin himself announced his participation. The following day he posted a message on X, accompanied by photographs, expressing his joy at having joined the procession. He explained that at one point he was invited to carry the monstrance, an experience he described as “deeply moving.” He added that he would never forget having borne Christ—truly present in the Eucharist—along Broadway. He also celebrated seeing people united around Jesus Christ who might not agree on everything else.
Martin is editor-at-large of the magazine America and a consultant to the Dicastery for Communication of the Holy See. He founded Outreach, a ministry for LGBT Catholics. His approach to sexual morality has drawn criticism from Catholic sectors that consider it contrary to Church teaching. His statements on abortion have likewise been reproached. In September 2025, Leo XIV received him in private audience.
“They treat you like trash”
The day before the procession, Martin had sparked another controversy. On the October 12 episode of The Pillar Podcast, titled “On bridges, with Fr. James Martin” and hosted by JD Flynn, the Jesuit asserted that in some parts of the United States and of the Church, homosexual persons are “simply treated like trash.”
To illustrate, he recreated phrases that, in his view, LGBT Catholics hear—such as “you don’t belong in this Church” or “you can’t receive Communion.” Flynn clarified that, in those cases, the refusal would not be because the person presents as married, but because the person “identifies” as homosexual. Martin replied that it happens because “the priest knows you’re doing whatever and that you’re gay.”
LifeSiteNews, which circulated the clip, interprets Martin as referring to persons who maintain homosexual relationships. In that case, the priest who denies them Communion would be applying Church doctrine. The Catechism teaches that anyone conscious of having committed grave sin must receive the sacrament of Reconciliation before approaching Communion (CCC 1385). Canon 915 states that those who “obstinately persist in manifest grave sin” are not to be admitted to Communion.
The remarks came just days after the close of the summit marking ten years of Amoris laetitia, during which theologian Julie Hanlon Rubio introduced LGBT language into the sessions.
The reaction of Catholics for Catholics
John Yep’s statement was published on October 15. It begins by acknowledging the work of Busch and the Napa Institute on behalf of the Church in the United States. Yep relates that he received the images while on a priestly retreat at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help in Champion, Wisconsin—the only site of approved Marian apparitions in the country. Yep says that at first he thought it was a mistake. After reading the comments from the Institute and from Martin himself, he concluded that the organization, “or at least certain representatives,” had authorized it.
To support his criticism, Yep cites Matthew 7:6: “Do not give what is holy to dogs, nor cast your pearls before swine.” He specifies that the pearl is Christ present in the Eucharist. According to his reading, the swine are not the persons but the sin. He does label Martin a “heretic” and maintains that a priest who presents that sin as acceptable drags his priesthood “into filth.” The statement concludes with a call for an immediate apology. To date, no public response from the Napa Institute has been recorded.
A question of prudence, not of lawfulness
Canon 943 of the Code of Canon Law establishes that the minister of exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and of Eucharistic Benediction is a priest or deacon. Martin is not under any public canonical sanction that would prevent him from exercising his ministry. The controversy, therefore, does not concern the lawfulness of the gesture. It concerns the prudence of granting him so visible a role in a public act of adoration, precisely on the days when he was questioning the denial of Communion to those living in contradiction with Church doctrine.