Edward Cardinal Egan tells St. Patrick's worshipers that marriage is vital to any civilization, and that popular culture and gay-rights movement are eroding it.
Posted on 02/09/2004 6:34:45 AM PST by NYer
Edward Cardinal Egan railed yesterday against gay-marriage supporters, Hollywood honchos and even Britney Spears for "desecrating" marriage and destroying "something sacred and holy."
Pulling no punches, Egan said the specter of legal gay marriage would have a devastating effect on traditional values already eroded by an R-rated pop culture that includes sleazy reality TV shows.
"History assured us that no civilization can survive if marriage is rejected, humiliated - if marriage is set aside," he told hundreds of worshipers at St. Patrick's Cathedral on World Marriage Day.
The cardinal said traditional marriage should be preserved and protected at all costs.
"It has to do with a man and a woman committing to one another a life-long fidelity, a life until the end," Egan said.
The leader of more than 2 million New York Catholics told the faithful he was amazed that judges and lawmakers have opened the door to gay marriage.
"Things we would never thought would happen" have happened, said Egan, in an apparent reference to last week's Massachusetts court decision allowing gays to wed.
Other Catholic leaders also attacked the decision from the pulpit yesterday. Boston Archbishop Sean O'Malley said gay marriage would have an "enormously negative impact on our society," as his state prepares for a divisive battle over the court ruling.
Gay-rights advocates blasted back at the churchmen.
Egan is "entitled to his opinions but he shouldn't be dictating to the government who gets a civil marriage license," said Evan Wolfson of Freedom to Marry.
City Councilwoman Christine Quinn (D-Manhattan) said she was disappointed Egan issued such a "divisive" message.
"Someone in his position has such an enormous power to bring people together," said Quinn, who is a lesbian. "Instead, he focused on ripping New Yorkers apart."
Egan, known for his conservative views, also lashed out at pop culture. He called the media "enemies of marriage" for promoting promiscuity on reality shows.
"On television, night after night, couples enter marriage and leave, and enter another and leave again," he said. "Everyone thinks it's very swanky and very much in part with the times. We know it is again a desecration of something sacred and holy.
"The media, Hollywood, TV, the radio, the sophisticated magazines and so forth have no use for Christ's views of marriage," he added.
The prelate also took an apparent swipe at Spears for her recent Las Vegas wedded-for-the-weekend stunt. A spokesman denied Egan was talking about Spears, but the cardinal's comments seemed pointed at the midriff-baring pop tart.
"A singer marries a young man for a few hours and everyone thinks it's cute," Egan said. "It's not cute at all."
Egan's traditional message was popular with parishioners like Altagracia Perez.
"Marriage - this is going to sound corny - is a sacred institution," said Perez, 39, of Washington Heights.
But others said love - not gender - should be the bedrock of any marriage.
"I don't think that their sex or sexual preference has anything to do with it," said Sarah McCaskill, 58, of Norfolk, Va.
How about: "Homosexual activists are entitled to their opinions, but they shouldn't be dictating to the government who gets a civil marriage license."?
This might explain her views.
The Politics1 Report, June 8, 1999:
New York City Councilwoman Christine Quinn (D), a lesbian, was elected to office last year with the strong support of the large gay communities in the Greenwich Village and Chelsea neighborhoods. Now Quinn finds herself contending with nasty rumors about her private life. According to the New York Post, Quinn dumped her longtime girlfriend shortly after the election and went on a vacation with her consultant Wayne Kowadler. That prompted the rumors---politically damaging in Quinn's district---that Quinn and Kowadler were having a romantic relationship. Quinn spokeswoman Maura Keaney maintains that Quinn is truly a lesbian and ``there's no sexual or romantic aspect to their friendship.'' Kowadler, meanwhile, told the Post, ``I am not now, nor have I ever been, a heterosexual---not that there's anything wrong with that.''
Time for Cardinal Egan to invite Ms. Quinn over for a refresher course on catholic teaching.
Catholic Ping - let me know if you want on/off this list
I'm not sure whether to laugh out loud or decry the fact our culture could ever get to this point. Regardless, I'm proud to be a mere white Christian conservative "breeder."
If they are entitled to "marriage", surely no church can deny them that.
Im sure gays would consider it discrimination if they had to get married at the courthouse instead of the church like hetrosexuals.
And if "gay marriage" passes via judicial tyranny, what you say is just around the corner. The ACLU is probably salivating right now.
What has cheapened marriage more than anything is the astronomical divorce rate... I would imagine that one who divorces in order to "be happy/happier" would be very conflicted on the moral law that is marriage is the union of a man and a woman.
Sarah also thinks gravity is a matter of opinion.
No. Churches are, and always have been, free to set their own rules when it comes to who they are willing to marry. The Catholic Church will not perform a marriage for two non-Catholics, for example. Courts have rules dozens of times that the government has no power to regulate the internal workings of a chruch.
Where does one find people, so distinctly out of touch with reality, but able to get herself interviewed. Marriage has always been about sanctifying the procreative, mating drives of mankind. How can you even suggest marriage outside of normal sex roles and procreation. It is beyond the mere oxymoron category.
Put another way. If you had someone who reasoned like this woman on your payroll, would you keep her? If so, why? What does someone so delusional have to recommend her? I am really curious about that. Seriously, can these people function normally in other ways?
William Flax Return Of The Gods Web Site
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