On New Year’s Day, millions of Americans faced the dawn of a new era and made promises to be better people. Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, however, wrote an open letter that called same-sex marriage a “legal fiction” and asked Catholics to complain to their legislators about an upcoming marriage-equality bill.
“It is physically impossible for two men or two women to consummate a marriage, even when they share a deep friendship or love,” George wrote in his letter, meant to be published in parish bulletins. “Does this mean nature is cruel or that God is unfair? No, but it does mean that marriage is what nature tells us it is and that the State cannot change natural marriage.”
Hey, Georgie—you want to keep “natural marriage” between one man and one woman? Be our guest. We’re talking about civil marriage, which is a beast of a different color.
“How the Church – or any faith – views marriage within it’s own institution is one thing, but secular society treats marriage as a civil right,” says Rick Garcia of The Civil Rights Agenda, Illinois’ leading LGBT rights group. “No individual or church, including Cardinal George and the Catholic Church is going to be forced to perform or recognize any marriages they would not find consistent with their own beliefs.”
How about we take this to the next level?
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The Cardinal penned his miserable missive as Rep. Greg Harris (D-Chicago) and state Sen. Heather Steans (D-Chicago) prepare to introduce gay-marriage legislation in this month’s lame-duck session. Amazingly, the Cardinal wrote that despite the opposition to marriage equality, the Church itself is not anti-gay, and cited a number of groups for Catholic gays.
No disrespect, your eminence, but those groups wouldn’t have been formed in the first place if gays and lesbians hadn’t felt so persecuted by the Church.
1EqualityUSA
I wonder if he’s related to NOM’s, Robert P. George. Conveniently, he disregards the spiritual aspects of our relationships. Lose the molecules, Card, rise above the world for an instant.
Michael
It’s also physically impossible for a man or a woman to consummate a marriage with a mythiical creature and yet the nuns, priests, Bishops, Cardinals and the Pope have done so. Get another argument you anachronistic POS.
2eo
Yet another religious nutter forcing his beliefs on everyone else. Good thing these people are dying and not being replaced, just wish it would happen quicker.
jwrappaport
Devout Catholics speaking of physical impossibilities is like Bristol Palin advocating abstinence.
Dakotahgeo
I like the way two of my Catholic priest friends handle their way of adhering to their Bishops’ requests to read official letters to their congregants during church services. They simply read the letters (to themselves, silently) and thank their congregants for their kind attention. Job done… everybody’s happy. 🙂
hyhybt
There is no such thing as natural marriage. Marriage is a social construct.
Guillermo3
Damned Shame!!!!@!:No wonder millions are turning to non-belief and leaving religion to right-wing yahoos__One wonders if His Eminence isn’t connected with Tony Perkins and the Rev. Fred Phelps.
BostonLesbian
Of course marriage in the Old Testament was between one man and more than one woman sometimes? Natural marriage wasn’t.t as clear cut as he would make it, is it?
Another question is why he should have the right to decide morality for everyone. Tend to your on flock, not that he can even convince them.
As a former (young naive) nun and now married (according to Massachusetts ) lesbian, no longer catholic, the Catholic Church needs to get their house in order and stop hate speech.
erikwm
The Catholic leadership is full of closet cases who lacked the courage to stand up and the live the life they wanted and are now bitterly envious of those who do.
Life has passed them by, they can’t go back and live the youth they wanted, so they demand others suffer along with them.
But we reject their suffering. We won’t live that way.
Cam
Gee, a repesentative from an all male “Celebate” organization with a history of child rape and forced labor of young women is going to talk about proper marriage?
Just remember, NOBODY is more angry or bitter than an old self hating closet case.
alterego1980
Of course, The Church (any church) USED to set the morality agenda and people would adhere to it for the most part. People are now moving to an informed position past the archaic ideas of the church and the church continues to lose people. Not a surprising effect but instead of yelling about it like children, they will need to change their message to love and acceptance or die off completely…
horace
Hmmm. Well if you wanna be a devout Catholic you can’t have sex other than to make babies and you can’t use contraceptives and you must believe only in opposite marriage. Knock
yourself out.
Daniel-Reader
Americans should all vote on whether he should be a cardinal or not, otherwise he’s just the appointee of a foreign government.
Joetx
@erikwm: That’s exactly my theory re: anti-gay Catholic clergy.