OLYMPIA, Wash. (EWTN News/CNA)—Proposed same-sex “marriage” legislation in Washington state would add to “the forces already undermining family life today,” the state’s Catholic bishops warned.
In a January 2012 statement, the bishops stressed that the “stability of society depends on the stability of family life, in which a man and a woman conceive and nurture new life.”
They noted in their letter, titled “Marriage and the Common Good,” that the civil recognition of marriage as between one man and one woman has given “countless generations of children the incomparable benefit of a loving mother and father committed to one another in a lifelong union.”
On Jan. 13, 23 senators, including two Republicans, introduced legislation that would grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Gov. Christine Gregoire, a Catholic Democrat, had requested the bill, which will require 25 votes to pass the state Senate.
In response to the move, the bishops explained that when defining marriage in terms of the relationship between a man and a woman and its “important role” in guaranteeing future generations the state recognizes the “irreplaceable contribution” married couples make to society.
Changing the definition of marriage means there are no special laws to support and recognize this contribution, they said.
Marriage not only creates a bond through a personal relationship, but allows the potential “of a man and woman to conceive and nurture new life, thus contributing to the continuation of the human race.”
The bill’s chief sponsor, state Sen. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, however, criticized the bishops in remarks to The Associated Press.
“My first reaction, as a practicing Catholic, is that this is very hurtful,” said Murray, who is currently in a 20-year same-sex relationship.
Joseph Backholm, executive director of the Family Policy Institute of Washington, said that he expects thousands of people to show up at the bill’s first public hearing on Jan. 23 to show their opposition.
But he sided with the bishops, saying that the “idea that there is no difference between a heterosexual relationship and a homosexual relationship and that the law should recognize no difference assumes there is no difference between men and women.”
“This would be the state taking a position and saying, ‘We will no longer encourage arrangements that will give children both a mother and father,’” he added.
Washington state passed a domestic-partnership law in 2007, and there are about 19,000 registered domestic partners in the state today.
In their statement, the bishops called on local Catholics to contact state legislators and urge them to keep marriage defined as between one man and one woman.
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Doesn’t anyone else find this statement hilarious, “Ed Murray who is in a homosexual relationship calls himself a PRACTICING CATHOLIC”. More like a practicing Heretic!
But without Leadership, how can he know he is NOT a faithful Catholic. Civil Unions are already legal in Washington State, AND YET Gov. Gregoire has not been excommunicated. Heck, she is the biggest pro-gay rights Governor in our country and also fully supports Pro-Choice. Why oh Why are our Bishops so very very Lame.
How much evil does someone have to do or support, before they are excommunicated????? Have a backbone bishops! These letters defending true marriage are too little too late, and it is more scandalous that our bishops do nothing to so called Catholics that promote these grave sins than anything else.
Evil is only allowed to flourish when good men(bishops) refuse to be courageous and stand up to fight evil.
In what Catholic Church would you define “practicing Catholic” with someone who is openly in a a 20-year same-sex relationship? Please refrain from using quotes from Catholics who are making-up their own truth. Please refer to the Catechism of the Catholic Church or fact check with the local bishop before you describe people, make sure they actually fit the “practicing Catholic” ideals. The Church is quite clear in it’s teachings…..
It always amazes me when some Catholics think they know better than the Pope, bishops, cardinals, etc. This issue of gay marriage is one of those moments where some disagree all the while claiming to be “practicing,” as stated by Sen. Ed Murray. The truth hurts sometimes, but we need to hear it: Homosexual behavior defies church teaching, therefore, allowing gay marriage is wrong, as well. I realize in this age of moral relativism where “feelings” replace truth, this may be hard for some to read. But it’s the truth.
I applaud the bishops for writing this letter and hope they are successful in their effort to block gay marriage in Washington. We’ve already seen the terrible ramifications this has in Illinois through allowing civil unions. This movement must be stopped.
Mr. Murray may be “practicing” but he is certainly NOT participating in the Catholic faith. The shear laughability of his portrayal of himself as somehow abiding in the Catholic experience is both humorous and tragic. The real shame is that our bishops have failed this man and the faithful by not dispelling the false nature of his relationship to the Church, the faithful, and Christ. He has supplanted his own desires and beliefs for that of God and His Church and somehow he believes he is still in union with both. We can only pray Christ’s prayer from the cross: “Father forgive them for they know not what they are doing.”
Since Ed Murray shared his reaction to the bishops’ letter with the public, I really would like to see Washington’s bishops issue PUBLIC instruction as to what behavior does and does not constitute practice of the Catholic faith. One can be homosexual and a faithful Catholic, IF one supports Church teaching AND refrains from homosexual activity. This would be a wonderful time for the bishops to also show public support for the Courage program and the Catholics (and others) helped by it.
Apparently,
Many Catholic politicians, such as Gov. Gregoire, Sen. Murray, never got the memo…
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20030731_homosexual-unions_en.html
I don’t understand why you people are so worried about same-sex marriage. Why are you so intolerant of another person’s right to marry the person they love? It makes no sense why you’re so worked up about it. Catholics favour 2 positions on this argument. First, they use the bible as their one true source of truth, even though they cannot actually verify that the words contained within are actually the words of a being that created all life on earth. The second is that homosexual marriages are not procreative, but let me ask you this then: should heterosexual couples who do not want children, or cannot have children, not be allowed to marry either? Really, what you’re actually saying is, “That’s different, and I don’t like it! Stop being intolerant of my intolerance!!!” Organized fear and hatred is what organized religion tends to create, not love.
It would appear that the Bishops of Washington State (of which I am a resident) are not doing nearly enough to defend Marriage. To allow Christine Gregoire and Ed Murray to publicly declare themselves “practicing Catholics” without a response ranges from confusing to scandalous. We need our leaders to teach us what the Church considers a “practicing Catholic.” How can these politicians be allowed to rob us of our Faith?! They should be publicly reprimanded and denied Communion at the least.
Jesus was in a same-sex relationship with his male disciples. “Same-sex” does not mean illicit sex. It is entirely possible for devout practicing Catholics to be in same-sex relationships. And it can be a mortal sin to presume or publicly proclaim with “certainty” that people in same-sex relationships are less than chaste. “Practice” this.
On the Catholic Church’s Financial Motives for Keeping Gays Oppressed
The Catholic Church is the world’s single largest anti-gay hate group. If we are to minimize its pernicious influence, we must educate societies about the Church’s financial motivations for keeping gay human beings oppressed.
The Church’s business model depends on the cheap labor of priests and nuns, without whom the bullying theocrats at the top of the Church hierarchy would not be able to continue living their lavish and decadent lifestyle.
How does the Church intimidate gay people into signing up for lifetimes of poverty, hard work and (ostensibly) celibacy? By socially stigmatizing gay human beings and driving young gay people to despair about their chances for satisfying adult domestic lives, the Church as good as tortures young gay people into signing up to be priests and nuns. The fall-off in the number of young people signing up for lifetimes slaving for the Church corresponds almost precisely to the gradually increasing social acceptance of gay human beings. The Church knows that and—at the expense of gay people’s basic human rights—is lashing out in attempts to protect its business interests and historical business plan.
The Pope recently announced that marriage equality is a threat to the future of humanity. For that, he deserves to hear long, loud Bronx cheers. That bit of preposterous anti-gay hate speech is duplicitous, just another cover for trying to turn back social progress so the Church can torment young gay people into entering the priesthood. We must not ignore, furthermore, that the Church also is misogynist. Nuns get hidden away doing the worst of the dirty work and are never seen wearing fancy garments and drinking fine wines out of golden chalices. Additionally, the Church opposes allowing gay parent adoptions, because such adoptions lead to increased acceptance of gay human beings, which works against the Church’s business plan.
Catholic dogma on human sexuality is flat-out unscientific and wrong. For Church leaders to defame gay people by calling homosexuality an “intrinsic moral evil”—and other such defamatory, non-fact-based phrases—is as disgraceful as was the Vatican’s signing of the Reichskonkordat political treaty with Adolph Hitler. Remember; in the present-day world, we are witness to Christian-majority countries that propose establishing the death penalty for all known homosexuals. The Church notoriously placed Galileo under house arrest because he taught that the earth revolved around the sun, instead of vice-versa. Gay Americans today must refuse to allow the Catholic Church to put us under national house arrest in a system of sexual orientation apartheid, in the name of anti-gay Church dogma and for the purpose of enriching the Church.
Archbishop Dolan sent a threatening letter to President Obama, telling him that if he continued to undo sexual orientation apartheid, he would “precipitate a conflict between Church and state of enormous proportions.” If you are disturbed by an Archbishop threatening a U.S. president over gay rights, you can sign this petition asking President Obama to repudiate the Catholic Church’s anti-gay politicking.
Not only is the Church wrong to poison minds against gay people, it is doing so at least in part to distract from its crimes of child rape and child rape cover ups. In August, 2011, a priest in the Bronx allegedly sexually assaulted, repeatedly, a 16-year-old girl working in the rectory. After arrest, the priest told prosecutors that the girl was “wearing short skirts.” Would you not think that an organization with a monstrous child rape history would instruct its employees never to blame the victim that way? Dolan on his blog subsequently posted - “with gratitude” - a press release from the Catholic League attacking the 16-year-old girl’s integrity and calling the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests a “phony victims’ group.” Dolan’s blog post could serve as a text book case of how an institution can intimidate victims out of coming forward or bearing witness to child rape crimes. As with its gay-bashing, the Catholic Church bashes Church child rape victims out of financial motivations; intimidate as many victims as possible out of coming forward, in order to avoid having to compensate them. For a video of Ratzinger getting pissy with and slapping away a reporter who was trying to ask him why a priest was being shielded from prosecution, go here.
Do not forget to sign this petition.
The greedy gay-bashing monsters of the Catholic Church are mounting a war against gay people; gay people - and those that support their rights—must fight back against this evil cult.
I think that it is high time the Vatican start looking at so called Catholics like Sen. Murray and others who call themselves Catholic and yet do not practice the tennents of the faith and start excommunicating them! My theory is if you don’t like the rules that the church follows (which by the way are the rules in the Holy Scripture) then go find another church to align yourself with! In Sen. Murray’s case - Go become a Episcopalian!
Aren’t we talking about licensing? (License: Permission and the document recording that permission—more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/License) .
Is not a marriage license in the same category as a dog license or driver’s license? Why does the Church insist that government can not license relationships between two consenting adults? For example, what if the government was to insist that Catholics apply for a license to practice their faith? Obviously unconstitutional. Yet, Catholics insist government license their religious sacrament of marriage in such a way that prohibit other couples from enjoying the same civil rights, benefits, and responsibilities as themselves.
* Does the state have authority to ban consensual relationships between adults? If so, upon what principle.
* If certain behaviors, ownership, and actions are forbidden without a license, what behaviors, ownership, and actions are forbidden by not having a marriage licenses? Is this prohibition of behavior, ownership, and actions constitutional in all regards or is there a constitutional conflict? Does the issuance of licenses discriminate unfairly?
* If the state licenses marriage to impose certain conditions or limitations on this type of relational activity, are the conditions and limitations essential for well-being of individuals and society or are they arbitrary and unconstitutional?
Hello,
I hope those promoting same-sex relations truly think through the logic of their desires.
What about the children? Every child has the right, and deserves a good mother and father - parents that teach the next generation that working together is better for all. Any other family type robs the child of his or her rights. Those that want to pretend they are married need to grow up and take responsibility of their actions.
There are problems in any marriage, but they should be worked through if possible - for the family’s sake and for the couple. Being a parent is about giving and self sacrafice for the betterment of others, not a hedonistic relationship.
Catholic teaching tells us to be open to life. By default, non-traditional marriages are NOT open to life. At best they can only take, not give.
Mike
Phyllis - the topic in this article is “marriage”, and to say that Jesus and His disciples were in a same-sex relationship, or that their platonic mission could in any way be similar to the topic of this article is just naive of you.
God bless these bishops for their effort to save traditional marriage between one man and one woman, and I like the idea to use this as a way of educating Catholic lay people in the pews, that to have a homosexual inclination does not make a person a sinner, but to act on the inclination, and be proud of it, is NOT acceptable for a Catholic-Christian.
Today, Washington, tomorrow: America and the next day, the world. All bishops must speak up to protect traditional marriage, and to educate the billions of Catholics about what is, and what is not, acceptable behavior for people of faith, and to give children an environment in which to be reared in the best fashion.
If America’s Bishops ever want to get a handle on the moral decline of our nation, they will need to exercise “Tough Love” and start “Excommunicating” these so-called Catholic Politicians who support Abortion, Euthanasia, and Homosexual Unions. Unless the Bishops step up to the plate, this will continue on and on.
Thanks for that awesome posting. Useful, and it saved MUCH time! :-)
@Mike on Wednesday, Jan 18, 2012 2:32 PM (EST). Same sex married couples raise children just as well as mixed sex married couples. Do the research. What about single parents? Can they raise children? What about foster parents? Can they raise children? Your logic about whose fit to raise children and who cannot confused me. As so your argument for why a Church has say over who can marry and who cannot, when in fact, a local government issues the license to marry. Note, local governments do not issue you a license to practice Catholicism. So why is the church interested in enforcing its religious claims through local government licensing?
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