Posted on 06/20/2014 6:15:04 AM PDT by NYer
(CNSNews.com) – In response to a federal judge’s ruling that Wisconsin’s ban on homosexual marriage was unconstitutional, Bishop Robert Morlino, head of the Catholic diocese of Madison, Wisc., said the judge had “shaken one of the most precious and essential building blocks of our civilization,” and that when this “first ‘domino’ of civilization’” – man-woman marriage – is toppled, then “all subsequent ‘dominos’” of civilization fall.
The bishop also said that in felling this first domino, “everything that is good, true, and beautiful, which is rooted in the natural family, is seriously threatened.”
Back on June 6, U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb ruled that Wisconsin’s 2006 prohibition against gay “marriage” violated the equal protection and due process rights under the Constitution, but on Friday, June 13, the judge put a stay on her ruling pending an appeal to a higher court by Wisconsin’s Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen.
Bishop Robert Morlino, head of the Catholic diocese of Madison, Wisc.
The appeal will be heard by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago, Ill. Between June 6 and June 13, a reported 600 wedding licenses for homosexuals were issued in Wisconsin. Pending the appeals, those wedding licenses are now in limbo.
Following Judge Crabb’s ruling, Bishop Robert Morlino, who represents nearly 270,000 Catholics in 130 parishes in southwest Wisconsin, released a statement on the issue.
“Marriage is, and can only ever be, a unique relationship solely between one man and one woman, regardless of the decision of a judge or any vote,” said Bishop Morlino. “This is not based on any private sectarian viewpoint, but on the natural moral law that is universally binding on all peoples, at all times, and inscribed into our human nature, as man and woman from the beginning of creation. It behooves us to safeguard the sacred ecology of all nature, especially of our human nature.”
“In striking down the constitutional amendment in our state which protects marriage, the court has, once again, shaken one of the most precious and essential building blocks of our civilization,” said Morlino, who was named bishop of Madison in 2003. “There can be no question that the best formation for children is in the home of their biological mother and father, generally speaking, and we should always have a greater concern for future generations than we do for ourselves.”
He continued, “Marriage, between one man and one woman with openness to children, is an element of the very first ‘domino’ of civilization. The very nature of marriage naturally generates life. When that first ‘domino’ falls, everything that is good, true, and beautiful, which is rooted on the natural family, is seriously threatened.”
“If the ‘domino’ of true marriage falls, then fall all subsequent ‘dominos,’” said Bishop Morlino. “This is demonstrated, too often, in a culture that increasingly chooses death over life.”
In September 2008, Bishop Morlino joined with other Catholic bishops to publicly criticize then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Vice President Joe Biden -- who are Catholic and yet support abortion and gay marriage -- for misrepresenting Church teaching and confusing Catholics in general.
At a Sept. 7 Mass at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Madison, Bishop Morlino said he had scrapped his prepared homily notes and had decided to instead talk about the “confusion” caused by Pelosi and Biden.
“This [sermon] is not because they are Democrats,” Bishop Morlino told the congregation. “It’s because they claim to be Catholic.”
“The two politicians ‘are stepping on the pope’s turf and mine,’” the bishop said, as reported in The Washington Times, “and they are violating the separation of church and state … confusing God’s good people.”
Vice President Joe Biden and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Catholics who support abortion and gay marriage. (AP)
“Speaker Pelosi and Senator Biden are Catholics and they are on television and they are giving their ideas to Catholic people and they are causing confusion,” said Bishop Morlino.
Catholic clergy, including Archbishop Salvatore Cordelione of San Francisco, will participate with thousands of other religious leaders and lay people – Protestants, Jews, and Muslims -- this Thursday, June 19, in the “Marriage for Marriage.”
“The March for Marriage sends a clear message to every level of society that a majority of Americans still stand for marriage as it has been traditionally and historically defined and handed down through the centuries,” reads the event’s website.
“In the face of elite and powerful special-interest groups bent on redefining this cherished institution, this March powerfully proclaims that marriage as the union of one man and one woman is our culture's best means of linking mothers and fathers to one another and to their children.”
Ping!
But, people will do what they want and say "to hell with the consequences."
The habitual drug users will be on the street eventually, then in the ground. The cycle keeps repeating and will continue to do so.
I had forgotten how much in love with pot so many FReepers are.
Same sex marriage won't fade away. One can only hope we don't have to READ about it so much. Since there are only .5 - 1.5% people who are homo/bisexual they WILL continue to cohabitate, whether legally or illegally.
I leave it up to God to make the judgment. I keep trying to remember: hate the sin; love the sinner.
Brace yourself!
His (Obama's) number one foreign policy priority is the promotion of lesbians, gays, bi-sexuals, and transgenders around the world. It is the thing he is most consistent about and the thing he consistently backs with the might and muscle of the United States no matter what.
The Obama Doctrine
While I agree that it is an important domino, I have to wonder whether the first domino was divorce.
Bishop Martino bump.
To me, the first domino has always been contraception.
That’s up there too, for sure. Perhaps a tie.
I was saying divorce on the other thread, but you have a point.
Well...it would have been nice to have had this approach when divorce and unwed parenthood was first gaining popularity. Too little too late.
The first domino is loss of faith in Christ. Everything else is just a manifestation of that relation, or lack thereof, with God.
Marriage was under attack for decades. What is killing marriage is not the specter of “same sex marriage”, but “no fault divorce”, and the perverse incentives that the family court system gives women to end the marriage (assured custody of the kids with high child support and alimony).
I think it's also sloth. One has to work on ANY relationship, whether is family, friends, spouse or God. It's a two-way street even with God...speaking from THIS side of heaven only.
What are these Judges going to say when they get their first polygamy case? How can they possibly argue against it? How about a father/daughter, mother/son, or brother/sister marriage? There will be no way to stop it, with the precedent of homosexual ‘marriage’.
“Now, since the family and human society at large spring from marriage, these men will on no account allow matrimony to be the subject of the jurisdiction of the Church. Nay, they endeavor to deprive it of all holiness, and so bring it within the contracted sphere of those rights which, having been instituted by man, are ruled and administered by the civil jurisprudence of the community. Wherefore it necessarily follows that they attribute all power over marriage to civil rulers, and allow none whatever to the Church; and, when the Church exercises any such power, they think that she acts either by favor of the civil authority or to its injury. Now is the time, they say, for the heads of the State to vindicate their rights unflinchingly, and to do their best to settle all that relates to marriage according as to them seems good.”
—Pope Leo XIII, 1880
Freegards
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.