Is it the mission of the Church’s pastors to imply that the legalization of same-sex “marriage,” or its de facto equivalent same-sex civil unions, is primarily an effort to “help” or “support” people who embrace the homosexual lifestyle? The plain answer is “no.” The state can grant such legal benefits as it wants to citizens without creating counterfeit versions of marriage. Don’t two people who enter into a homosexual relationship need to be reminded that they are living in grave sin?
Confirming two men or two women who publicly pledge their commitment to engage in the gravely disordered act of sodomy in the illusion that they are somehow entitled to receive legal status and the benefits previously recognized as accruing only to married couples is manifestly contrary to the mission of the Church. Such unions are morally harmful to the people involved and to society as a whole. Any approval by the Church of these arrangements is an anti-evangelical endorsement of behavior offensive to God. Claiming that the state is trying to do something good by treating the grave immorality of homosexual relations is a profound error that undermines the supernatural mission of the Church.
Pope Francis says: “But marriage is marriage. This is not to condemn people who are like that, no, please, they are our brothers and sisters, and we must accompany them. But marriage as a sacrament is clear, it is clear. . . .Sometimes what I have said is confusing. All the same, respect everyone. The good Lord will save everyone – do not say this aloud [laughs] – but the Lord wants to save everyone.”
There is no doubt that the Lord wants to save everyone, but the Church has never taught that “[t]he good Lord will save everyone.” The only obstacle to any person’s salvation is grave sin. Sodomy is a grave sin. The Church is called by God to teach this truth to everyone, and in particular to those who fall into this sin. The Christian accompaniment of those who are living in sin never means saying that their immoral lifestyle deserves public recognition and support by the state. Such an endorsement bolsters the false claim that people have a right to homosexual activity, a right that the state must respect. Their salvation will be hindered, not promoted, if the Church in any way gives the impression that she supports a lifestyle that is gravely sinful and socially destructive.
“The denial of the social and legal status of marriage to forms of cohabitation that are not and cannot be marital is not opposed to justice; on the contrary, justice requires it.” So taught Pope John Paul II. So has the Church has always taught.
Pope Francis’ renewed endorsement of same-sex civil unions is gravely scandalous and causes immense harm to souls. There is no basis in Catholic teaching or pastoral practice to support his mistaken notion that the Church should endorse and praise civil union laws that give legal sanction to the homosexual lifestyle and grant to the act of sodomy a legal significance that, in truth and justice, only belongs to the marital union of husband and wife.
Father Murray
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