Beating the dead horse, necessarily

It’s an issue pushed to the forefront by the Supreme Court and it’s not going away anytime soon, despite the fatigue I suspect is settling in across the country as opposing sides dig in.

Of course, we’re talking about gay marriage.

I came across three related pieces today that I thought would be worthy of a post, the first coming out of gay-marriageDetroit involving the Archbishop of Detroit as well as a legal adviser to the Vatican and words they’ve shared that underscore the seriousness with which all faithful Catholics should be taking this divisive and controversial subject:

The comments of [Archbishop Allen] Vigneron and Edward Peters, who teaches Catholic canon law at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, are part of a polarizing discussion about gay marriage that echoes debate over whether politicians who advocate abortion rights should receive Communion.
In a post on his blog last week, Peters said that Catholic teachings make it clear that marriage is between one man and one woman. And so, “Catholics who promote ‘same-sex marriage’ act contrary to” Catholic law “and should not approach for holy Communion,” he wrote. “They also risk having holy Communion withheld from them … being rebuked and/or being sanctioned.”
Peters didn’t specify a Catholic politician or public figure in his post. But he told the Free Press that a person’s “public efforts to change society’s definition of marriage … amount to committing objectively wrong actions.”
Peters, an attorney who holds the Edmund Cardinal Szoka Chair at Sacred Heart, was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010 to be a referendary of the Apostolic Sinatura, which means he helps advise the top judicial authority in the Catholic Church. Peters’ blog, “In Light of the Law,” is popular among Catholic experts, but not everyone agrees with his traditional views.

Last month, Vigneron said at a news conference that maintaining views that oppose abortion and support traditional marriage are important for Catholics.
“Were we to abandon them, we would be like physicians who didn’t tell their patients that certain forms of behavior are not really in their best interest,” said Vigneron, who oversees 1.3 million Catholics in southeastern Michigan.
Asked by the Free Press about Catholics who publicly advocate for gay marriage and receive Communion, Vigneron said Sunday: “For a Catholic to receive holy Communion and still deny the revelation Christ entrusted to the church is to try to say two contradictory things at once: ‘I believe the church offers the saving truth of Jesus, and I reject what the church teaches.’ In effect, they would contradict themselves. This sort of behavior would result in publicly renouncing one’s integrity and logically bring shame for a double-dealing that is not unlike perjury.”
Vigneron said the church wants to help Catholics “avoid this personal disaster.”

An unpopular but brutally honest truth being proclaimed in Detroit that is sure to meet with vocal dissent, particularly from dissident Catholics, which brings us to the second piece, a very short one, I came across earlier today quoting the book God, Christ, Other Religions that I believe speaks volumes:

It is a thousand times easier for a person to say and admit their religion is COMPLETELY WRONG, rather than to say and admit that their thinking and their life is WRONG.
It is much easier for a person to abandon their religion rather than their EGO, and they are always looking for a religion that does not jeopardize their EGO.

Profoundly counter cultural but necessary thinking there.  And true.  Completely.  And sadly.

The final related piece is one that faithful Catholics (and those interested in faithful Catholicism) should particularly bookmark.  It’s a comprehensive, and that’s an understatement, post put up by Leila Miller at Little Catholic Bubble that covers this topic most widely and deeply.  Take a good gander at what she’s put together.  If you’re looking for solidly Catholic pieces on the issues of gay marriage and same sex attraction, Leila’s post is your go to place.

Carry on.

Crossposted at Brutally Honest.

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