I believe this is right on the money…it is the HOW that must be worked out. The Church does not need to nor should she compromise official teachings. Neither should she abandon her beloved LGBT/SSA brothers and sisters. I am glad to see this. I would further add however that we must be very careful when discussing “rights” of LGBT or any other subsets of society. Protections mean exactly that–not a revamping or further weakening of sacramental marriage between one man and one woman–and just one at a time, by the way, but more importantly as a covenant vow before God and until death of either party. We have lost sight of that idea nearly totally. And that family unit is the bedrock of our society. But persecuting actively LGBT persons is not the answer either.
Window at Parish Church of St Peter, Frampton Cotterell, England (Photo credit: DanieVDM)
Vatican Official Calls for Protections for Same-Gender Couples.
Related articles
- Vatican signals options for protecting gay couples (religionnews.com)
- Vatican official opens to gay union rights (dailystar.com.lb)
Now this is an interesting development!
Thanks for posting this, Richard!
Yes and I would reiterate that both the Cardinal speaking here and the Church position is not in favor of same-sex “marriage” but yet to maintain the dignity of all, including those who disagree with Church teaching. I am about to share a comment with a former Catholic priest who takes a very opposite view from Rome on this. But we have to start with respect on both sides. I have missed seeing your caring self Benjamin…and I am back to sanity so that is something I truly wanted you to know. Sometimes we run from God but, funny thing, He runs faster! God bless.
I just discovered your blog, “Catholicboyrichard”. I do appreciate your sharing of your personal journey. I have a position that is different.
I call it, “The Least Harm:Loving Dissent”. You can see my blog at http:leastharm.weebly.com I’ll spell the URL out because I have noticed WordPress deletes such things. {leastharmDOTweeblyDOTcom}
I’m 75, an ordained catholic priest (1963)–faithful celibate 13 years–married (1970) 43yrs to a female–”defrocked, excommunicated”–publicly “out” since 2000, still married–3 children and 3 grandchildren. My campaign is not about homosexuality but about dissent. Can’t we find a 21st century model rather than the various forms of clobbering from silence to excommunication? Do we have to suffer like the victims of disputes in history–remember Paul dissented with Peter?–victims of crusades, hangings, imprisonment–remember Galileo?
Whatever the dissent is over–if we create a protocol that establishes loving rationality and mutual respect can’t we–like we’ve done with ecumenism currently–treat one another within the communion of the Catholic church and talk about the issues and seek what could be done/avoided to reduce harm? While the Church is actually working at calling for respect for LGBTQ’s, it continues with its declarations in the Catechism that our sexuality is “depraved” “intrinsically disordered”. And the Pope publishes this regularly with the champions of anti-gay gaining support for their verbal and physical abuse of us.
I’m convinced of the God-given goodness of homosexuality. I believe this is a genuine dissent. Just like heteros, homos can and do rise to the challenge of living by moral tenets. I don’t accept LGBTQ as by definition immoral, or as generally profligate. And so as you state, Catholic marriage is a “…covenant vow before God and until death of either party…” but I don’t give pre-eminence to the biological plumbing set up for “procreation”. I see LGBTQ’s “married” (whether legally or not) every bit as “moral” as covenant makers before God and for a lifetime. It is this understanding that LGBTQ’s should be taught/encouraged to use. I won’t begin to get into how and why this covenant is in fact broken and degraded by heteros. But check out my blog and see if I’ve made myself clear. I’d be glad if you did. Thanks! Tom Luce, Berkeley, Ca.
Hi Tom and thank you for your thoughtful remarks and journey story. You are correct in that I view things from a more traditional Catholic view than you do. However I have wrestled, and deeply, with many of the same questions and issues you bring up. For that reason I share your post and will be glad to be in dialogue with you. Just know from the start that my view is based upon the current position of Rome and I have explained that in detail elsewhere on this blog, so I would prefer not to debate that here.
In any case your journey sounds interesting and in certain ways not unlike mine. Where we may differ is in the solutions. But that is what dialogue is about, isn’t it? I am glad you found my post and decided to share. God bless you and yours.
catholicboyrichard, I must say the holy spirit is alive and well in you, dear. you’ve got the gift of the holy spirit “wisdom.” i love you’re writing and am so glad to have found you.
That is amazing of you to say this, I was at a 2 day workshop at my parish last night and today, by the name of “Called and Gifted.” We covered the many charisms and took a self-inventory and believe it or not “writing” was my top one…So I am accepting this as a confirmation of that. God bless.
Perfect. You balance humility and confidence.