BALTIMORE (EWTN News) — Archbishop Edwin O’Brien of Baltimore has appealed to Catholic Gov. Martin O’Malley to act in line with his faith and retract his support for proposed same-sex “marriage” legislation.
“I write to urge you to refrain from using the power of your office to promote the redefinition of marriage in Maryland,” Archbishop O’Brien wrote in a letter to the governor, calling it “a goal that so deeply conflicts with your faith, not to mention the best interests of our society.”
The archbishop sent his letter two days before Gov. O’Malley decided on July 22 to include same-sex “marriage” in a package of bills that he will sponsor during the 2012 General Assembly.
Although same-sex “marriage” legislation passed the Maryland Senate earlier this year, it was halted in the House of Delegates after it became evident that the measure lacked full support.
“Our voices are not motivated by hate or ignorance, but by a faithful adherence to the nature of men and women and their unique capacities as mothers and fathers,” the archbishop noted. “Nor do we speak solely from religious principles.”
“Preserving the central role of the natural family unit has always been — and should continue to be — the reason why our government recognizes marriage as existing between one man and one woman.”
Archbishop O’Brien told the governor that the passage of similar legislation in New York last month has “intensified pressure on you to lend your active support to legislation to redefine marriage.”
However, “Maryland is not New York,” he underscored.
“We urge you not to allow your role as leader of our state to be used in allowing the debate surrounding the definition of marriage to be determined by mere political expediency. The people of Maryland deserve no less.”
Archbishop O’Brien said it is “especially hard to fathom” O’Malley supporting same-sex “marriage” legislation, given that “our requests last year for you to sponsor legislation to repeal the death penalty and support students in Catholic and other non-public schools were unheeded.”
O’Malley responded to Archbishop O’Brien on Aug. 4, saying that he agrees with many of the Church’s beliefs. According to The Washington Post, Gov. O’Malley often attends daily Mass, and his four children attend Catholic schools.
However, the governor told Archbishop O’Brien that he had “a public obligation” to try to change what he called an “injustice.”
Tim Drake: Register Radio: Catholics in Politics and the Darkside of Disclosure Laws
Comments
Post a Comment
As a Marylander my prayers are with Archbishop O’Brien but I am not holding my breath. Gov. O’Malley is just another Catholic by label only politician who trots out his ‘faith’ when politically convenient and sets it aside just as easily.
I watched Greta Van Susteren interview this guy the other night. He is nothing more than a highly partisan, “tax the rich,” “Bush did it,” “the stimulus worked,” welfare state-loving, left-wing hack.
If Catholic politicians refuse to comply with Catholic doctrine, they should be excommunicated.
These politicians constantly try to separate their faith life from their work life. They need to be assured that God makes no such distinction or any concession that would allow them to promote anti-Catholic issues.
We will see if this politician will hold TRUE to his Roman Catholic values and morals!
U.S. Bishops, when will you learn how to grow some balls and use your power of excommunication? Hypocrites and weaklings you are, what is the point of you wearing your red cassocks if you cannot defend Christ and the Church to the brink of evil!
I don’t mind Catholics being Catholics, obeying their Roman magisterium, and having their laws and religious obligations placed over those who willingly accept the Catholic faith, but the notion that others outside of the Catholic Church should obey Catholic laws and be bound by the quirks of Roman Catholicism, people who want nothing to do with the Roman Catholic Church, is audacious. It takes some nerve to say “I’m going to impose this on you”, or to say to someone “I’m going to make you do as I say”, for no reason other than your own self-proclaimed authority. That’s what’s happening when Catholics intervene to force the secular world to proscribe things like gay unions in the civil realm. People don’t resent Catholics simply for what they believe, they resent Catholics for shoving it down the throats of others by treating the state as the exclusive property of Roman Catholics. You’d hate it if Hindu laws, or Buddhist laws, or (GASP!) Islamic laws were forced on you (Catholics) but you have no qualms about imposing Catholic laws on others. Double standard: That’s the height of self-righteousness, and the height of hypocrisy.
Archbishops O’Brien of Maryland and New York asked their Catholic respective governors to abandon same sex marriage legislation. Both requests were weak, and as a result were bluntly rejected. I wonder what it is going to take to make our bishops change their position from asking Catholic officials , to ordering them to take their advice or face Church action against them. When a Catholic official supports legislation that disagrees with the teachings of the Church he becomes a heretic and is automatically excommunicated. Canon 915 applies and should be used by the bishops tp influence misguided Catholic officials. It follows that Holy Communion should be denied. For some unknown reason to me the US group of bishops never accepted this Church law. I don’t understand how the US bishops can disregard their superiors. If any bishop lacks courage or finds it is unpleasnt to fully apply the rules of the Church I would suggest that he step aside and allow a more energetic and motivated clrgyman take over.
Jonathan, with all due respect, it is a self-evident truth and not just a Catholic belief, that engaging in homosexual sexual acts demean the inherent dignity of the human person. It is out of love and respect for the dignity of all persons that The Catholic Church teaches we must never condone homosexual sexual acts or any sexual act that demeans our inherent dignity.
Jonathan, neither Archbishop O’Brien nor the Church as a whole, is trying to impose Catholic religious convictions on anyone. Rather, it is a matter of natural law that has defined marriage as exisitng between one man and one woman. The same is true for the protection of human life from the moment of conception.
@Johnathan. There are and have been millions of Catholics who have lived for centuries in countries under sharia. As others have commented, the objection to calling same-sex unions “marriage” is an appeal to the natural law. Marriage predates both the state and the Church. One need not acknowledge the authority of the Pope or recognize seven sacraments to make the argument, understand it, and agree with it.
If I recall, during the Prop 8 case in CA, Judge Walker proposed the state having nothing to do with “marriage” and only sanction “union” and leave “marriage” to various religious organizations. The Pro-Prop 8 side had no objection, but the Anti-Prop 8 side objected. Why is it essential for the state to change the definition of the term “marriage”? Why not simply accept full political rights? Isn’t this about political equality, and NOT be a religious fight?
Jonathan Cid: your characterization of this as a “Catholic law” or “quirk of Catholicism”—so often used to marginalize valid social concerns—is inaccurate. We all know, I think, that homosexuality is viewed negatively in Islam. Interestingly enough, my admittedly cursory research on Hinduism has informed me that the Hindu concept of marriage has more in common than not with the Catholic one: marriage is a social good as well as good for the couple; they take it a step further to say that it is a duty, though some may renounce it for celibacy for a good reason; it mirrors the relations among their gods; divorce is not recognized. The main difference as far as I can tell is their belief in physical reincarnation. http://www.hinduwebsite.com/marriage.asp Buddhism, of all of them, lines up most closely with what we think of as the secular belief that it’s a personal matter and all inclinations are equal. So, if the idea that marriage is between a man and a woman is purely a Catholic, Hindu, or Muslim religious one, and the idea that it’s any two persons is a purely Buddhist religious one, all with equal or no merit of their own, are you saying we are in fact having Buddhism forced on us? I think not, but you have to admit it’s the logical conclusion!
S. Flory: he hasn’t gone through with it yet, so there is still hope he will have a change of heart, and I think talk of excommunication is premature. Until then, I’m with the “catch more flies with honey” camp…
“When a Catholic official supports legislation that disagrees with the teachings of the Church he becomes a heretic and is automatically excommunicated.”
Gee I’d say he was looking out for all his constituents rather than just the catholic ones.
Post a Comment
By submitting this form, you give The National Catholic Register permission to publish this comment. Comments will be published at our discretion, and may be edited for clarity and length. For best formatting, please limit your response to one paragraph and don't hit "enter" to force line breaks.