Editor’s note: this article was updated on 05/04/2024 to include information about Fr. William’s religious order and parish. This article was also updated on 05/17/2024 to include an update on the apology Fr. William issued regarding the nature of the blessing.
CV NEWS FEED // A priest in the Archdiocese of Chicago recently blessed a same-sex couple, asking them if they “recommit” themselves “to love each other as holy spouses,” though he initially clarified for them that the blessing is not a wedding or marriage.
Fr. Joseph Williams is the pastor of St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Chicago, where the blessing took place. Fr. Williams is a Vincentian priest. He is not a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago. St. Vincent DePaul parish is a parish fully owned and operated by the Vincentians who run DePaul University. The parish is on the campus grounds.
Fr. Wiliams gave the blessing to Kelli Knight and Myah (as identified in a social media video of the blessing) on April 22, according to Our Sunday Visitor (OSV) News.
Knight has been a Methodist minister in Chicago for 14 years. She is set to become an associate minister in Arizona this summer. Knight requested the blessing a month in advance.
According to OSV News, Fr. Williams said to Knight when she requested the blessing, “Please understand that this is not in any way a marriage, a wedding, anything like that. This is just simply a blessing of persons.”
Knight posted a video of the blessing, along with photos of the church, on her Instagram account on April 22.
She wrote in the caption, “Myah always wanted to get married at the chapel of her Alma mater, so I surprised her with a blessing of our marriage!”
OSV News reported, “The clip looked to be filmed using a cellphone on a tripod set before the altar, with the camera facing the empty church. Father Williams, dressed in a white alb and an ivory stole, helps the pair to adjust their position in the camera frame before beginning the blessing.”
In a statement to OSV News, Fr. Williams said that he wrote the blessing himself. The video depicts Fr. Williams saying, “This is going to be very short, very brief,” before he reads the blessing out of a binder while Knight and Myah hold hands.
“Do you freely recommit yourselves to love each other as holy spouses and to live in peace and harmony together forever?” Fr. Williams asks in the video.
Both Knight and Myah respond, “We do, I do.”
Fr. Williams then says, “Loving God, increase and consecrate the love which Kelli and Myah have for one another.”
OSV News reported: “Although no ring exchange is depicted in the segment, the priest says, ‘The rings they have exchanged are the sign of their fidelity and commitment. May they continue to prosper in your grace and blessing. We ask this through Christ our Lord.’”
The blessing concluded with Fr. Williams making the sign of the cross, saying, “May God’s blessing be yours, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.” Myah and Knight also crossed themselves at the conclusion.
In his statement to OSV News, Fr. Williams said that when he wrote the blessing, he intended the term “holy spouses” to mean “couple.”
“They were a couple (and) they want to be blessed… they told me they were partners,” he said. He said the rings were “commitment rings” that he blessed “as a sign of their commitment.”
Addressing a question about wearing his alb and stole for the blessing, Fr. Williams told OSV News, “If people (are) concerned about it, they can ask me and I can talk to them. … It’s how I do it. When I go to somebody’s house to bless their house … I wear an alb and stole. … That’s just what I do as a priest. That’s part of my garment.”
The blessing comes several months after the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith issued “Fiducia Supplicans,” or “On the Pastoral Meaning of Blessings,” which addresses blessings for same-sex couples.
Some of the requirements for a blessing for a same-sex couple are that it is spontaneous and that it does not cause scandal or confusion.
Fr. Williams told OSV News that after reading “Fiducia Supplicans,” he understood the document to mean “that the Holy Father said that same-sex couples can be blessed as long as it does not reflect a marriage situation … as long as it’s clear that it’s not a marriage.”
Fr. Williams also told OSV that this is the first same-sex couple blessing he has given.
“The people around here that know about it were happy that I was willing to do this for this couple. Again, coming from the point of view that they love each other. Love is love,” he stated:
And I get the church’s position on same-sex marriage, and I happen to agree with that. I do believe that that valid sacramental marriage is between a man and a woman. But I think that to be able to say to people that love each other, “God bless you, and do the best you can” — that’s how I come at this.
OSV News requested comments from the Archdiocese of Chicago, which has not yet responded, according to the article, as of 6:10 p.m. ET on May 2. The news outlet also sent the video footage to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith Prefect Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, requesting an evaluation of the blessing. OSV News has not yet received a response.
On May 8, Fr. Williams issued a statement apologizing for the nature of the blessing.
According to a letter published by the Congregation of the Mission Western Province, Fr. Williams said: “The shape that the blessing took as portrayed in the video came about due to my attempt to provide for them a meaningful moment of God’s grace. I wanted to do it well. A week or so after the fact, I viewed the video. I immediately realized that I had made a very poor decision in the words and visuals captured on the video.”
“I am deeply sorry for any confusion and/or anger that this has caused, particularly for the People of
God,” he concluded.
