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.
ALASKA WATCHMAN DIRECT TO YOUR INBOX
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.
— Click here for information on how to express your concerns to the Papal Nuncio for the United States (the pope’s ambassador).
29 Comments
Blasphemy
I don’t care what this person’s or any other person’s credentials are. None of them trump the Lord. Just because something is popular, sounds good, or is seemingly harmless, does not mean that it is true, good, and right in the eyes of God. That would is why he gave us scripture and tradition and the gift of the Holy Spirit to help us flee from all appearances of sin. In the end, no e of these people will escort you into heaven.
None of the alphabet mafia is true, good or right.
The RCC leadership is reprobate.
Greater understanding? What part of the New Testament does the Bishop not understand? 1 Timothy 1:8-10 makes it perfectly clear that homosexual acts will bar one from heaven (among other verses). They should at least bar someone from serving Holy Communion and from serving in an advisory capacity to the Diocese. How long, Oh Lord, how long?
Once again, an Alaskan bishop (just like Etienne) publicly chooses to “dialogue” and “listen” to sexual deviants rather than preaching the truths of the faith and defending his flock from the wolves. Shame on you, Archbishop Bellisario.
I’m not sure how to compose a “respectful” response to the Archbishop on this, especially when I know it will most likely be handled by the Murkowski cabal of women at the chancery (and the Alaska Conference of Catholic Bishops!) and may never even be seen by Bellisario himself.
There is a special place in hell for bishops who would rather feed our children to the wolves than stand up for the Truth.
Stay away from our children if this is your idea of proclaiming the Gospel.
So do I assume from this history that mr hess is actively homosexual ? Married to a partner?
He has 5 more years before he retires. Can’t come quickly enough. Please pray that God will grant him the Graces he needs to shed this evil.
Absolutely horrifying. How can we talk about raising the next generation of Catholics when this individual is a supposed role model and decision maker in the Church? My heart hurts to read this. May Hess repent of his sins and may the archbishop realize the grave error he has made in his selection. Though I agree with the concept of the synodal team; electing a man who is openly living in sin (instead of how the Church calls homosexuals to live, I.e. not in mortal sin), is not fulfilling Pope Francis’ vision.
It’s time to report Bellisario to the Office of Safe Environment for naming a homosexual activist who’s been involved in the child abuse that Identity, Inc engages in to his Archdiocesan “Synod Implementation Team.” Derrel Hess should not be allowed anywhere near children, especially on Archdiocesan property, and most especially at Catholic parishes. For the Archbishop to put him in a position of influence within the Archdiocese gives grave scandal and makes a complete mockery of the entire Safe Environment Program. …Unless, of course, Safe Environment and it’s parent Charter for the Protection of Young People were actually designed to raise all lay people to the level of suspicion while protecting those within the institution who would fashion millstones for themselves by offending against innocent children…
Jenny Michaelson, you have some explaining to do…
Call a spade a spade, a predator a predator, and don’t pretend someone who promotes the manipulation and sexualization of children is anything less than a predator.
Out of curiosity has the Archbishop invited a muslim to join his synodal team for the purpose of “engaging in open and honest dialogue” to “bridge differences and foster a sense of belonging”? That team member may have a significant difference of opinion with the Alphabet Mafia’s Derrel Hess.
My experience with Archbishop Bellisario is pretty bad, to be perfectly honest with you. Years ago, he revoked the Blessed Sacrament from the chapel at HRA. When my little boy, 6 years old at the time, stated that he felt “like I’m being punished for something I didn’t do,” I chose to share that sentiment with him after Mass. I stated, “How am I supposed to raise children who look up to the prelates when this child’s own Bishop has broken his heart like that?” Belissario’s response: “HOW CRUEL OF YOU!”
This isn’t a man with compassion for children. Not for their souls, based on my experience.
While there are many good Catholics out there, goodness doesn’t get you to Heaven nor infant baptism. While studying the Bible from beginning to end year after year, through again and again, I’ve come to understand that Roman Catholicism is a false religion and a formidable enemy of true Christianity. Filtering this through the prism of God’s Word, it sure seems this Catholic church-wide push towards wokeism is in realty a Trojan horse for the kingdom of Satan.
While you are certainly entitled to your opinion on the matter, you should probably know that the Bible you so carefully studied is the product of the Roman Catholic Church you choose to denigrate. History might enlighten you concerning the roots of your Christianity. Or not. Your choice.
Far, far worse than his appointment to the synodal team is that Hess is allowed to act as an “Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion.” As a Public promoter of Drag Queen Story Hours, he should not even be allowed to receive Holy Communion himself according to Canon 915, in order to prevent scandal to the faithful.
Excellent point.
It’s time for the Archdiocese to face a reckoning. We cannot stand for our Archbishop to elevate a man who’s living an active homosexual lifestyle and promoting the moral corruption of our children in his public life. We must fight the advance of the homosexual agenda. We must -and will!- defend the innocence and bodily integrity of our children. St. Charles Lawanga and the Holy Martyrs of Uganda, pray for us!
Now hear this, dear “listening Church”: The Truth is a Person, and His Name is Jesus Christ. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The Truth will never change, no matter how much earthly power is achieved by sexual deviants, nor how many cowardly bishops fail to defend Him and the sheep entrusted to their care.
DID YOU KNOW? During the ordination of a Priest, his fingers and thumbs are specially consecrated with holy oil, that they may be fit to touch Christ’s body. The Council of Trent affirmed this tradition, handed down by the Apostles: only a Priest may take in his hands the Most Holy Eucharist.
Those who are allowing this to happen are calling upon themselves their own damnation.
Where are our priests? Why are they sitting idly by and allowing such disgraceful behavior to continue. Are they protecting their own?
If we were in the times of St. Paul, we would be getting a letter, and it would not be pretty!
It appears that the priest allowing this to happen does not know the full extent of allowing such an abomination to take place on his watch.
Hebrews 13: 9a
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teaching.
When Jesus hung out with sinners…
THE SINNER CHANGED. JESUS DID NOT CHANGE.
Sinners Must Repent and then – Go and sin NO MORE!!!
The LGBT potpourri and churches all have something grossly in common with each other. They are more alike than many would care to admit. They all require membership, money, and taxpayer support in order to exist. Two sides of the same coin if you ask me. Just like Democrats and Republicans are the same floppy wings of the same money laundering bird.
Cults.
Only normies require self affirming groups to make sense of their world view.
Break free from the matrix dear sleeper sheepers.
“……… The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres…churches and altars sacked; the Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord………..”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Akita
It’s extremely disappointing to realize we have one of the bad ones leading us here.
You all missed that the Pope is encouraging this?
Scott: every Catholic knows that the pope is encouraging it. The “Synodal Church” is the product of Vatican 2. It’s been the definition of most of our lives as Catholics. The current Pope included. Pray for the Church. She is not her prelates. She is the Bride of Christ.
Remember, the Catholic church at the very top of its hierarchy excused pdf files and let them evade justice. The church revealing that they are LGBTQ aligned should come as no surprise. Just think about that!
While the U.S. bishops marked the 250th anniversary of our nation by consecrating it to the Sacred Heart of Jesus -in June, the month dedicated to the Sacred Heart- Archbishop Bellisario pledged his allegiance to the Rainbow Mafia instead.
The common denominator of all the comments here is the Bible. Drop that book and live freely. Allow others to do the same.
I find it curious that you feel you need to proselytize your atheism on a site that is clearly all in on Christianity. I likewise find it odd that you think anyone is not allowing you to be an atheist, when you are allowed to comment here just as freely as anyone. Tell me, do you ever get tired of trying to poke the eyes of people with whom you disagree, or is that truly your reason for being?
I worry about the decisions made by christians that affect me and my family. You influence who my family can safely love. You feel compelled to intervene in sexuality and intimacy demanding that if it isn’t done according to your lithic god, it’s blasphemy or sin worthy of shunning and sneer. You get tax-free status, robbing Americans of appropriate revenue. You promote faith over reason which corrodes evidence and reason and logic and the scientific method. You create colossal hypocrites, dangerous awful destructive hypocrites like little boy Pete Hegseth. You breed hate against all the do not huddle in your corner. Religion is poison and you are a provider.
I know that I am to pray for these warped misguided gentlemen but their beliefs are contrary to biblical and church doctrine. Am I being too harsh by asking these men to be excommunicated? I too am an EM. I take this blessed responsibility very seriously!
This just shows that regardless of whether you are an Archbishop or a priest, or a nun, or a regular citizen, we are all sinners. We are not divine. The Pope included.
Baum. Not me, I’m an atheist and do not want or need to demean my fellows as sinners. Your religion controls the gullible by making them believe they are less and offers them a chance to be more. For a price.
I assure you having been Director of Anchorage Municipal Libraries under Dave Bronson, I had several interactions with Mr. Darel Hess. His definitions, and now I guess the Catholic Church’s definitions, are anything but “inclusive.” If you are someone who believes in Biblical principles, you are labeled a racist, homophobe and other nasty descriptive words. They love to use DEI, which stands for diversity, equity and inclusion. The problem is their definitions are not diverse, equitable or inclusive. Diversity is not just the color of your skin or gender identity. Is it not also diversity of thought? I saw no diversity in thought, most certainly, with Mr. Hess, most of the librarians, or the assembly. Equity is a racist word. Equality means you treat all equally (according to their ability).
If, as a teacher, every time a child of color or low income walked into my classroom, I immediately thought, “Oh, they aren’t as smart. Let me help them instead of having high expectations that they could do what all the other children could do” – is that inclusive? I ask all of you how included do you feel?