The Rev. James Martin knew his latest book – which urges a dialogue between the Catholic Church and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Catholics who feel estranged from it – would be provocative. Even though the book was approved by his Jesuit superior as being in line with church teachings and was endorsed by several cardinals, he did not expect everyone to agree. That’s fine, he said. That’s why dialogue was needed.

His public position on this hot-button issue – most recently in the book, “Building a Bridge,” but also in speeches, articles and social media – has earned him the gratitude of parents of gay children or adults who feel unwelcome at church because of their sexual orientation. But his stance has also led to “joking” threats of violence and insults against him. Conservative Catholics have called him “effeminate,” a “homosexualist,” “pansified” and guilty of “leading young men to perdition.” In recent weeks, campaigns by people opposed to him have prompted three high-profile Catholic groups to disinvite him from events where he was to be the featured speaker.

But he has also been the victim of ad-hominem attacks, even from other Catholics who, he said, do not seem to remember Pope Francis’s remark that “who am I to judge” if a member of the clergy was gay. He tries to ignore the criticism, but when Catholic Vote, a conservative group, sent out a message – which it said was in jest - that Father Martin had been “beaten like a rented mule” by a Dominican priest, he filed a complaint with Twitter that resulted in the account being temporarily suspended.

That, in turn, prompted Austin Ruse, the president of the Center for Family and Human Rights, to call Father Martin’s reaction “pansified,” dubbing him “Father Snowflake” as well as a “perfidious priest.”