Whispers With Bias (Card. Schoenborn of Vienna does NOT bless homosexual couples)

The Cafeteria is Closed ^ | February 20, 2006 | Gerald Augustinus

[Mrs. Don-o]

WHISPERS WITH BIAS

....would be Rocco Palmo's Indian name. ... He reports on a blessing ceremony at the Cathedral of Vienna, where homosexuals where also blessed. His account, however, deliberate or not, is not quite accurate in the most crucial question.

OK, it seems that St. Blog's will want some 'splaining on this one....

Gay couples were apparently included in the Valentine's Day liturgy at the Stephansdom in Vienna, and it's being hung around Schonborn's neck like an albatross.

Well. Schoen langsam, Rocco. I've read the German article. What happened? Valentine's Day blessings (not a Mass) for "people in love", married (Ehepaare), about-to-be-wed couples (Brautpaare), engaged couples (Verlobte Paare) and "Misc.", so to speak.

However, homosexual couples (AND hetero couples not among the three mentioned categories) were blessed as individuals, not as couples. ... Rocco Palmo's account seems to be a bit misleading.

Here the rules of the Austrian Bishops Conference for such St. Valentine's Day ceremonies :

1. = Married couples shall be invited to renew their wedding vows. they can ask to receive a strengthening of faith and in love through God's blessing.

2. = Bride and groom shall be encouraged to mutual dedication (give themselves) in the reception of the Sacrament of matrimony.

3. = Engaged people may ask for God's assistance during the preparation for marriage. The engagement can and should be increased in its "church standing" through such ceremonies.

4. = Who does not live in a sacramental marriage or preparation thereof, shall be strenghtened by receiving an individual blessing in form of a carefully prepared prayer.

[Mrs. Don-o]

The previous post was based on a biased report which almost amounted to libel against the Cardinal.

[Mrs. Don-o]

Ping

[NYer]

The following article is running on LifeSite.net

* * * * *

VIENNA, February 20, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A German language Catholic news site reports that the rector of Vienna’s Catholic cathedral has instituted a ceremony to bless “couples, fiancés and people in love” including homosexual partners. The cathedral, 800 year-old St. Stephan’s, is the seat of Christoph Cardinal Schonborn, the archbishop of Vienna who is widely regarded as a conservative.

Schonborn is well known around the world as a major contributor to the Catechism of the Catholic Church and for his explanations in the New York Times of the Catholic Church’s understanding of evolution.

The announcement came on St. Valentine’s Day, from Fr. Anton Faber, the rector of St. Stephan’s. Faber expressed his regret that the Church offers “relatively little” to homosexuals. Speaking to the Austrian newspaper ‘Die Presse’ Fr. Faber said, “Today there is no possibility in the Church to bless a union of people with homosexual feelings.”

Faber admitted at the Cathedral announcement that he is involved in a personal campaign among his fellow priests for acceptance of the homosexual disorder and claimed that the Cardinal had approved his proposal. His actions, he said, “are based on solid Catholic ground and are in a 100% concordance with the directives of the Austrian Bishops’ Conference.”

Faber admitted that he had received some opposition to his decision from lay Catholics. An unidentified Catholic present at the Cathedral announcement reportedly pointed out that the Church does offer homosexuals something: confession and absolution for their sins.

During the interview, the priest explicitly welcomed “people with homosexual inclinations to receive a blessing for their longing for love.”

The Catechism of the Catholic Church that Cardinal Schonborn was instrumental in developing, however, defines homosexuality as an “objectively disordered” condition of unknown origin and homosexual practices as “sins gravely contrary to chastity.”

A 2003 Vatican document called on faithful Catholics to work against the societal acceptance of homosexuality. The document, from the Church’s highest doctrinal authority, said Catholics should work at “unmasking the way in which such tolerance might be exploited or used in the service of ideology; stating clearly the immoral nature of these unions; …and, above all, to avoid exposing young people to erroneous ideas about sexuality and marriage.”

The first ceremony for “people in love” came later in the day and was attended by roughly 1000 persons according to Die Presse. No comment was forthcoming from the Cardinal’s office.

[MillerCreek]

I wrote this a week or so ago and I'll write it here again and that is that Rocco reads as one who is incorporated with homosexuality instead of Scripture. My own interpretations of his writings from a while ago but most definitely after reading what he'd written as to the Valentine's blessing.

There is a blaring sentiment in what and how he writes to include the "moral relativism" perspectives, which is often disqualified by Scripture, and, more, this misrepresentation about the Valentine blessing indicates a more emerging personal need to interweave a social affection, of sorts, a New Age type be/feel/say/experience/intend-everything-yet-state-nothingness that is quite descriptive of just what the "homosexual blessings" and "ceremonies" are in certain Protestant groups and certainly in New Age spiritualism as to sexualities, couplings, exclusion of Christian Scripture if not Judeo-Christian theology in any specific capacity.

It's encouraging to see others with greater language skills than my own also begin to dissect Rocco's strangely cloaked perspective. He appears to be someone who attempts to declare Christianity and yet is immersed in pagantry instead, in love, so to speak, with Catholic pagenatry and ceremony ("the liturgy") more than he is with Christ and the Church.