In a heartening move Father Michael Ryan, St. James Cathedral‘s senior pastor, e-mailed his congregation this week to inform them that the cathedral was not participating in the signature gathering effort to force Referendum 74 on the November ballot. Referendum 74, a project of National Organization for Marriage, would repeal Washington’s new civil marriage equality [...]

Opponents of lifting bans on access to civil marriage licenses for same-sex couples frequently claim that lifting those bans somehow amounts to “special rights” for same-sex couples. For example, Gary Randall, a retired televangelist from Oregon with a long history of opposing civil rights for Washington’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) residents, makes frequent [...]

In response to the filing on Friday of Washington’s civil marriage equality bill, the Washington State Catholic Conference issued a statement in opposition called “Marriage and the Common Good” (PDF). The document is signed by the state’s four bishops (pictured below), including Archbishop of Seattle J. Peter Sartain who is also secretary-elect to the United [...]

In announcing her strong support for marriage equality, Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire (D) joins not only a majority of Washington voters but a supermajority of American Catholics who support civil marriage for gay and lesbian couples. Roman Catholics make up about 16% of the population in Washington state, many of whom live in the Puget [...]

During the Christmas Eve Mass, Pope Benedict XVI urged the faithful to Let us ask the Lord to help us see through the superficial glitter of this season…  All well and good, except that he did this while wearing gold brocade, sitting on a golden throne surrounded by golden trappings, holding up a book festooned [...]

Archbishop of New York Timothy Dolan is apparently in a flop sweat over the new reality that a majority of Catholics support the right of same-sex couples to marry. In the wake of the marriage equality law passing in New York — with the help of the state’s Roman Catholic Governor and legislators — Dolan [...]

New York state Senator Mark Grisanti (R, North Buffalo) joined three other Republicans voting for the Marriage Equality Act Friday evening.  The bill passed on a bipartisan vote of 33-29 and has already been signed into law by Governor Cuomo. Sen. Grisanti, a Roman Catholic, was the very picture of integrity last night as he [...]

The opposition of the Roman Catholic Church’s hierarchy to marriage equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people is legendary.  Not only does the Catholic Church lobby for anti-equality constitutional amendments and against marriage equality laws, it has been known to fundraise for those efforts and circulate referendum petitions during Holy Mass while the [...]

The Washington State Catholic Conference (WSCC), which “represents the Catholic Bishops of the State of Washington on issues of public policy”, has posted a link to this notice on the main page of their website (hyperlinks are mine). Repealing Domestic Partner Benefits Passed by the 2009 Legislature, SSB 5688 granted all of the rights of [...]