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A visitation for John Arthur Park will take place Monday, November 9, 2026, beginning at 9:30 a.m., at Our Lady, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Cathedral, in Toledo, until the time of the funeral memorial Mass at 10:30 a.m.
However, John Park had lived with a homosexual “partner,” Harry Tennery, since 1983, and formally “married” Tennery in Fort Wayne, Indiana, in 2014, before a justice of the peace.
According to Park’s obituary, “In the summer of 1978, he met the man who was destined to be the love of his life, Harry Tennery. They began living together in May of 1983. On October 28, 2014, they eloped to Fort Wayne, IN, where they were married at the courthouse. Jack is survived by his beloved husband, Harry…”
Entering into a homosexual “marriage” is a public act of manifest grave sin and a public scandal, according to Catholic teaching.
Furthermore, ecclesiastical law forbids the granting of a Catholic funeral to manifest sinners on account of the scandal this would offer, unless they gave some sign of repentance for their sin before death.
According to the Church’s Code of Canon Law, deceased members of the Christian faithful normally have a right to ecclesiastical funerals (Canon 1176).
The exceptions, however, are delineated in Canon 1184, which states:
§1. Unless they gave some signs of repentance before death, the following must be deprived of ecclesiastical funerals:
1° notorious apostates, heretics, and schismatics;
2° those who chose the cremation of their bodies for reasons contrary to Christian faith;
3° other manifest sinners who cannot be granted ecclesiastical funerals without public scandal of the faithful.
§2. If any doubt occurs, the local ordinary is to be consulted, and his judgment must be followed.
The Lepanto Institute reached out by email to the Cathedral of Our Lady, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, and formally requested that, in accord with ecclesiastical law, the Church deny Christian burial to John Arthur Park because of the grave scandal that this would cause to the Catholic faithful on account of his public entry into a homosexual “marriage” without any sign of public repentance or renunciation of the act.
In response, the office manager for the cathedral, Alicia Weinandy, made the following statement by email: “I have conferred with the priest who will celebrate the funeral Mass. He has indicated, in conscience, that he is able to celebrate the Mass. You may not know all the pastoral details in this situation, and it would be inappropriate for us to comment further.”
Lepanto further asked the cathedral if Mr. Park had renounced his public homosexual “marriage” before his death, pointing out that if not, a Christian burial would be a clear violation of canon law, meriting public attention to that fact.
The cathedral did not response prior to the time of publication.
In view of the public scandal afforded by a Catholic funeral in the cathedral church of a diocese for a man living in a homosexual “marriage,” and the implicit approbation of the grave sin of sodomy, the Lepanto Institute is publicly calling upon the Diocese of Toledo to withdraw the privilege of Christian burial for John Park, in accord with the dictates of canon law.
The Lepanto Institute also asks the Catholic faithful of the Diocese of Toledo to voice their complaints to the Cathedral of Our Lady, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, for the blatant disregard for the Church’s laws regarding the deprivation of an ecclesiastical funeral for unrepentant manifest sinners.