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Hi, Pancho —
For some reason some people seem
to mistakenly think that only Catholic
priests molest anyone. This is, I
think, often rooted in their own
psychological need to hate the Catholic
church, probably because it bears
witness to the Gospel of Christ on
the morality of certain acts they
are attached to.
In point of fact, molestations are
committed by a wide range of individuals
in various disciplines, from teachers
to Protestant ministers to day care
workers. In nearly every case, there
has been a pattern of covering things
up that resembles the situation in
Catholic dioceses. Not that we shouldn't
do better, we should, but the fact
is that until recently, covering
up was the commonly accepted way
of doing things, wrong though it
was. No one says, I wouldn't
want to put my child in school because
this teacher in another state molested
a child a few years ago,
but somehow people always find an
excuse to denigrate the Catholic
Church.
To answer the question, we are against
gay marriage because God teaches
us throughout the Bible in no uncertain
terms, that men are not to have sex
with men, nor women with women. It
should be obvious that the human
reproductive system was designed
for uniting one woman and one man.
This is its natural purpose, this
is the way it works, so what God
intended is made clear by the design
of our bodies.
Since the human reproductive system
was made for reproduction, and since
marital union is an expression and
sign of God's fruitful love for mankind
as revealed in Scripture (God being
the groom — the Church, of
which we are a part, being the bride),
the Catholic Church has always taught
that sexual expression must always
be open to life. This means no contraception,
no masturbation, no sodomy, no oral
sex that does not end in intercourse,
and so forth. Consequently, there
is no point to gay marriage as it
would be intrinsically sinful to
consummate it.
Suppose you granted that homosexual
sex is immoral, but argue that we
should live and let live and not
prohibit those who disagree from
getting married. The problem is that
marriage is a public institution,
and it's woven into our cultural
and society. By allowing marriage
you are imposing, on the whole populace,
a cultural norm. When the state allows
marriage, everyone is forced to recognize
and acknowledge it. Moreover, you
are proclaiming to all, including
children of those who believe homosexuality
is wrong, that homosexual marriage
is a public good. In doing so you
are undermining the rights of those
who do not believe that homosexual
marriage or homosexual acts are good.
In fact you are ramming a most unpalatable
cultural value down their throat,
and teaching it to their children.
More importantly, it conveys the
attitude we think is damaging our
society, namely, that sex is just
a form of personal entertainment
and recreation. This concept, which
after 40 years of societal change
is self-evident to most Americans,
is dangerous because it pits the
powerful tendency of human selfishness
against the most vulnerable: new
human beings. When sex is seen, not
as a sacred way of participating
in the work of the Creator in bringing
new life into the world, but merely
as a means of gratification, all
of a sudden these precious human
beings become the enemy of desire.
Respect for human life in all sorts
of ways diminishes. The family suffers,
and with it, society. What was intended
as a means of purging us of our selfishness
(through parenthood) becomes instead
(in intentionally barren sex) a gratification
of selfishness.
It is a fact that most Americans
do not want gay marriage. When courts
make rulings that impose gay marriage
on a state, they are subverting the
democratic process and thwarting
the will of the people. This is not
what our country is all about.
Eric
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