Posted on 11/10/2012 2:11:19 PM PST by NYer
.- The U.S. bishops' leader on defense of marriage issues is calling for prayer and a “renewed culture of marriage” in light of recent votes against preserving the meaning of the institution in four states.
“In a society marked by increasing poverty and family fragmentation, marriage needs to be strengthened, promoted, and defended, not redefined,” said Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco, who chairs the bishops' subcommittee on defending marriage.
In a Nov. 7 statement, the archbishop explained that the previous day's election “was a disappointing day for marriage,” as efforts to preserve marriage’s unique meaning in law lost narrowly after being vastly outspent by opponents.
Voters in four states were faced with ballot measures involving the definition of marriage on Nov. 6. For the first time in U.S. history, “gay marriage” was approved by a vote of the people rather than by legislators or a court decision. Previously, marriage as the union of one man and one woman had been affirmed by voters in 32 states.
In both Maryland and Washington state, lawmakers had recently passed bills to redefine marriage to include same-sex couples. However, opponents of both bills gathered enough signatures to put the laws before the people in a referendum before they went into effect.
Maryland voters narrowly approved the law to redefine marriage, and while votes in Washington are still being confirmed, it is projected that the referendum succeeded there as well.
In Minnesota, voters rejected a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would have protected the definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman. This definition of marriage is currently enshrined in state law, but the constitutional amendment would have given it further security.
Maine activists seeking to redefine marriage were able to put forward a referendum to reverse the people’s 2009 vote to protect marriage. That effort succeeded, and the state will soon begin issuing marriage licenses to gay couples.
Archbishop Cordileone voiced disappointment with the election results but emphasized that the true meaning of marriage "cannot be redefined because it lies within our very nature.”
“No matter what policy, law or judicial decision is put into place, marriage is the only institution that unites a man and a woman to each other and to any children born of their union,” he said. “It is either this, or it is nothing at all.”
Every child is born from a mother and a father and has the right to be raised by them together, the archbishop said. As a result, marriage has a unique meaning and exists for the good of children.
Emphasizing the growing problems of poverty and broken families, he voiced hope that politicians, judges and the American people “will seek to honor this foundational and common sense truth of marriage.”
Archbishop Cordileone thanked everyone who had given their time, energy and resources to the efforts to protect marriage. He called for continued work to strengthen the fundamental social institution and educate others about its importance.
"I especially call on all people to pray and to build a renewed culture of marriage and the family,” he said. “This is a fundamental task on which the future good and stability of our society, and particularly that of our children, rest."
You're preaching to the choir, your Excellency! What the people need is strong leadership and action.
Amen!!!
Ironic that the first state to vote FOR same sex marriage is the home of Roman Catholicism in the US.
Yes it is. Of course, 1629 is a long time ago.
From Wikipedia: "Maryland was founded for the purpose of providing religious toleration of England's Roman Catholic minority. Nevertheless, Parliament later reversed that policy and discouraged the practice of Catholicism in Maryland."
The road to hell is paved with with weak proclamations and spineless Bishops.
Why would any Catholic on the fence on any of these issues be afraid to go against the Church? Until there are excommunications, no one will care, no one will listen.
Deny them communion, keep their kids out of Catholic schools, deny their older children Church weddings, deny them Church funerals. Love them, forgive them, pray for them, welcome them back if they repent, but until then shun them before more are led astray by their unpunished example.
he should be ex-communicated for heresy.
Surely you are not calling this bishop spineless?
“1629 is a long time ago.”
You are obviously not from Maryland or Virginia where 1629 was just yesterday!
Headline: Biden’s Bishop Silent on Whether Pro-Abortion VP Should Receive Communion
The Most Rev. W. Francis Malooly, Catholic bishop of the diocese of Wilmington, Del., would not say whether a fellow bishop’s contention that Vice President Joe Biden, who supports abortion and gay marriage, should know “he ought not to be receiving Communion” was correct or incorrect.
Sorry to say the Church just flaps its gums on what have been called its “non-negotiable" issues and then does nothing to impose sanctions on such as Biden, Pelosi, any Kennedy, et. al. It winds up making itself look like a joke and who really pays any attention to its "pronouncements" since they are no more than empty rhetoric.
Nah, it just shows that on the spiritual plane the enemy has the most forces deployed in and around DC, the seat of power.
These Bishops all need to SSSSSSSSSSSSSSTTTTTTTTTTTFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU.
1. They sat silent when ObamaCare was passed.
2. They advocate economic marxism / socialism aka liberation theology.
3. they invited O-THUG to the Alfred E. Smith dinner after )-THUG lied to Cardinal Dolan’s face.
I’m sick of all these phonies.
The Church really screwed up with Vatican II. For four long decades they departed from their principles and are only now coming back.
It will be a long, slow process. They will let attrition take care of the Malooly’s and continue to advance the Cordileones, the O’Briens and Dolans until the hierarchy is restored to a more Orthodox leadership The leniency the last generation offered did little to attract new faithful into the pews and drove out a lot of old-time Catholics
Funny thing about the Maryland same-sex ‘marriage’ vote. I was told that it carried in every DC Metro area county EXCEPT for Prince Georges, the wealthiest African-American dominant county in the US. Blacks were having NO PART of this ‘same sex marriage’ thing!
One benefit of separation of Church and state is
The church is allowed to sets it’s own definitions, regulation, and behavior for religious meaning of marriage regardless
Of any state legal meaning.
It may create unique certifications of marriage as it applies to the church.
The church holds the power to invalidate any legal meaning of marriage in the eyes of the church.
I’m no expert but this is the thought that came to me after reading this thread.
IMHO, Vatican II was distorted into something those who were already corrupted could use to disguise their motives and rationalize ignoring Rome and basic Church Doctrines. A large portion of the US leadership longed to build the equivalent of a US Anglican Church and they seized on V II as their vehicle. A great many people in the pews wanted to be just like their Protestant neighbors instead standing out by having fish sticks on Friday and such. And a large percentage of the clergy put more faith in psychology or socialism than in Christ. Combine those things and it was no problem for the Anglican wannabe US leadership to sell "the Spirit of Vatican II".
Vatican II was distorted into an excuse for doing the same thing Protestants have always periodically done in this country. American Protestants in the thirties didn't want to stand out the way Fundamentalists, traditional Baptists, and traditional Methodists did, so they adapted. They accepted contraception, stopped condemning usury, dancing, popular music, and unchaperoned dating. They adapted again in the seventies, and yet again in the nineties. They're due for another round of adaptation to the surrounding society as we speak and you're seeing that in the mega churches. US Protestants would be further down the tubes now were it not for WWII effectively causing them to skip a round of adaptation
Catholics who had always relied on their priest rather than their own study and knowledge of the Faith went along and shook their heads. I know relatives of mine who are Catholic were like that. They couldn't explain why they were Catholic rather than something else very well, but they never wavered in their faith even while they were upset with the way things were changing.
Fulton Sheen was warning about this stuff well before Vatican II. V II is a convenient date to use as a dividing line, but the real problem is that a significant percentage within the Church were already looking for an excuse cease to be Catholic in anything but name when Vatican II took place.
Of course, I've only been Catholic since Easter 2012 so I rely on what I spent nearly a decade digging through and rely on that and news stories I dig up from years gone by. Not on personal experience so I'm sure things look a lot different to me than to those who were fortunate enough be cradle Catholics.
Excellent take. And the irony of Anglican-wannabes when you look at today’s Episcopal Church, which was so incredibly powerful thru the 70s and even into the 80’s.
Congratulations on your joining the Church! That’s a big decision, hard reached, for anyone.
It was sure hard to reach. It took me nearly a decade to admit what actually obvious when I read through everything Luther and Calvin wrote.
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.