It has a weak and whiney tone about it. It's not the boldly voiced proclamation of the sort that the Catholic Church had been making until it became clear that public sentiment worldwide has shifted in favor of allowing gay marriage. It seems to say "Come on, guys, you already have some of the benefits you want. Why can't you just be satisfied with that?"
It also makes a rather pompous reminder to the State that it is supposed to be protecting "the family" and that allowing these marriages does the opposite. Jesus Christ.
The part that amuses me is the argument that tradition is the potent indicator that gay marriage is wrong. Mahony/Cronies support this by siting/footnoting their own previous statements as Catholic bishops. Yeah. Convincing.
On the whole, the statement is a hand-wringing nervous act of desperation coated with an insincere statement of warm outreach to the gay community. Roger, you'd have done better to keep your mouth shut. Fire your writers, and the next time you need to issue a statement regarding the gay community, email me. I can be bought, and you'll get your money's worth.
(click to read:)
13 comments:
a great, big "oh, puh-leeze".
i guess they know what they're up against.
Oh for the love of mud! I can't get all that worked up over what the Catholic Church says or thinks, however I do think that if all of these religious organizations want to continue to meddle in public policy then they should pay taxes like the rest of us. What part of separation of church and state do they not understand.
Obviously the Catholic Church doesn't find equal rights "a common good central to a free and democratic society." Why is it that the pious always choose the side of an argument inherently biased and discriminatory, at a point in time when so many have already said "OK" and moved on? God's guidance has been given in abundance on this subject, and it seems to me to be saying, love is the overriding consideration here, not gender. Move on.
While I agree that the tide is turning inevitably in our favor, I beleive it is premature to claim victory. One only needs to read the comments out of Napa to realize that the work is only just beginning.
http://www.naparegister.com/articles/2008/06/17/news/local/doc48580838973b8570159856.txt
Wow. O, how this faith serves its patrons poorly.
Thank you for that.That beautiful photos… enchant to me… I must spend more times this way.
Thanks
Isn't Mahoney sort of like Bush now? People look and say . . . "Uh, he is babbling again." lol
What was the Church's stance on American pioneer marriages, which came about when two interested parties decided they were married? There were no priests or judges available, so "marriages" were performed in the wilderness by simple mutual agreement. This was redefining marriage, at the very least.
And to use tradition as a reason to maintain status quo just cries for eye rolling. Slavery was also "deeply rooted in history and culture," and yet we finally redefined the status of human rights to include all races.
The closing paragraphs about the benefits availed to same-sex couples is just throwing crumbs to the starving.
I believe we are seeing the beginning of the next major gain in civil rights; I also believe that I will live to see its victory. We can further its momentum with calm, reasoned voices of confidence. Shrill exchanges of heated invective will do nothing to further this cause. Speak up when the occasion presents itself and don't distort the facts. Reason can and will prevail.
Fr. Tony, you are selling yourself short again. I don't think you should settle for writing letters for the Mahony. I think you would make a magnificent Catholic Archbishop of Los Angeles. Consider it!
The dignity of each human being, indeed. Their statement belies those very words. How can they not see the cloak of fear, the implacable rock, the miles of ice so far from dignity, from love. They rally the cry of "family" for a Jesus who gathered around him a family of the most disparate people imaginable.
I pray that the god/goddess of life will appear in our world again, and will, with creative rays, burn away the sterile, meaningless institutions and pierce the suffocating vestments of men such as these, to find again the diverse, naked human heart.
Cooper,
I am quite sure that if a God or Goddess were make an appearance in LA, He/She would not be visiting Cardinal M and his archbishops. In fact, they would probably only read about it in the papers.
And he's one of the "liberals."
At least LA doesn't have one of the constipated, bony-fingered, roseatia-encrusted fat jerks we have for bishops here in the East Coast dioceses.
Actually Mike, you, in DC, have one of the prettier and smarter ones, Donald Wuerhl (known among the Romani as "Donna Whirl").
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