The Church stirs against gay marriage
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The Church stirs against gay marriage

The Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, ran an editorial on the gay marriage issue in Massachusetts this week, and the Boston Herald reports that Catholic politicians are not happy about it.

The editorial, which isn’t online yet, makes veiled threats at Catholic pols who don’t heed the Church’s teachings on the matter. The funny thing is that it’s the Democrats who are most riled by the editorial, even though it was Catholic Republicans who appointed the chief justice of the court that mandated gay marriage.

It’s funny watching the the CINO pols writhe and twist, especially considering the overwhelming public opposition to gay marriage, even in Massachusetts.

Rep. Carol Donovan, a Catholic who supports allowing gays to civilly wed, said she would “absolutely not” be run out of the Democratic Party by the church’s demands. “When I was sworn in, I took an oath to uphold the constitution, and if the constitution says there’s going to be gay marriage, then I have to support that,” Donovan (D-Woburn) said.

The idea of climbing aboard the GOP train stuck in the craw of some Catholic Democrats - who pointed out that President Bush’s support of the death penalty runs counter to the church’s stance.

Funny stuff. For one thing, the constitution doesn’t say there’s going to be gay marriage. I looked and it says nothing of the sort. But the state Supreme Judicial Court said there’s going to be gay marriage and if Rep. Donovan had any backbone she’d tell the court to keep its nose of out the Legislature’s business of creating law and stick to what it’s supposed to be doing.

As for her second point, it shows how out of touch with the Church’s teachings she is. The death penalty is not forbidden by the Church. It is not the “Church’s stance.” Just look at 2266 in the Catechism. It’s the application of the penalty that’s in doubt. But then these CINO politicians have always had a problem distinguishing between those things a Catholic should never support and those issues for which he must use prudence in determining the right course.

“The role of the church to persuade the Catholic voter to support politicians who adhere to the faith, I understand that,” Festa added. “But it’s not going to be the determining factor for me, and I would suspect (it won’t) for a lot of us.”

That may well just sum up the major problem of the laity at the beginning of the new millennium. “I don’t care what the Church says. I have to make up my own mind.”

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