You are here: Home » Featured » Chicago Cardinal- Marriage Equality Advocates Out Of Touch With Human Race

Chicago Cardinal- Marriage Equality Advocates Out Of Touch With Human Race

01/13/11-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
It should not be surprising that, when confronted about the Roman Catholic Church’s opposition to same-sex marriage, Cardinal Francis George chose to rely upon the usual dismissal of what it means to be lesbian or gay, and to rely upon the same excuses and beliefs which the Vatican has pushed for some time.

As Chuck Colbert reported:

George told student John Falcone his “argument was not with Mother Church but with Mother Nature,” adding that anyone who advocates same-sex marriage or its equivalent “has lost touch with the common understanding of the human race.”

“No one has the right to change marriage,” George went on to say, neither “the Church” nor “the state.”

While it is one thing “creating laws so that people don’t feel persecuted,” the cardinal explained, “don’t create a law that says apples are oranges.” For a lawmaker to do so, George added, he “betrays his vocation to pass good law,” especially problematic for a “Catholic lawmaker.”

Like many Catholic families with LGBT family members, even his own, George acknowledged his oldest nephew is gay and a “fine man.”

And yet, Cardinal George would demand that his oldest nephew marry a woman and produce children or live without any rights at all. While his argument was not with “Mother” Church, but with the Dahn or Mother Earth, he ignores the fact that homosexuality is common in almost every documented species with dichotomous sexes. What is more, while apples and oranges are two different species, heterosexuals and homosexuals are not. In fact, they are both human beings.

Colbert reported:

Falcone and another Boston College graduate student, Ryan Nocito, both wore rainbow sashes, widely regarded as visible indicators of solidarity with LGBT rights and full participation in the Catholic Church. Other students wore rainbow armbands and ribbons.

Falcone said that he attended the lecture after reading a Facebook posting about George’s lobbying against civil unions in Illinois. “I was upset about that,” Falcone said. “People should not be able to say things with impunity. I want to remind them that they are causing trouble, and they cannot get away with it.”

Falcone said that he wrote to the dean of the School of Theology and Ministry ahead of time, informing officials that he would be at the lecture. George appeared not to be taken by surprise with the question.

“What I heard in his response,” Falcone said, “is that most important aspect the Church’s lobbying against same-sex unions is that marriage is between a man and woman, and homosexuality is unnatural.”

….

Chris Pett, president of the Chicago chapter of Dignity, said he was encouraged by the cardinal’s openness to dialogue. “He can be very pastoral, he can listen and be respectful,” said Pett who has met with George twice over years but was not in Boston for the lecture.

Still, for Pett, there is a disconnect. “We have a body of knowledge,” he said. “We know more about human sexuality than we did 100 years ago. And the Church doesn’t acknowledge any of that. They keep coming back to Adam and Eve.”

Colbert’s entire report is worth reading and can be read at Windy City Media Group.

The Vatican, for its part, has been pushing a largely theocratic view which demands that the Church be followed by everyone, and often laments the fact that scandals are forced out into the open which embarrass the Church. There are also reports that Pope Benedict has moved to suppress dissent within the Church including on issues such as homosexuality, which he has time and time again used as a scapegoat for the child sexual abuse scandal.