American Catholic bishops release antimarriage document

http://www.advocate.com/new_news.asp?ID=10475&sd=11/13/03

Roman Catholic bishops ended their national meeting in the nation's capital on Wednesday by condemning same-sex unions. The prelates overwhelmingly approved a document urging states to withhold recognition of same-sex marriages. The church leaders said they had an obligation to "give witness to the whole moral truth" and reinforce Catholic teaching that gay sex is a sin. Bishop Wilton Gregory, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, acknowledged that some may question how Catholic leaders can make statements on sexual morality following nearly two years of scandal concerning priests who molested children. But he said the church must speak out "in season and out of season.... Yes, the church is human, but she must run by the passion and the prophetic office given her by Christ."

A marriage is a legal contract between two consenting adults. It has nothing to do with some third party's religious beliefs. How long are we going to be held captive by these charlatans who insist on poking their noses into other peoples business? You don't like the sex of the two people being married? Fine! Don't marry them - no one is asking you to. But don't butt into the affairs of private individuals who have nothing to do with you and your sanctimonious mythology! Sorry. Rant slipped out before I could catch it.

Protect pedophiles. Does anyone else find the morality of the catholic church to be a bit puzzling?

And if that's what they want to do, that's their own business. But just because the RC church has decided to not go along with same-sex marriages doesn't mean that other churches or the civil authorities should automatically follow suit.

Let's get something straight, shall we? The perverts who molested those boys violated the vows they took when the became priests. These men disobeyed the Church. The church did not sanction such vile behavior. It was those few who acted on their own. The church has always fostered a philosophy of forgiveness and repentance. Knowledge of recidivism rates of molestors hasn't always been as common as it is today. But again, the church has always emphasized redemption for sins. Jesus said to forgive a man 'seventy times seven' times.
The church has long been a beacon of prescribing social conduct. Sure, a few people went against those ideals. Every organization can have bad people. Humans can sometimes be bad. Is that any reason to slam a faith, though? Funny. I don't hear anyone slamming Muslims for all the terrorism that is taking place in its name. But the reality is, the Muslim faith does not preach this violence. You understand that it is the acts of an evil few. So please extend this same reasoned view toward the Catholic Church.

to posts without access to children then you would have a point. But they didn't. They bullied victims, hired PI's to spy on victims, stalled victims by making false promises until the statute of limitations kicked in and then left them with nothing, and transferred priests over and over to other children. They were rotten to the core.

...you review your church's complicity in the simply vast amounts of decades-long abuse.

Catholic officials facilitated and compounded sexual abuse, again and again. The church did not only ignore and excuse. It made things worse. And that is a far more serious error than is contemplated by your trite observation about people "sometimes be(ing) bad."

Pervasive institutional corruption is not explained by ignorance of recidivism rates. While you lash out defensively, you show merely that you have yet to face the issue seriously.

lol

"Jesus said to forgive a man seventy times seven times"

You are correct the church has always emphasized redemption. But if
I remember correctly, in its heyday that redemption was often referred to as an indulgence. As long as you had the means you could be forgiven for anything.

Yes it was only a handful, but the church intentionally looked the other way, and then put other children in danger, once again this
was done intentionally. So it's not the small number that committed
these heinous acts that are the only ones responsible, the church is
just as responsible.

While Catholicism remains steeped in this ugly medieval intolerance, its narrow ideas about the world will stay marginalized. It's the castor oil of social thought.

Can no reformer within that institution help bring it out of its stupor?

Some, though not all Catholics around here, seem to think that their Popes & Bishops are "above reproach" simply because they are reputed to be "men of God". No matter what they may do to DESERVE reproach, they have to be defended because of WHO THEY ARE (or more precisely who they are REPUTED to be.