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09/27/2009
Forgive me father, for I have to bust up this monolithic myth
For the next two weekends, Maine Catholics are being shown a DVD that essentially tells them it is their moral duty to vote against marriage equality for same-sex couples. Fortunately, a group calling itself Catholics For Marriage Equality is here to remind those same parishioners that they actually have minds of their own:
Catholics for Marriage Equality Again Urges Support for NO on 1 to Protect Marriage Equality
Organization wants “the diocese to know it is not speaking for all faithful Catholics”
Portland, Maine (Sunday, September 27, 2009)---Catholics for Marriage Equality (C4ME) today again urged Catholics and all Mainers to vote no on Question 1 on the November 3rd ballot, despite an appeal from Bishop Joseph Malone in opposition to marriage equality presented via DVD in parishes statewide Saturday and Sunday. C4ME said that it is speaking out because it wants the diocese to know that it is not speaking for all faithful Catholics.
The informed consciences of many Catholics compel them to reject the bishop's political opinion about same-sex marriage, said Anne Underwood, a founding member of C4ME. Marriage in the Catholic Church is a sacrament reserved to the Church to define and administer. Civil marriage is a right of the state to define and with it comes over 300 state benefits to better the lives of our families and children. No church can morally deprive families and children of state recognition.
Earlier this month, in response to a diocesan appeal for Catholics to donate to the Question 1 campaign through a special collection at Mass, C4ME suggested that parishioners instead donate funds to NO on 1/Protect Maine Equality (http://www.protectmaineequality.org), which opposes Question 1, or to a charity that is inclusive of all families. C4ME has also encouraged supportive Catholics to sign its petition affirming that the Church can define marriage as it wishes for its members but that marriage as a civil right is the prerogative of the state to define.
(C4ME's petition is available at http://religiouscoalition.org/catholics/catholic-declaration/)
C4ME's Declaration in Support of Marriage Equality states that the organization exists to give hope to those who are hurt and angry because of our bishop's determination to overturn the legislature's passage of marriage equality. The organization asserts that marriage equality is a matter of civil rights and social justice that Catholics are free to support indeed, may feel compelled to support as a matter of social conscience and responsible citizenship.
Catholics for Marriage Equality Again Urges Support for NO on 1 to Protect Marriage Equality [Protect Maine Equality/ No on 1]
Your thoughts
this is why i stop being Catholics
Posted by: Roxes | Sep 27, 2009 9:55:59 PM
My sister in VA just let me know that at Mass yesterday, the priest--a very old, very conservative man who thinks Vatican II was a lousy idea and who would still say Mass in Latin if he could--made a point of clearly explaining in the homily that the Catholic Church would only ever recognize marriage between a man and a woman, but that civil marriage was a state affair, and it was not uncatholic to support same-sex civil marriage.
I'm still blinking in surprise.
Posted by: usernamekiller | Sep 28, 2009 4:22:35 PM
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