A few weeks ago, I traveled to the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia, in the state of Washington, to witness the state-sanctioned, church-blessed wedding of my gay cousin and his partner of more than 35 years. The sister of one of the grooms, a devout (and I would have to say downright conservative) Roman Catholic, was one of the lay readers at the service. Another RC cousin in attendance expressed unqualified joy about this long-awaited family celebration. Both brought small children who ate too much cake and ran happily amok at the reception. I thought of them today when I read that Bishop Thomas Tobin in Rhode Island is warning Roman Catholics to “examine their consciences very carefully” before attending same-sex ceremonies. From WPRI.com:
Bishop of Providence Thomas Tobin says he’s “profoundly disappointed” that Rhode Island is likely to legalize same-sex marriage on Thursday, and he’s warning Catholics to think hard before going to the weddings of local gays and lesbians.
“Catholics should examine their consciences very carefully before deciding whether or not to endorse same-sex relationships or attend same-sex ceremonies, realizing that to do so might harm their relationship with God and cause significant scandal to others,” Tobin wrote in a pastoral letter to the faithful released on Thursday afternoon.
Read full story here, and Bp. Tobin’s pastoral letter here, in which he states, “at this moment of cultural change, it is important to affirm the teaching of the Church, based on God’s word, that ‘homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered,’ … and always sinful.”
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Will there ever be a time when (I assume CJ’s straight) people get over the idea that they KNOW the Mind of God. I’m old and really getting so tired of it over and over. Sorry just had to let off some steam.
There is so much need for any kind of love in this world. Indeed, kyrie eleison.
Lan Green
@CJ: That is the wonderful thing about The Episcopal Church: It’s okay for me to suspect that we may all eventually discover that we got it all wrong.
And I still have a loving, caring parish to call home in the meantime.
Eric Bonetti
Guess we all will Christopher — might be a lot of surprises
Pete? The various Susans? It might interest you to know that the Creator of the universe neither has nor needs a Congress, that there isn’t going to be a United States of America in heaven and that morality is His determination and not ours. But you’ll find that out soon enough.
Bp Tobin is holding up his hands against the tide. We saw similar things in the run-up to the MN election last fall, where there were numerous examples of families being told to reject their gay loved ones.
Meanwhile, he has already lost. The Roman Catholic laity is not going to reject their gay friends and family. Catholics in the pew continue to be robustly supportive of civil marriage equality.
My wife and I married in 2008, in the brief window prior to Prop8. Despite our wedding being held in the home diocese of anti-gay zealot Bishop Salvatore Cordileone, despite the bile and vitriol dripping from the local pulpits during that election season, we were blessed by the presence of our many Roman Catholic friends who joyfully celebrated with us as we exchanged our vows.
Of course, after Prop8 passed, my wife left the Catholic church and became an Episcopalian. But that’s another story….
Susan Forsburg