Catholic Church Supports D.C. Gay Marriage Ban

Via Politico comes news that the archdiocese of Washington D.C. has officially affirmed its support of the "Marriage Initiative of 2009," banning gay marriage in the District of Columbia. In effort to stress the definition of marriage under civil law as the union between a man and a woman, the archdiocese wrote letters to 300 priests to advance the Church's position.

The archdiocese's press release:

The Archdiocese of Washington today submitted a letter to the District of Columbia Board of Elections and Ethics in support of the "Marriage Initiative of 2009." The initiative, filed by the Stand4MarriageDC.com Coalition, would define marriage in the District of Columbia, for the purposes of civil law, as the union between one man and one woman.

Also today, Washington Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl sent a letter to 300 local priests regarding the significance of marriage and attempts being made to redefine marriage.

"A ballot initiative will give voters in the District of Columbia a voice on this critical issue. Earlier this year, the City Council pushed through legal recognition of same-sex marriages from other states without even giving their constituents an opportunity to have input," said Ronald Jackson, executive director of the DC Catholic Conference.

"It is ironic that at the same time the city is asking for voting representation in the U.S. Congress, its leaders are denying residents the opportunity to participate in the democratic process for an issue with widespread implications for children and families," he added.

"One challenge we see today is a lack of understanding by many people about what marriage is," said Washington Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl. "Marriage simply recognizes a relationship that is fundamental to nature: the complementarity of man and woman. That relationship is not a creation of church or civil law. However, governments and faith groups recognize marriage as between a man and woman because the exclusive, mutual and lifelong gift of a husband and wife to each other is the most stable and secure foundation to create and nurture children."

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Comments

[LostRiverLedger]

07:56 AM on 10/06/2009

Anyone who has "dated" a Catholic Priest.........give a shout out!

I start the shouts at "two"

[John Bisceglia]

09:09 PM on 09/17/2009

Father Tony wrote an EXCELLENT piece on the shenanigans of most priests:

GOOGLE "My Offended Reader in Maine" or maybe this link will work:
http://www.bilerico.com/2009/09/my_offended_reader_in_maine.php

Seriously, if Catholic priests and bishops are going to "go there", then let's get it ALL out there. Heck, I've met many priests over the years at gay bars during my 20-30's....I said met.....and I am certain that anyone could dip their net into the internet's waters and fish out priests from any number of gay sex sites.

[vascopyjama]

11:12 PM on 09/11/2009

The church of the child molesters strikes again. What do a bunch of men who have never or will ever be married, have the right to comment on marriage.

[johnbdonovan]

05:44 PM on 09/04/2009

Well thank God some major institution in this world is able to stand up for the stability of the human race against all this sexual chaos and have an impact. The greatest factor in social stability is gender complementarity in the raising of children.The two most loving mothers in the world can't be a father to a boy. The most sympathetic couple of fathers can guide a young girl in how to be a woman or go through the menstrual cycle. Let's have a major resurgence of social support for mother-father families and raise the standard of social acceptability about everything pertaining to marriage and child-raising!

[arlandbaee]

03:31 AM on 09/05/2009

what exactly does "being a father to a boy" mean to you? Once I know what you think can't be done, I can begin to refute your statement. We'll see huh?

[johnbdonovan]

11:47 AM on 09/05/2009

A father to a boy loves him enough to exercise the firmness and discipline needed when he goes astray. He behaves in a way toward him that minimizes the likelihood that he will fall into criminality, given the fact that the vast majority of the inmates in our bursting prison system lacked the restraining influence of a father. He models the respect for women that real men must somehow learn if their relationship are likely to succeed in later life. In sum, he is to the best of his ability the kind of man that he would want his son to be.

[Liberal Angel]

06:15 PM on 09/08/2009

Where's your argument? Do you care about the Constitution? No one cares about having a religious marriage. I don't want to be married in a Catholic church. We want the rights we have to be respected. Marriage isn't just about procreation. That's a religious view of marriage that only twists people's mental and emotional developement. Marriage in this country is about legal rights. Plain and simple. This isn't Iran, we aren't a theocracy. What's your argument about infitile straight couples who get married? It's bigotry plain and simple. Your side doesn't care about people, you care about your precious strangle hold on institutions. If you cared about children, you'd want them to have loving homes to be raised in. You worry about the straight marriages falling apart at record speed, that have nothing to do with gay rights. It's not right that in this country we have people advocating against human rights. Children need love and guidance, not simply some made up notion of "tradition". Stop conflating marriage and child rearing. They aren't intertwined in this country. Stop your attacks on American families, and start trying to help your fellow Man.

[johnbdonovan]

08:31 AM on 09/14/2009

You don't have to take a religious view of marriage to see that if there are two mothers there is no father and if there are two fathers there is no mother.

[newtom]

03:32 PM on 09/04/2009

Well of course the catholic church would take this position. This should come as no surprise to anyone. The question is: SO WHAT??? They are the church. This is a matter of equal rights under the law. That -- fortunately -- has NOTHING to do with what the church thinks or feels or teaches. And it will have nothing to do with forcing the catholic church to perform same-sex weddings. No self-respecting gay couple would want a catholic wedding anyway.

Hey Pope Benedict, let's agree on this: We don't care about what you and your church believes and you stay out of the American legal process.

[Liberal Angel]

06:20 PM on 09/08/2009

Amen!

[Principaldad]

05:21 PM on 10/07/2009

Actually, it is not a given that the Catholic Church should take this position. This is a church that has always drawn a very clear line between their definition of marriage and the legal definition of marriage. The Catholic Church does not officially recognize a marriage within the church until they are satisfied that all the necessary criteria are met. At the same time they do not recognize legal divorce, but instead have their own annulment process. A civil marriage and a marriage in the Catholic Church are two different ideas that share the same word.

At the same time even the Catholic bishops should realize that civil marriage is not, as claimed, something that "simply recognizes a relationship that is fundamental to nature:" Such a description implies that it is merely ceremonial or spiritual. This is faIse. Even the bishops should have the basic common sense to realize that civil marriage is a legal construct that confers legal status and a great many rights and privliges to the couple.

Unfortunately, the Church has CHOSEN to take up this stance, one that attempts to impose the church's idea of sin on the greater population.

[SonofLiberty1]

11:03 PM on 09/03/2009

MAY GOD HAVE MERCY ON ALL OF YOU.

[mercury613]

03:01 PM on 09/09/2009

You're projecting.

[RODERICK098]

05:16 PM on 09/03/2009

The Catholic Church loves to condemn gay people but seems mute on the question of people who abuse children. Wonder why?

[PlaceboStudman]

10:51 PM on 09/02/2009

Okay people need to be flooding the airwaves, tv, radio, the internet, door to damn door to counter these christofascist nutjobs who care more about their invisible man in the sky zombie ghost than they do about their fellow man. They want hellfire and brimstone, let's give it to them. We can't let up in Maine now. We need to build up steam and start driving our momentum forward folks.

IF not now, when?

[superstition]

12:15 AM on 09/03/2009

This is about money and power. Here is what Louise at Pam's House Blend said:

"Let’s be clear. They are NOT the victims here. The Mormon Church and its coalition have qualified and passed Constitutional Amendments in 30 states to yank away civil rights from gay and lesbian Americans. (They) began this fight in 1988. They have been destroying lives, intimidating people and demonizing an entire class to solidify their base and raise millions and millions of dollars. After two decades of assaulting the LGBT Community, we are now fighting back with our talent, our numbers, our friends, our money and our purchasing power."

http://www.pamshouseblend.com/diary/12505/maine-attorney-general-warned-of-money-laundering-by-nom-dobson-and-others

Guess which religion is the fastest-growing in the USA? It's not Roman Catholicism. It's Mormonism. As far as I can tell, Catholicism is losing churches due to lack of funding and/or attendance, while Mormonism is getting richer and expanding. Both have been working together lately to do things like Prop 8 and Maine, as far as I can tell. It seems to me that the strategy isn't working very well for Catholicism.

[Yeah-Me]

10:38 PM on 09/02/2009

No surprises here either. Of course, I've said it before, and I'll say it again; The Catholic Church needs to stay out of civic legislation or loose it's tax exempt status. That goes for any other church/religion out there.

On a side note though, I see the comments about the molestations... I guess they are making it Alaska's problem now.
http://firewitchrising.blogspot.com/2009/01/fckers-paradise-pedophile-priests.html

[superstition]

10:41 PM on 09/02/2009

They can always get a government job and help write things like this:

http://www.americablog.com/2009/06/obama-justice-department-defends-doma.html

[Yeah-Me]

10:44 PM on 09/02/2009

Ah... that "wonderful" piece of literature...

Don't give them any ideas. Please.

[BalancedEgg]

10:32 PM on 09/02/2009

Who's the gay guy in the turtleneck?

[PlaceboStudman]

10:53 PM on 09/02/2009

well now that you mention it (I hadn't paid much attention til now) the priest inthat pic does look rather...joyful :-D

[dollbaby]

09:34 PM on 09/02/2009

I am catholic and I think the church should keep thier mouth shut on this one. The phrase "protest too much" my be more than appropriate here. Homosexuality exist in the flock and in the clergy.

[Jacqattack]

08:58 PM on 09/02/2009

Why doesn't the church join Rick perry, Michelle Bachman, birthers and tea "partiers" and just secede? Maybe then the rest of us can begin the unification process that is so necessary to heal this extreme divide, a condition to which these people have greatly contributed.

[JDRNYC]

08:34 PM on 09/02/2009

The Catholic church wanting to ban gay marriage is about as shocking as a priest m0lesting a young boy.

[Brian Ross]

08:33 PM on 09/02/2009

A Church ban on gay marriage is fine. Their priests aren't aloud to marry anyone anyway. Why should the gay priests get first crack? All of them should be able to marry. It would help relieve all that tension that gets them into so much trouble.

[superstition]

10:40 PM on 09/02/2009

This isn't about a church ban. This is about the RCC trying to force its views into legislation, as with Prop 8 and Maine.

[Mij13]

07:47 PM on 09/02/2009

Pedophilia's fine with them. It's just just loving, decent, consensual relationships they have a problem with.