mrscracker,

Gay people are no different than straight people.  Gay people do NOT see children as “commodities”.  Don’t know where you have come up with patently false idea.  And gay people want to be parents for the same reasons as straight people.  Its NOT about “selfish” adult needs. 

Gay people are not “lesser”, “other”.  Gay people are human beings made in the image of God.

To Secular Humanist:

You maybe have “evolved from apes and chimps”... We are created in the image and likeness of God!

Secular Humanist ,
I keep mentioning this in comment boxes, but we see animal reactions to estrus, etc & try to understand it on a human level. It’s not what you think.

“This is THE issue. No one was “designed”. We evolved from apes and are cousins with chimps and bonobos”
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You know, “Secular Humanist” is absolutely right - this is indeed the issue. Do we look upon Mankind as the Image of a God Who has also assumed our image (in the Incarnation), or do we look upon ourselves as mere brutes, no different than the cattle in the field, or a weed by the side of the road, or (for that matter) a rock?
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Funny the “humanists” are always so desperate to deny our very humanity.

“This is THE issue. No one was “designed”. We evolved from apes and are cousins with chimps and bonobos (who also perform homosexual acts, so it IS natural).”

This can be discussed rationally.  When we speak of what is of “nature” should be reviewed as what is the object of the difference sexes.  I submit that the most basic object of the sexual complimentary is the survival of the species. The greatest good is reproduction, that is the reason why we have male and female.
The sexual act does involve pleasure and it is a good but it does not mean that self pleasure is the reason for sex.  It is always secondary.

“We evolved from apes and are cousins with chimps and bonobos (who also perform homosexual acts, so it IS natural).”  The theory of evolution is not a problem as it may have been the mechanism that we came about.

However, just because an animal engages in homosexual acts, it only means that the animal it trying to fulfill their desire to reproduce, that is what nature is guiding him to do.  He just has a wrong mate to fulfull what he is trying to do.  It is not what nature intends to happen because that would be the end of that partiular species.

As human beings, we have the ability to control our desires through rational thought.  We do understand what the basic purpose of the difference sexes is and only the complementary physical aspects is the proper use of our bodies.

Let me give another example of what I mean.
Eating is natural.  Its main purpose is nurishment for the body.  Food has a taste that is pleasing to the person.  That pleasure encourages eating.

When my dog was a puppy, he would eat his own feces.  The vet said that will happen at times and not to worry about the dog’s choice as long as he is eating real food.  Thank goodness it only lasted a short time.  But if I use your reasoning, then is would be natural for humans to eat their own feces.  I submit that is not what eating is supposed to include and is a misuse of the act of eating.
We are more than just a collection of cells with no purpose in life except to have pleasure.  As humans with intellect, we can reason, we can dream, we have abstract thoughts that are far beyond mere animals.

Just my thoughts…

“Yes, you are missing a great deal of what Love of Christ is calling us. The Truth and the proper use of our bodies as God designed them.”

This is THE issue. No one was “designed”. We evolved from apes and are cousins with chimps and bonobos (who also perform homosexual acts, so it IS natural). This is why Christians and gays will never see eye to eye on homosexuality.

Claudia Miller ,
True, but homosexual couples aren’t the only ones who use surrogacy, AI, etc. Plus, adoption policies were/are designed to hide a child’s family history, too.
But I hear what ypou are saying in this instance.Beyond the child’s basic rights to a mother & father, they have a right to know their biological family’s medical history. A number of conditions are inherited & the knowledge can be life saving.

Everyone’s capable of sacrificial love, but a man and a woman are needed for a child to have a mother & father.That’s what the conversation should be about. Children’s intrinsic rights. Children as human beings, not children as adult needs or as commodities.

My hobby is Genealogy and I use ancestry.com, as well as other sources.  I’m thinking that the children of same-sex couples will have problems making a Family Tree in the future.  They won’t know their lineage if they were conceived by a sperm donor.  They won’t have a father and a mother in their tree - 2 mothers or 2 fathers.  I find that very strange.  Ones genealogy gives you your roots and a sense of belonging down through the ages.  These poor children will lose the ability to trace their roots.  Sad!

Tthe term “sacrificial love” used by Archbishop Kurtz to refer only to heterosexual marriage.  Marriage can ONLY occur between a man and a woman. Can there be “sacrficial love” between two people who are not married?  Yes and it does not have to between a man and a worman.
What is at stake is, can we arbitrarily change a difinition of a word that has been in existance since the beginning of time?  The concept of marriage (or other words that describe this unique union) predates the state, even the Church.  It is part of the natural law.
Why is marriage only between a man and a woman?  It is due to how the marriage is consumated - coitus - only possible with a man a a woman.
This does not mean that SSA couples don’t love each other, it is impossible for them to consumate a marriage.
We cannot separate our bodies from our minds, as if reality is only what I think it is.  Regardless of how much I think or sincere that I can walk on water, the reality is that I cannot.
We are engaged in a clash of what it means to be truly human.  Are we just “carbon based units” without any deeper consideration of our humanity?  Or is it that our physical bodies are more than a mechanism for an independent mind?
We are not able to divorce our physical body from our soul, we are composit beings.
Do you realize that if marriage is just a contract, then why not treat those who want the tax advantages and other benefits with a civil contract?
This has been proposed but has been rejected because the same-sex crowd wants to redifine homosexual activity as completly normal.  It is not because the bodies do not complement same sexual activity, hence, it is not natural.

The archbishop, I believe, is trying to make a point that sacrificial love and the one-flesh union has a natural and direct connection that only applies to a male-female relationship. A sexual relationship between two men or two women ultimately does not fulfill God’s plan for the men or the women.

Based on some of the comments to this article it appears there is a great need to educate Catholics as to the meaning of a sacrament. The secular culture of relativism and extreme individualism has infiltrated the Church.

The whole idea about marriage, and the meaning of sacrificial love, is to help one another reach heaven.  That’s the goal! So called same sex marriage, helps to lead both people involved, into hell… Not a nice prospect.

Patricia,

As a grandfather and widower, I am so grateful for the opportunity to care for my granddaughter during the day while my own daughter (a doctor) is at work. I don’t know what I’d do without this (Heaven sent) opportunity.
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It’s not always just for the finance.

Yes, I know of a married pair of Saints who died in the late 1800s—the Mother and Father of St. Therese of the Child Jesus:  Bl. Zelie (died in 1877) and Bl. Louis Martin (died in 1894).  (As I recall reading just lately, they will be canonized in the very near future.)  As for the Saints “Stuart” named, they were in the first few hundred years of the Church when there were a lot of martyrs, including VIRGIN martyrs who were, yes, friends. Just because you are not married and have friends of the same sex doesn’t make you homosexual….When Jesus Christ is at the center of your life, you can be married or single and, in either case, you can also have friends who are married and friends who are single—both male and female.

To Stuart:

Yes, Blessed Louis and Zelie Martin, the parent of St. Therese of Lisieux.  They are soon to be canonized, the required second miracle has been obtained.

Stuart, I’m not an expert on all of our many saints, but, remember, the Holy Father will canonize thr parents of St. Therese of Lisieux this fall when he comes to America. It could not be more timely!

@stuart…Mary and Joseph ring a bell?  Duh.

I am troubled with the term “sacrificial love” used by Archbishop Kurtz to refer only to heterosexual marriage.  If you look at the plaintiffs in the upcoming Supreme Court case you see families anchored by homosexual couples who have been together for many years, raising their families without the right to civil marriage and all of its benefits.  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/20/supreme-court-marriage-equality_n_7012212.html Catholics may find the story of the Bourke and DeLeon family especially interesting. To me, and probably many others, these families exemplify sacrificial love. I will rejoice when the Supreme Court grants the protections and benefits of civil marriage to these families.

there should be a Catholic Sacrament of Matrimony that is totally separate from civil marriage, like what the Mormons have with their Celestial Marriage for Time amd Eternity. Then in the eyes of the Church, civil marriage can be seen simply as a series of tax breaks and other property inheritance privileges

Yes, you are missing a great deal of what Love of Christ is calling us. The Truth and the proper use of our bodies as God designed them.

Sarcasm does not add to a serious discussion nor does it respect other viewpoints.  May the Peace of Christ be with you.

One of the things that saddens me as a Grandmother is seeing how many families are caught up in the new model of the family, i.e., children shuffled to daycare centers, babysitters, so Moms can go to work. It is true that many families have no choice if they want to have even the basic needs.  I thank God for the age of stay at home Moms in which we were blessed to raise our children without divided attention and duties.  Even though, looking back, I wasn’t the perfect Mom by far, but I tried my best knowing how very important my daily work in the home was to the building up of our family life.  My heart aches now for the modern families who don’t know this blessing. 

I recall Pope John Paul II speaking about financial compensation to families so the Mother could fulfill her vital role as Mother and Homemaker, freeing up her husband to take the role of provider.  Wasn’t it the Humanist Manifesto that contains the plans to get the Mother out of the home, away from the children, into the workforce, for the sole purpose of having greatest influence over the hearts and minds of the future generations?  I pray everyday for Families, Husbands, Wives, Fathers, Mothers, Children.

“Is there a married pair of saints?”

Yes, there are. One “married pair” would be Luigi Beltrame Quattrocchi and Maria Corsini. Also, Louis and Marie Zelie Guerin Martin, parents of St. Therese, will be canonized this October by Pope Francis.

There is no basis on which to pin the idea that gay couples are not capable of sacrificial love.  The idea that only straight people are capable of sacrificial love is an effort to portray gay people as less than human, as “other”, as “lesser”, as somehow incapable of being humans beings.  Secondly, gay people have families and do a find job of raising children, loving children, etc.

“The archbishop cautioned that society’s view of seeing marriage only as “an adult friendship” loses sight of the “sacrificial love” and “one flesh union that Jesus himself spoke of” that form the basis for marriage as an institution.”

I’m sorry. But the archbishop is spouting a sophism about “sacrificial love” and “one flesh union” that is supposed to mean something to Catholics (whatever) but really is not a basis for any kind of congruent and intelligent argument. I don’t see how what he said is supposed to somehow strike a chord with Catholics, let alone non-Catholics. Just what is “one flesh union” supposed to mean?  If it is the docking of one body to the other through the penetration of the penis into the vagina, that is just childish. It’s like “you can’t marry because your parts don’t fit together”. Really. That’s his argument. Two gays become one when they marry. It has nothing to do with complementary body parts.  Geez!

Stuart,

Yes, there are many married saints…. but you miss the point.

Self-sacrificing love has many models in the Church. I think of St. Sergius and St. Bacchus, or St. Perpetua and St. Felicity—oh, wait, that can’t be right. . .maybe Naomi and Ruth? Ooops. Surely Jesus has something to say—“No greater love than this—for a man to lay down his life for his friends.” There seems to be a lot of same-sex sacrificial love, but not so much married sacrificial love in Scripture and Tradition, or am I missing something? Is there a married pair of saints?