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“As Roman Catholics, we differentiate between sacramental marriage and civil marriage. Therefore, we perceive that same-sex civil marriage poses no threat to our Church. While we respect the authority and integrity of the Church in matters of faith, our prayers and discernment have brought us to a new openness on this issue. We do not ask the Church to perform same-sex marriages. We do implore the Church to honor the States’ prerogative to authorize civil marriages for our gay and lesbian family and friends.”
This is exactly the messaging that is needed to counteract the hateful, bigoted and ignorant behavior of the leadership of the Catholic Church, which has taken a hardline stance that is arguably more damaging to the civil rights of LGBTs than the Mormon Church (there are 5.5 million in the U.S.).
With 70 million Catholics in the U.S. (representing 24% of the overall US population), and still-full coffers despite millions, if not upwards of a billion dollars in payouts as a result of its criminal pedophile priest protection enterprise, the Church has forged partnerships with fundamentalist churches and anti-gay causes.
There has not been an equally massive organized pro-LGBT Catholic opposition to the messaging and actions of Benedict's machine, but Catholics for Marriage Equality (C4ME) has launched a web site that hopes to bring faithful members of the flock together to challenge the incessant conflation of church and state that has been used to abandon the Church's long record social justice when it comes to the rights LGBT Americans.
It’s time to dispel the notion the incessant bigotry being brazenly perpetrated by church hierarchy goes unchallenged by others in the flock.
The Catholics for Marriage Equality Declaration
As faithful Roman Catholics we believe that the constitutional right to practice freedom of religion is based on respect for the dignity of each individual.
- The American principle of the separation of Church and State was enshrined in the Constitution to ensure that no particular religious perspective would be imposed on our pluralistic society.
- Catholic teaching on social justice has been central to the building of a just society, creating awareness of diversity in the human family, calling us to lives of respect, not simply tolerance, for one another.
- We remember that Roman Catholics were once denied civil rights, treated with suspicion, ridiculed because of our sacred rituals, and questioned as to our allegiance to “foreign authorities.” Memory challenges us to remain vigilant whenever bigotry and injustice enters into public discourse.
- Same-sex civil marriage does not in any way coerce any religious faith or tradition to change its beliefs or doctrine or alter its traditional marriage practices.
We know that God is a most gracious and wonderful Creator. Many of us have gay and lesbian relatives and friends.
As Roman Catholics, we differentiate between sacramental marriage and civil marriage.
Roman Catholics who agree should sign on here.
10 Comments
AWESOME!It’s good to see our allies come out, and I hope C4ME will continue their good work (and now bring it nationwide!) on showing that strong faith and support for LGBTQ equality can really go hand in hand.
And btw, it’s also good to be back here.
At least they get the church/state thing.OK, so they’ll keep the hetero-supremacy to church matters and insist that it stay there. I guess that’s really all I’m going to ask for as someone who’s no longer a Catholic — though I’ll still keep an open door for Catholics flirting with the idea of joining me on the “ex-” side (or at least going for some of that heretical Liberation Theology goodness).
OTOH, they’re still calling the modern post-Romantic heterocentrist model of marriage “traditional marriage” without qualifying articles.
Liberal CatholicsPam, you and I both went to the same liberal Catholic college, Fordham at Lincoln Center, and this strikes me as in line with the thinking of all the students I knew there and even some of the Jebbies.
BTW, Pam, I just returned to Fordham after 35 years! I was invited to speak to creative writing students as a successful author. It was very cool.
As an EX,its refreshing to see the fair minded folks speaking out for civil marriage. However it won’t take long for Benedict’s henchmen to try to shut them down or threaten them with excommunication.
great to have you back!
I am so happy to see our Catholic allies stepping forward!I hope this organization will give churchgoers the courage to push back publicly the next time their priest or bishop collects a special anti-gay offering during mass. I feel that the declaration does a good job in separating out civil law from religious choices, but it doesn’t address that fact that anyone routinely putting money into the offering plate of an anti-gay church is aiding the deadly anti-gay activities sponsored by the church. But this is an excellent start, and I guess Rome wasn’t built in a day.
Those who lie down with dogsget fleas. All religion is a tyranny to the rights of those of us who want no part of it and are forced to deal with its iniquities day in and day out.
1500 YEARS TOO LATEThe Catholics had run governments until England told them to fuck off around 1530. They are still pissed off about it and take every chance they can to weild their wealth in matters of state. This little movement of their faithful makes me want to vomit. If they truly believe in social justice and equality, they would leave all religion and actively fight against the church.
Im talking about fighting the intellectual dishonesty of Maggie Gallagher, Robert George (Manhattan Declaration author) thier supporters and their entire case for their constructed “natural” law philosophy that the far right wing has embraced (because they are too lazy intellectually to see it for what it really is, a farce (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nathaniel-frank/gay-rights-and-the-natura_b_399322.html).
These so-called allies, as some have labeled them, are not our friends. They have been inculcated in the worst delusion available to men on this planet, catholicism.
Thank you…Thank you for giving credit where credit is due. I consider myself a secular Christian (came across the term recently, and it fits quite well). Attending the Anglican Church in Canada, our local bishop got into trouble with the national and international leadership back in 2002 or so for pushing forward on blessing same-sex marriages.
I know it’s quite popular amongst progressives to call for ends to tax-exempt status for churches, and seeing the behaviour of some I can certainly understand it, but many churches spend all the money they can afford (sometimes more than they can afford, going heavily into debt) to run various social programs. When I think about how, when I was on parish council and helping decide budget matters, we were totally strapped for cash all the time because we were running things like food banks for single parents, then come on progressive websites and see people calling for reforms that would leave all those people hungry… well, not so good.
There are people out there who profess to be Christians and really are advocating for social justice, and out there doing real good with their money and their time. Like this group of Catholics, apparently. So bravo to them, and thank you Pam for acknowledging them. Best regards, Ben from web development
Amazing newsI think that equal marriage is one of the most important thing nowadays. We must cope with it somehow. I mean we just can’t forbid gay marriages because it is not good. People must live their lives in the way they want to. And that’s all. It is time to understand that no one will stop them. I love the way Catholics do that. I mean the website. They are using technology and it is great. I will have to visit it for sure. Thanks for the great article here by the way.
Regards, Jennifer from mp4 converter for mac