Worcester bishop shocks gays with `evil' statement

Boston Herald.com ^ | 5/25/04 | Thomas Caywood

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

The new leader of the Catholic Diocese of Worcester stunned gay rights supporters by writing in a church newsletter that Catholics, especially public officials, pushing to legalize same-sex marriage are ``in cooperation with evil.''      

``Oh, my God. Wow,'' gasped Marianne Duddy-Burke of Boston Dignity, a group of gay Catholics. ``It's an appalling statement on so many levels. It disregards a civil servant's duty to the entire community.''      

Responding to Worcester City Clerk David Rushford's public statements that allowing gays and lesbians to marry is in line with church teachings on inclusivity, Worcester Bishop Robert McManus penned a ``pastoral note of clarification'' published Friday.      

After recognizing gays and lesbians as ``brothers and sisters in the human family,'' the note ends with a bombshell: ``Moreover, it must be pointed out that Catholics, especially public officials, who willingly and with approval facilitate the legal sanctioning of same-sex unions are involving themselves in cooperation with evil.''      

``That's pretty strong language,'' Rushford said on hearing the paragraph yesterday. ``I just would hope that people from all walks of life and our society would agree that the civil rights of individuals are not debatable.''      

Diocesan spokesman Ray Delisle cautioned that McManus was writing in the precise ``language of moral theology.''      

Josh Friedes, advocacy director of the Freedom to Marry Coalition, said, ``Not only is he villainizing gay and lesbian couples and Catholics who support civil rights,'' Friedes said, ``he is also attacking reform Jews and Protestant faith traditions that consider the unions of same-sex couples worth blessing.''

[no more apples]

I knew you'd be on this thread! Wish we could get him back. Funny, it wasn't that long ago we talked about what he would do in his new position. :-D

[Ravens70]

Yes, Yes, YES!!!! Happy, happy, Happy!!!! May Our Lady and St. Michael protect these courageous bishops...can anyone sense "tsumami"???

[little jeremiah]

Not any Protestant. Unless they're protesting God.

[Ravens70]

tsmami =tsunami...sorry..

[little jeremiah]

Homosexual Agenda Ping - There's so much to mine here.

How about this statement which REEKS of ignorance that cannot be less than willful:

"Oh, my God. Wow,'' gasped Marianne Duddy-Burke of Boston Dignity, a group of gay Catholics. ``It's an appalling statement on so many levels. It disregards a civil servant's duty to the entire community."

So those of religious vocations are CIVIL servants? Not GOD's servants? I guess she thinks priests and others should surrender themselves to HER will. Who does she think she is?

Let me know if anyone wants on/off this pinglist.

[L.N. Smithee]

``That's pretty strong language,'' Rushford said on hearing the paragraph yesterday. ``I just would hope that people from all walks of life and our society would agree that the civil rights of individuals are not debatable.''

Nice little flip-flop there, Mr. Rushford, switching the subject to "civil rights of individuals" when you know good and well that the bishop was countering your stupid statement about what church teachings regarding same-sex marriage were, and that is the ground on which he made his strong "clarification."

[ZULU]

``Moreover, it must be pointed out that Catholics, especially public officials, who willingly and with approval facilitate the legal sanctioning of same-sex unions are involving themselves in cooperation with evil.''


Wjat's wrong with that?? Its only true. As a matter of fact, I'd expand that to any Christian or Jew.

[L.N. Smithee]

``Oh, my God. Wow,'' gasped Marianne Duddy-Burke of Boston Dignity, a group of gay Catholics. ``It's an appalling statement on so many levels. It disregards a civil servant's duty to the entire community.''

A bishop is NOT a civil servant, you moron. You WANT that to be the consensus, because once a community views the clergy as its "civil servants," they are bound to serve as the citizens see fit. You want the leftist Massachusetts courts to slip their slimy tentacles into the churches, and to dictate their policy.

Josh Friedes, advocacy director of the Freedom to Marry Coalition, said, ``Not only is he villainizing gay and lesbian couples and Catholics who support civil rights,'' Friedes said, ``he is also attacking reform Jews and Protestant faith traditions that consider the unions of same-sex couples worth blessing.''

....and?

Is that any different for the way you and your other extra-Scriptural advocates consider accurate Biblical interpretation as worth "attacking?"

[FrankR]

"That's pretty strong language..."

"If it walks like a duck, and it quacks like a duck...it's a duck."

[NYer]

Responding to Worcester City Clerk David Rushford's public statements that allowing gays and lesbians to marry is in line with church teachings on inclusivity, Worcester Bishop Robert McManus penned a ``pastoral note of clarification'' published Friday.

"Homosexual unions are totally lacking in the biological and anthropological elements of marriage and family which would be the basis, on the level of reason, for granting them legal recognition. Such unions are not able to contribute in a proper way to the procreation and survival of the human race. The possibility of using recently discovered methods of artificial reproduction, beyond involving a grave lack of respect for human dignity,(15) does nothing to alter this inadequacy."

CONSIDERATIONS REGARDING PROPOSALS TO GIVE LEGAL RECOGNITION TO UNIONS BETWEEN HOMOSEXUAL PERSONS

Catholic Ping - let me know if you want on/off this list

[ninenot]

The woman seems to think that the First Amendment means that anyone in government or that has any public influence should completely divorce any religiously-formed moral sense from their actions in government.

I don't know HOW you could object to her line of reasoning, RonF.

After all, "I was just following orders" has such a proud lineage--all the way back to 1942 or so, right?

[Fast Ed97]

CALL TO ACTION CONFERENCE

Same-Sex Marriage: A Justice Issue for Our Time

Marianne Duddy is joined by Bob Pileggi to explore why gay and lesbian couples seek public recognition of their relationships and what's involved in denying them civil marriage. They give one model of Catholic ministry to same-sex couples, describe the Freedom to Marry Project, and share what other faith communities are doing. Duddy, a Catholic lesbian activist with an M.A. in theology, is former president and current executive director of Dignity/USA. She and her life-partner Becky Burke celebrated their marriage at Dignity/Boston in 1998. Pileggi staffs the Marriage Project at Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund in New York, which coordinates efforts nationwide to win the freedom to marry.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

"...It disregards a civil servant's duty to the entire community.''

Since when is a priest a civil servant? A priest is your confessor, your spiritual guide, your liaison to The Church. He isn't there to condone whatever perverted pleasures of the flesh you wish to indulge in. He is there to guide you towards Christ by helping you to live a life that has meaning.

[BayouCoyote]

Breath of fresh air bump.

[RonF]

The matter is hardly politically settled in that state and a civil servant may justly await more settled times. Once settled, the civil servant may resign or uphold his sworn oath, little else.

There is a third option; civil disobedience, wherein someone refuses to obey a law they believe to be unjust, and accepts the civil penalties that are then imposed. But there is no imperative to do so. I suspect that what will mostly happen is that either granting same-sex marriage licenses will not offend the moral sensibilities of most civil servants whose job it would be to do so (in which case, if they profess to be Roman Catholic, they are properly chastized by their Bishop); or, if they state that their personal morality is offended by doing so, they'll use some "church/state separation" concept to rationalize keeping their job.

[mvpel]

Responding to Worcester City Clerk David Rushford's public statements that allowing gays and lesbians to marry is in line with church teachings on inclusivity, Worcester Bishop Robert McManus penned a ``pastoral note of clarification'' published Friday.

In line with "teachings on inclusivity," perhaps, but out of line with Article 7 of the Catholic Catechism.

[RonF]

See my post #28. The civil servant in question is the Worcester City Clerk, whom Ms. Dudley-Burke seems to think her Bishop should not have chastized for consorting with evil by issuing same-sex licenses.

[mvpel]

Another left the FSSP seminary because he alleged that homosexual behavior was being tolerated.

My father left a seminary in Kansas for similar reasons some forty years ago, but being a naiive farm boy he didn't realize that's what it was until years later.

[eastsider]

In line with "teachings on inclusivity," perhaps ...

I think Rushford was thinking more in terms of in line with the infamous USCCB committee document, co-authored by the now-silenced Fr. Robert Nugent, known as "Always Our Children."

[RobbyS]

New bunch of guys are coming in and speaking up. They have seen where the temporizing of Law and Eagan et al have caused the greatest scandal ever to hit the American Church. Most of the people who are protesting have never heard the teachings of the Universal Church.