The man who will become the new Archbishop of Philadelphia in September, Charles Chaput, came out swinging against same-sex marriage equality today, suggesting that marriage between persons of the same gender is wrong because children need to know that their parents love them, and, somehow, same-sex marriage denies children the knowledge that their parents love them. Chaput, the first Native American Archbishop, is heralded as an intellectual Evangelical leader. Chaput’s predecessor, Justin Rigali, and his predecessor, Anthony Bevilacqua have both been accused by a grand jury of covering up sexual abuse.
“As children, if we don’t know that our parents love one another, our lives are very unstable. That’s why I think every child deserves a family where the father loves the mother, and the mother loves the father,” Chaput says, illogically, regarding same-sex marriage. If a child grows up with two fathers or two mothers, how will they not know they are loved by their parents? Typical religious attempt to de-legimitize same-sex headed households.
READ: Majority Of U.S. – Including Catholics – Now Support Same-Sex Marriage
“This is the issue of our time,” Chaput adds, speaking of “gay marriage,” in an interview published today in the National Catholic Reporter. ”The church understands marriage as a unique relationship, with a unique definition, which is the faithful love of a man and a woman for each other, permanent, and for the sake of children. As children, if we don’t know that our parents love one another, our lives are very unstable. That’s why I think every child deserves a family where the father loves the mother, and the mother loves the father. For us to redefine marriage as anything else undermines that notion. I think it’s very important that the church keep insisting on this.
“It’s also important to say that we’re not against gay people” Chaput says, towing the new line of religious rhetoric. Saying “we’re not against gay people,” while trying to de-legimitize everything we do, including our relationships and our families, is ludicrous.
“What we’re doing here is promoting marriage and the meaning of marriage, not condemning others. The church does believe that human sexuality has a meaning in itself, that it’s about love and procreation. Any other sexual relationship is contrary to the Gospel, and so a relationship between two people of the same sex is not in line with the teachings of the church and the teachings of the Gospel, and is therefore wrong. That said, we should always respect people who do things contrary to the Gospel. We live in a society where different ways of life are accepted by the general community, and it’s important for us to live in a way that’s not hostile to people.
“We have a duty as Catholics, however, to speak clearly about God’s plan for human happiness. Part of that plan is traditional, faithful, Catholic/Christian marriage.”
Once again, the Catholic Church is in direct contradiction with its congregants.
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{ 4 comments }
I think the only qualification one needs to be the head of the catholic church is gay hating. What position you will achieve in the hierarchy of the church is directly proportional to your ignorance and hatred towards gays.
The headline here should be that the Archbishop has made an argument for making gamete donation illegal.
Since Catholic doctrine already holds that gamete donation is wrong, and since the Catholic church considers that its view of 'natural law' should be the basis of civil law when it comes to same-sex marriage, I can only assume that this is the start of a campaign to ban reproductive technology.
Watch out, straight people – if they win on marriage equality, they're coming after your families next.
(1) There was no Catholic church until the pagan emperor Constantine I called his warrior bishops to a council at Nicea in 325 CE. The bishop of Rome was but a lightweight, and the word "papa" (or pope) was applied to anyone who helped ease mental anguish. (2) There was no bible until the same emperor in 380 CE ordered the Arian (denied the divinity of Jesus) Bishop Eusebius of Cesareae to write 50 copies for churches in the East. (3) The word "homosexual" is invented at the end of the nineteenth century (1892), and was a combination of two words–which was later decried; it appears no where in the original codices (Vaticanus, SIanaticus, etc) and only recently has replaced "effeminate" in bad translations such as the New Bible, etc. (4) This "archbishop" really should respond to questions about his "nights out" from the seminary…. (5) "Natural law" recognizes homosexuality as all species have homosexual practioneers: sea gulls, cows, wolves, dogs, etc. If it occurs in nature, it is natural. http://hubpages.com/hub/Marriage-in-the-Bible-and….
Chaput's every position is based on calls to ignorance, false equivalencies, non sequitors, and outright fabricated deviations from reality. He rests his pronouncements on authority based on tradition, myth, hearsay, superstition and old wives' tales. There is not a shred of actual proof supporting the authority upon which he relies even exists. His chosen authority only applies to those who give that authority credibility. I am happily one who emphatically does not. His power grab demonstrably and profoundly harms the families of, and specifically, the very children he pretends to care about, while his real concern, as among of all the other bishops under fire for harboring sex offenders in the Church, is the well being of his organization and the security of his position within it. Despicable by any fact based metric.
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