Posted on 03/09/2012 1:56:31 PM PST by NYer
CNN's Kyra Phillips asked a Catholic bishop on Thursday "why not get on board" with dissenting Catholics who favor gay marriage. Given CNN's past [1] support [2] for LGBT causes, they clearly would not question the motives of a religious minister favoring gay marriage.
In fact, in 2010 Phillips fawned [3] over a Christian pastor who publicly began accepting the lifestyle of gays and lesbians.
Phillips had cited a statistic saying 43 percent of American Catholics favor gay marriage. "So, Bishop, times are changing. Views are changing. You're changing your tactics even," Phillips said. "So, why not get on board with the 43 percent of Catholics?"
"Well their thinking is outside the realm of Catholic teaching for 2,000 years," Bishop Malone responded.
Phillips' interview with Bishop Richard Malone of the Diocese of Portland, Maine, was over the Catholic Church's new tactic concerning the state's referendum vote in November asking voters to approve same-sex marriage.
[Video below. Click here [4] for audio.]
The bishop wanted to focus the resources of the diocese on educating Catholics about a "more profound" understanding of marriage between a man and a woman. But as he told Phillips, "let there be no confusion about the fact that the diocese and I will still be very involved in the effort to protect marriage as the union of one man and one woman."
Phillips hyped the diocese's change in tactics as a "stunning move." She saw the opportunity to pop the question to the bishop, "Are you softening your stance on same-sex marriage?" To which Bishop Malone responded "Not at all. It will be even stronger and more vigorous."
A transcript of the segment, which aired on March 8 on Newsroom at 11:19 a.m. EST, is as follows:
KYRA PHILLIPS: Well, in the battle over same-sex marriage, a stunning move by the Catholic Church in Maine. The church says it will not actively campaign against a November referendum asking voters to approve gay marriage. Now, that stands in stark contrast with the church's position in 2009 when it waged a campaign to overturn a law passed that same year legalizing same-sex marriage.
Now, the gay activist group, Human Rights Campaign, says the church spent nearly $2 million in the fight to repeal that law. Joining us now, the bishop of Portland, Richard Malone. Bishop, thanks so much for being with me. You're not going to take an active role, from what I see here, in fundraising, staffing, advertising, or campaigning against the gay marriage referendum this time around. Why?
Bishop RICHARD MALONE, Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, Maine: Good morning, Kyra. Well, let there be no confusion about the fact that the diocese and I will still be very involved in the effort to protect marriage as the union of one man and one woman. But we've decided this year that our best efforts can be to put our energies and resources into educating our Catholic community better about the very nature of marriage.
PHILLIPS: So, Bishop, let me ask me – ask you. You know, this plan of action has changed quite drastically since 2009, you know, where you had very active campaign. And now you're moving toward education and putting funds towards that. Are you softening your stance on same-sex marriage?
MALONE: Not at all. It will be even stronger and more vigorous. One of our discoveries in 2009 was that really, many of our Catholic people in Maine could use a bit more profound understanding of how the church has understood marriage for 2,000 years. So, I decided, while we will certainly be in close contact with our allies who will lead the political battle, we intend to focus on the education and formation of consciences of our people.
PHILLIPS: Now, let me ask you, Bishop, according to the Public Religion Research Institute, right now – this is a recent survey that was conducted – Catholics are more supportive of legal recognition of same-sex relationships than members of any other Christian tradition and American overall. It reports 43 percent of Catholics nationally favor gay marriage. Is that why you're taking a different approach here?
MALONE: Well, you're on to something there, Kyra. To the extent that we can trust that those numbers are accurate – and that's always a question, of course – but that proves exactly the motivation for the approach that we're taking. We're taking no chances that our people will not have a really accurate understanding of what marriage is and to the impact on society should anyone try to change that definition of marriage.
PHILLIPS: So, Bishop, times are changing. Views are changing. You're changing your tactics even. Or your – I guess you say your strategy. So, why not get on board with the 43 percent of Catholics?
MALONE: The 43 percent who –
PHILLIPS: Who have no problem with gay marriage.
MALONE: Well their thinking is outside the realm of Catholic teaching for 2,000 years. And those are the folks that we want to focus on so they'll perhaps be able to have what I would call an intellectual conversion about a very key building-block of society, that is the nature of marriage as the union of one man, one woman.
Yet, as Blessed John Paul II observed, the future of humanity passes by way of the family (cf. Familiaris Consortio, 85). Indeed, “the good that the Church and society as a whole expect from marriage and from the family founded on marriage is so great as to call for full pastoral commitment to this particular area. Marriage and the family are institutions that must be promoted and defended from every possible misrepresentation of their true nature, since whatever is injurious to them is injurious to society itself” (Sacramentum Caritatis, 29). In this regard, particular mention must be made of the powerful political and cultural currents seeking to alter the legal definition of marriage. The Church’s conscientious effort to resist this pressure calls for a reasoned defense of marriage as a natural institution consisting of a specific communion of persons, essentially rooted in the complementarity of the sexes and oriented to procreation. Sexual differences cannot be dismissed as irrelevant to the definition of marriage. Defending the institution of marriage as a social reality is ultimately a question of justice, since it entails safeguarding the good of the entire human community and the rights of parents and children alike.
Benedict XVI: Address to U.S. Bishops
Catholic Ping
Please freepmail me if you want on/off this list
Because it would be promoting sin and the church should not take that path.
How effen stupid are these “journalists”?
To compormise with evil is to become evil oneself.
The thinking man opts for the wisdom of the ages over the spirit of the age every time.
43% my eye!
Totally fraudulent numbers.
here’s a thought for these people.
How about you lot coming to our view, a view which has reproduced naturally for thousands of years , a view which does not give you diseases like the queer sex does, a view which kids can have a better upbringing and a person they can look up to.
A father for a boy and a mother for a girl.
So you queer pushers out there why not come round to the fact you are a minority a vocal one but a minority and a sick one at that
B U M P
On board with the minority?
There is a biblical basis for government acting under majority rule:
Mark 15:6-15
New International Version (NIV)
6 Now it was the custom at the festival to release a prisoner whom the people requested. 7 A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising. 8 The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did.
9 “Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate, 10 knowing it was out of self-interest that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. 11 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead.
12 “What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?” Pilate asked them.
13 “Crucify him!” they shouted.
14 “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate.
But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”
15 Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.
Because it would be sinful and contrary to the Christ’s teaching?
Excellent observation.
Why not get on board? Because God isn’t PC. The Bible is clear about the fate of practicing homosexuals.
Stupid people like this CNN reporter make my brain sad.
Really, why not change the name of the Church to “The Church of Whass Happenin’ Now”
Let’s take polls and vote every month on what we should believe. Morality to be determined by majority rule
I have a counter question:
“What if we could cure homosexuality? Do homosexuals that wish to be heterosexual, but cannot on their own, have the right to advocate for a cure without political reprisal?
Today, if the Church announced that it was funding an effort into the causes of homosexuality in pursuit of a cure, would we be met with anyting other than scorn?
We could do more research into whether pedophilia and homosexuality are related, and research or therapeutic approaches into one may reveal insights into the others.”
The only proper response to this harpy’s suggestions is “Get thee behind me, Satan.”
No need for the devil, the human race would have non-procreated it self out of existence by two horny guys with two hairy butts.
The devil would have invented a woman, and God would still be laughing, saying ,"I created gayness and liberalism and now they want to be conservatives and have families".
There is no satisfying this "human" creature, I'm not sure I'll let my Son go down and try to save the miserable creatures.
The stupidity of her question absolutely makes my mouth drop open.
But I thought the bishop handled it very well; he stuck to his point and wouldn’t let her distract him or get anything out of him that could be used as a soundbite to imply that he supported gay “marriage.” Score one for the Bishop!
You've got that right.
I wish the bishop would have asked “Why don’t you try being real journalists instead of pimps for Satan for a change?”
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.