One of the most well-connected and influential LGBTQ activists in Alaska is part of a new “synod team” advising Archbishop Andrew Bellisario on how to transform the Catholic Church throughout the Anchorage-Juneau Archdiocese.

As announced earlier this year in The North Star Catholic, Archbishop Bellisario has appointed radical LGBTQ activist Darel Hess to serve as a key consultant on his newly-formed “archdiocesan synod team.”

Similar teams are now cropping up around the nation in response to the late Pope Francis’ push to create a “synodal church” which seeks to push the church towards a focus on diversity and inclusion, especially with respect to those who oppose the church’s clear and longstanding moral stances on traditional marriage, male-only clergy and teachings about the “objectively disordered” realities inherent in LGBTQ relationships.

Under the current Pope Leo XIV, local bishops are now being encouraged to form synodal teams to gradually transform the church through so-called “listening sessions.”

While most clergy have avoided publicly calling for changes to long-established Catholic positions on sexuality, several high-profile leaders have explicitly criticized church teaching for being out of step with modern liberal sentiments. Globally, the synodal movement has been mired in controversy between those who want the church to abandon, soften or modify its theological and moral positions and those who are fighting to defend the traditional, orthodox Gospel as proclaimed through the ages.

The April announcement in the Anchorage-Juneau archdiocesan newspaper noted that Hess is the ombudsman for the Municipality of Anchorage and a parishioner at St. Anthony Church in Anchorage, where he has served as eucharistic minister for 15 years. The archdiocesan article praises Hess for his “extensive experience in navigating complex conversations” and engaging in “open and honest dialogue” to “bridge differences and foster a sense of belonging.”

It also mentions that Hess has “voiced his belief that synodality represents the future of the Church, offering a path toward greater inclusion and mutual understanding.”

The article failed to note, however, that Hess is one of the most ardent and ideologically driven LGBTQ activists in the history of Alaska. As an openly homosexual man, he has spent decades working and volunteering to advance some of the most controversial agendas in the state.

This includes being a long-time board member of Identity, Inc., which spearheaded drag queen story hours for children, wherein sexually suggestive, cross-dressing men pranced on stage in front of impressionable children while wearing makeup, fake breasts and dresses.

During Hess’ time with Identity, the group also promoted the normalization of homosexuality and myriad gender identities through queer youth group gatherings, gender-bending LGBTQ proms, teen summer camps, and by helping organize the annual Anchorage PrideFest and parade.

From 2021 until this year, Identity ran a gender-queer clinic that provided cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers to youth, while promoting life-altering sex-change surgeries, all of which run contrary to Catholic teachings. The clinic shut down this spring, due to a lack of funding and support.

For decades, however, Hess was a leading voice behind promoting homosexual marriage in Alaska and regularly participated in public events aimed at advancing the LGBTQ agenda across all sectors of cultural life. He also criticized traditional religious understandings of marriage and human sexuality.

In 2017, The Advocate, the oldest continuously published LGBTQ+ magazine in the United States, celebrated Hess as one of 50 highly influential LGBTQ activists in the nation.

Hess’ social media accounts include images of him in church wearing a rainbow robe, and others promoting gay bars and LGBTQ causes.

Archbishop Bellisario’s decision to enlist Hess as a key advisor to help shape the future of the church comes at a time when many concerned Catholics are questioning the motives behind the “synodal church” initiative, with critics blasting it as a tool by which secular elites and powerful clergy are seeking to fundamentally change the institution from the inside out.

According to the announcement in the archdiocesan newspaper, Archbishop Bellisario convened his new synodal team to solicit advice on “ways to encourage listening, shared discernment, and openness to the guidance of the Holy Spirit across parishes in the region.”

Hess told the church paper that he hopes the synodal team will help Alaskan Catholics engage in “honest dialogue” in order to “bridge differences and foster a sense of belonging.”

Hess expressed his belief that “synodality represents the future of the Church, offering a path toward greater inclusion and mutual understanding.”

Over the course of the next year, the synodal team will be urging area churches to embrace this controversial understanding of Catholicism. It remains to be seen how the increasingly orthodox rank-and-file Catholic laity of Alaska will respond.

TAKING ACTION

— Click here to contact Archbishop Andrew Bellisario and other key leaders in the Anchorage-Juneau Archdiocese to respectfully express your opinion.

— Click here to read more about the synodal team in the Anchorage-Juneau Archdiocese.

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