Posted on 11/28/2005 5:39:50 PM PST by Aussie Dasher
BOSTON, November 28, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Boston Archbishop Sean O'Malley wrote a pastoral letter last week calling on Catholics to show true love to persons with homosexual tendencies. This is done he said by telling them that homosexual acts are sinful, he said. Otherwise, the bishop continued, we are dangerously "deceiving people."
After clarifying that the Catholic Church does not tolerate unjust discrimination towards persons with homosexual tendencies, the leader of the Catholic Church in Boston reminded Catholics that although Jesus did not condemn the woman caught in adultery, he did however - after saving her life - tell her "Go and sin no more."
Archbishop O'Malley thus tells some Catholics who are misled into false kindness towards those with homosexual tendencies, "If we tell people that sex outside of marriage is not a sin, we are deceiving people." The pastor of souls, who's first priority is the spiritual wellbeing of his flock, warns that that spiritual wellbeing may be threatened by such false kindness. "If they believe this untruth, a life of virtue becomes all but impossible," he warned.
Archbishop O'Malley acknowledged that it is difficult for all Christians, priests and bishops included, to preach the truth in charity on the matter of homosexuality and other aberrant sexual practices such as adultery, and pre-marital sex. "It is never easy to deliver a message that calls people to make sacrifices or to do difficult things. Sometimes people want to punish the messenger. For this reason we priests at times find it difficult to articulate the Church's teaching on sexual morality," he said.
In presenting the message of truth, the Archbishop counsels, "We must never deliver the message in a self-righteous way, but rather with compassion and humility."
Despite the hardships however, Archbishop O'Malley says Catholics must nevertheless present the truth. "It is important to express the moral teachings of the Church with clarity and fidelity. The Church must be Church," he said. "We must teach the truths of the Gospel in season and out of season. These recent times seem to us like it is "out of season", but for that very reason it is even more urgent to teach the hard words of the Gospel today."
Concluding his letter, the Archbishop answered a common objection made by those with homosexual tendencies . "Sometimes we are told: 'If you do not accept my behavior, you do not love me.' In reality we must communicate the exact opposite: 'Because we love you, we cannot accept your behavior," he said.
Bump and ping
Homosexual Agenda Ping.
Simple, truthful message. And the truth that sex outside of marriage is sinful (which naturally means all same sex acts are also) is not a limited, relative truth. It's just not a Catholic truth or even just a Christian truth. It is universal truth, applicable to every human being, whether they believe it or not. It's the universal standard of human behavior that everyone should aspire to, and if someone falls short, they should know that they are in error, repent, and amend their ways.
Freepmail me and DirtyHarryY2K if you want on/off this pinglist.
Note: Love means telling the truth. Lying to make someone "feel better" - if the lie will keep that person in ignorance, sickness, and separate from God - is the opposite of love.
This the real Homosexual Agenda Ping, the one with all your names on it.
See comment above!
Excellent statement.
Now please straighten out our CINO pro-abortion politicians!
He's speaking in terms of public policy, like hiring, etc. Granted, if I owned a small family business, I wouldn't want one in the office.
Because in an environment as liberal as Massachusetts, publicly affirming Bible truths will have real social and very possibly professional consequences. It would be like supporting the Vietnam War on an elite college campus in 1970. A fantastic way to simplify your social life.
- That was weak. There are a thousand real health reasons why homosexuality is wrong.
If there were cures for every conceivable STD tomorrow would that change God's truth ? Isn't God's truth a "real" reason ?
Does God have to defend his decisions to you ?
BOSTON, March 11, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - As the Massachusetts legislature considers proposals regarding the definition of marriage, Boston's Archbishop Sean O'Malley has issued a strong statement giving the reasons for the Catholic teaching that marriage is the exclusive reserve of one man and one woman. The Massachusetts proposal employs the "compromise" of creating legal "civil unions" and retaining the traditional definition of the word "marriage". The Pope has expressly condemned the so-called civil unions "compromise".
Speaking for the Catholic Church in Massachusetts, O'Malley wrote, "We support the Marriage Affirmation and Protection Amendment as it has been presented, without the introduction of civil unions language." The Archbishop warned that the proposal represents a threat to the freedom of religious communities. We are concerned with proposals to give same-sex couples identical benefits and protections to those given to husbands and wives that pose a grave threat to religious liberty and the freedom of conscience."
To read Archbishop O'Malley's statement in full:
http://www.rcab.org/News/releases/2004/statement0400311.html
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