81 - 90 of 150 Comments

1. Mike Brown

   3 months ago

   The idea that gay marriage will undermine the "institution" is just absurd. There is absolutely no evidence for that proposition. None. Ask a Canadian (Canada has supported gay marriage for many years now) if their relationship has been undermined, Yet based on that premise you would deny the gay minority the right to the joy and fulfillment that a marriage relationship can bring. There are literally over 1000 various laws and benefits that gays are currently denied on the federal level by the inability to marry. This can easily mean hundreds of thousands of dollars of expense that gay couples can unfairly incur. Civil unions do NOTHING to solve this. Marriage is a civil institution. Matrimony is a "sacrament" of the church. Keep your church and its dogma out of the lives of our citizens who choose not to belong! It's one of the most fundamental tenets of democracy!
   
   The hierarchy of the church use sex and your genitals to control your mind. My god, they even still tell you that masturbation is still a sin! Mortal, if I am correct. Catholics, get some control of your religion. Watching the hierarchy is like viewing a dying raging dinosaur.
   

2. Earl Trowbridge

   3 months ago

   How sad that the Catholic church spends so much time and money on demonizing gay and lesbian people. Is this really how Jesus would channel His efforts. It is time to realize that the Church needs a serious reform and that reform would start with opening up to the election of bishops.

3. Jeff Savlov

   3 months ago

   He has stepped way over the line. Time to divest him of his duties and impeach him.

4. Frank Gregory

   3 months ago

   This headline is one example of why I left the church. You should be above this. This kind of blatant mis-characterization is offensive.

5. DERRUFO

   3 months ago

   it is rewarding to me to see the Catholic faith realize the danger inherent in any Obama presidency.The genie is out of the bottle but so many errors made by this Man O that impeachment is warranted. i hope it does take place soon or you may have to unleash a new crusade to stop the evils of the new democrat party Liberalism.

6. freebird

   3 months ago

   Let me wrap my mind around one Catholic custom: Celibacy. You expect young men, and old for that matter, to keep their raging testosterone under control. But, have a problem with two consenting adults wanting what the rest of us have. The evils brought on by that thinking go far beyond the perceived problems of same sex marriage. When the Catholic leadership grows up, maybe the rest of us can take you seriously.

7. visko

   3 months ago

   It is perfectly reasonable for an institution which has previously defined a state of being to insist that that definition continue unchanged. My knowledge of the history of marriage is rather brief, but I am willing to accept the notion that religious groups including Christians (even further, Catholics) defined the notion of marriage long before the U.S. came into existence.
   
   Where there seems to be a fundamental disconnect between those of us who believe in a new "social order" as you describe it, and those of you who resist that change, is in the role of government helping or hurting your ability to uphold your religious institution.
   
   I want you to get married. I want you to live a happy, full life with the wife or husband of your choosing and I'm completely comfortable with every marriage you see to be between a man and a woman, because you have defined marriage as such. You should affirm that union in a church or a synagogue or a temple with your religious leader announcing to God that you have entered into such a holy union, and you should take your vows with joy and anticipation of a wonderful future.
   
   But my country should have nothing to do with that process.
   
   As an authority overseeing a secular, diverse population, *my* country should be in the business of maintaining a "social order" in which arbitrary, unneeded burdens on any section of its population are removed. If a group is disenfranchised because of skin, belief, affiliation or creed, we should all as Americans and you as a Christian *by your own doctrines* should seek to remove those burdens and free those people to live full and happy lives.
   
   Let marriage stand as a religious institution, and we will all be happy to see your marriages flourish. But do not attempt to uphold the persecution of those men and women of your country who do not conform to your definition of a "good life." Do not attack a government which works with the needs of those men and women in a more caring and Christian manor than you are willing to accept. God will judge us all in due time. By your own Book, you do not have that right.

8. Martin Luther

   3 months ago

   Before the Catholic church tells the rest of the world how to live their lives, perhaps it should get its own house in order - re: Cardinal Mahoney, the Scottish cardinal who made inappropriate advances, and uncountable other affronts to the dignity of mankind.
   

9. Tacitus

   3 months ago

   You bigots are deeply, deeply ignorant and hateful. Love is not wrong or sinful, in spite of anything your 2700 year old book might say.

10. Joseph Bravo

    3 months ago

    As life long Jesuit schooled Catholic, born and raised in San Francisco and husband of twenty years and father of two for 18 years. I have thoughtfully studied the debate over marriage equality. But after 61 years of life, each day celebrating its human and spiritual experience with parents and children of all sexual orientation, I differ with your article and the Church's position on marriage. You have told us all the reasons traditional marriage between a man and a woman must be preserved at the expense of non-traditional unions, but you have not convinced me, a father who has seen and observed children of non-traditional unions wonderfully loved and beautifully raised for decades that you are right or that this is the teaching of God.

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