I recently came across the blog Half Hermit by the Lake where a Catholic priest praised the re-election of President Obama, a few democrats in Maryland, and expressed his support for homosexual “marriage”. He also said that he was pleased that Maryland had upheld the law granting homosexuals the right to marry and called homosexual “marriage” a civil rights issue.
Here is what the Catholic half hermit wrote:
Does this picture look triumphant enough? This is a happy day for the U.S.A. and for yours truly. I can keep for four more years my Obama-Biden bumper sticker which has already weathered the last four years. Cardin continues in the Senate. I am glad that Bartlett will no longer be our non-representative in the House. I pray that his opponent Delaney and all those who were elected last night will work for what’s best for the people.
I am also pleased that Marylanders voted to uphold our law allowing marriage between homosexuals. For many years my position was that, as long as we made sure that same sex couples had all the rights of married couples, that was sufficient. But about two years ago I began to see this as a civil rights issue. Everyone in Maryland, the Free State, now has an equal right to marry.
What pleases me about the election outcomes is that I see them supporting the common good, as opposed to the extreme individualism that has become evident in the last two or three years. I find them very much in keeping with Catholic teaching on Social Justice.
Here is how I responded on his blog:
Why as a Catholic priest do you believe that homosexual “marriage” should be considered a civil right? I can understand if you believe that we should treat homosexuals with human dignity. We should treat all individuals with human dignity. I can understand if you believe that homosexuals should have the right to each others health insurance, visitation at hospitals, and other life decisions but I am wondering why you believe homosexual relations to be just as legitimate as heterosexual relations? What in scripture justifies your position?
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states this on homosexuality:
2357 Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who
experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the
same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in
different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained.
Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of
grave depravity, tradition has always declared that “homosexual acts are
intrinsically disordered.” They are contrary to the natural law. They close the
sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and
sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.
As Catholics we are called to assent to Church teaching. We are called to believe and defend the teachings of the Catholic Church. Deacons, priests, and bishops are called to Shepherd the flock - the laity – and not side with what society deems as appropriate, fair, or moral when it conflicts with Church teaching.
Filed under: Bible, Catechism, Catholic, Catholic Church, Catholic Church Doctrine, Catholics, Christian, Christianity, Culture Clash, scripture, Theology Tagged: Catechism, Catholic teaching, half hermit by the lake, homosexual, homosexual "marriage", homosexuality, homosexuals, intrinsic evil, intrinsically disordered acts, priest, scripture, tradition
