A Bishop Gets it Right

 

From the statement by Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops:

Regardless of what a narrow majority of the Supreme Court may declare at this moment in history, the nature of the human person and marriage remains unchanged and unchangeable. Just as Roe v. Wade did not settle the question of abortion over forty years ago, Obergefell v. Hodges does not settle the question of marriage today. Neither decision is rooted in the truth, and as a result, both will eventually fail. Today the Court is wrong again. It is profoundly immoral and unjust for the government to declare that two people of the same sex can constitute a marriage.

The Court is indeed wrong again.

Published in General, Law, Marriage
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  1. BThompson Inactive
    BThompson
    @BThompson

    Herbert Woodbery:The expense to others being what? Now that gay marriage will be recognized nationwide. My life is changed in what way?The knowledge that Bob and John down the street will now have a state recognized marriage?My freedom has hardly been diminished.

    The fact that gay couples can marry doesn’t diminish your freedom, the way they were granted the ability to marry diminishes your freedom. I won’t bother elaborating on that, you can read the four dissents from the court today to hear about how your freedom was diminished. They explain it far better than I could. But in short, your sanguinity in the face of Justices writing law, undermining subsidiarity and federalism, and arrogating to themselves what constitutes liberty and compelling behavior backed by the force of the state in the name of a newly discovered notion of liberty rather than law, is foolish.

    The mockery made of the 14th amendment today is no less devastating than the mockery made of the commerce clause 80 years ago. The rule of law was severely damaged today and the power of the court to ignore the constitution and supplant it with their sense of right and wrong was further engrained in our governing tradition. Go find the Thomas More debate with his future son-in-law, William Roper in A Man for All Seasons. You are William Roper, Herbert.

    • #31
  2. Casey Inactive
    Casey
    @Casey

    Godzilla:Would rescinding the law about driving on the right side of the road be a win for freedom?

    The opposite side is really the right side for someone else.  So we should probably have a law that says if you are a passenger in a car being driven on the wrong side you can’t say anything.

    • #32
  3. Ricochet Inactive
    Ricochet
    @HalapenyoHarry

    Thank you, Peter.  I really needed a hopeful message after pouring through the media today.

    Thanks to all of the Ricochetti for being so smart.  My three finger tap on my MacBook pro to look up a definition has been used a lot in reading the posts today.

    • #33
  4. kylez Member
    kylez
    @kylez

    Austin Murrey:Why are conservatives getting upset? Don’t you realize that just like the Ex Im Bank, Obamacare, cutting the military to dangerously low levels, safeguarding data from cyberattacks, unionizing agencies explicitly forbidden from unionizing, the TPA, Iran having nukes, ISIS, illegal immigration, nationalizing healthcare, and an 18 trillion dollar debt this isn’t the hill to die on?

    As Republicans, let’s focus on what’s really important: winning 2016 so we can keep capital gains taxes low and expand tax credits to our favored constituencies.

    Don’t forget getting the Hispanic vote. We need that.

    • #34
  5. LilyBart Inactive
    LilyBart
    @LilyBart

    Herbert Woodbery:Those that hold the bishops view are free to not get gay married. On the otherhand those who don’twill have it as an option.A win for freedom.

    So, I’m ‘free’ not to get ‘gay married’.  Great.  But am I free to disapprove of ‘gay-marriage’?   Can I teach my children that, while God loves each of us dearly and equally, he has a plan for marriage, and this is not it?

    I’m not really concerned about how you organize your life, it your choice.  (God’s big on free will, BTW).  But the gay activists seem to be very concerned that I be made to agree with and support their lifestyle choices (that is, if I have any plans to earn a living or attend school or something of that nature).   They’re quite militant and are prepared to use any means necessary to enforce agreement.

    Will the institutions that I care about be effectively destroyed or disabled as a result of this decision?  (Like churches and christian schools?).

    • #35
  6. Casey Inactive
    Casey
    @Casey

    LilyBart:

    But am I free to disapprove of ‘gay-marriage’?

    Of course.  Just be prepared for the consequences.

    • #36
  7. LilyBart Inactive
    LilyBart
    @LilyBart

    Casey:

    LilyBart:

    But am I free to disapprove of ‘gay-marriage’?

    Of course. Just be prepared for the consequences.

    Well, I would not impose consequences on gay couples – other than lack of joined celebration and involvement in their choices (and I’m usually very nice and polite in real life).  However, they would impose on me banishment from employment and society.  They would tear down my institutions (burn them down, scatter the bricks and salt the earth!) So, its not really very fair is it?

    • #37
  8. user_554634 Member
    user_554634
    @MikeRapkoch

    Austin Murrey:

    Mike Rapkoch: For social/cultural conservatives it is the hill to die on. I am much more concerned with the redistribution of the social capital than I am with economic redistribution. All the riches in the world will mean nothing if the culture collapses. We already have an enormous social/cultural deficit. This decision adds trillions in that debt.

    I was attempting to be sarcastic and apparently it didn’t come through. I have no doubt that the “not the hill to die on” argument will be employed soon however.

    Didn’t mean to be critical, just to state the case for socons. Sorry I misunderstood.

    • #38
  9. Casey Inactive
    Casey
    @Casey

    LilyBart:

     However, they would impose on me banishment from employment and society. They would tear down my institutions (burn them down, scatter the bricks and salt the earth!) So, its not really very fair is it?

    That’s now the price of living in a “free” society.

    • #39
  10. Ryan M Inactive
    Ryan M
    @RyanM

    Herbert Woodbery:and Herbert, you are well aware of the actual issues at stake.This topic has been hashed and re-hashed, and I don’t think for a minute that you weren’t paying any attention at all.It is a win for some freedoms at the expense of others, and I’ll accept that you prefer the outcome.But to say that it is an expansion of freedom is flatly incorrect…

    The expense to others being what? Now that gay marriage will be recognized nationwide. My life is changed in what way?The knowledge that Bob and John down the street will now have a state recognized marriage?My freedom has hardly been diminished.

    I’m not sure this merits a response.  If you haven’t gotten the implications to “other’s” freedom by now, you likely won’t.  But yes, you are correct to point out that your own life may not change much.  I doubt that it would have changed much, either way.  You are not (yet) personally impacted by much of what goes on in the world; if that is an argument against the importance of those things, I suppose there isn’t really much going in the world that is important.

    • #40
  11. user_536506 Member
    user_536506
    @ScottWilmot

    I continue to be discouraged by my government but am very encouraged by the statement from Archbishop Kurtz and also from this email sent out by CatholicVote.org.

    This is a time for prayer and bold witness.

    So much to do.

    So many people need Christ.

    • #41
  12. user_3444 Coolidge
    user_3444
    @JosephStanko

    Aaron Miller: The Church formally declares abortion, for example, a mortal sin and advocacy for abortion similarly so. But it is for one’s own local bishop to make the prudential judgment of one’s level of understanding and general respect for Christ in the Eucharist. It is the authority of God’s chosen shepherds, after all, to “bind” and “loose” earthly expectations in the difficult challenge of balancing justice and mercy.

    That said, American bishops have typically chosen to “loose” in regard to abortion advocacy. So I expect the same here.

    Procuring an abortion is an automatic excommunication:

    2272    Formal cooperation in an abortion constitutes a grave offense. The Church attaches the canonical penalty of excommunication to this crime against human life. “A person who procures a completed abortion incurs excommunication latae sententiae,” “by the very commission of the offense,” and subject to the conditions provided by Canon Law. The Church does not thereby intend to restrict the scope of mercy. Rather, she makes clear the gravity of the crime committed, the irreparable harm done to the innocent who is put to death, as well as to the parents and the whole of society.

    Advocating or voting for abortion is another matter, and as you say that’s generally left up to the pastoral judgement of the local bishop.

    • #42
  13. user_348375 Member
    user_348375
    @

    Marion Evans:Marriage is about economics and about children. So in this case, it is just about economics. Regarding love, no one would get married if it was JUST about love.

    Marriage is a sacrament.

    • #43
  14. George Savage Member
    George Savage
    @GeorgeSavage

    Marriage predates the establishment of the Supreme Court of the United States by thousands of years.

    Our government used to recognize marriage according to duly enacted statutes varying from state to state, now it imposes “marriage” in a novel, uniform, and infinitely malleable guise by judicial edict–in the name of freedom, of course.

    • #44
  15. user_645127 Lincoln
    user_645127
    @jam

    Tom Riehl:

    Marriage is a sacrament.

    Only if both parties are baptized.

    • #45
  16. user_358258 Inactive
    user_358258
    @RandyWebster

    James Gawron:What the Supreme Court has done is proven that it doesn’t understand what Marriage is. As their decision on the ACA proved that the Supreme Court doesn’t understand English, I am not at all surprised by this ruling.

    Regards,

    Jim

    Sorry, Jim, you’re wrong.  What they’ve proved is that they don’t care what marriage is.

    • #46
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