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Same Sex Unions as parents. CNN to explore the issue

CNN is advertising an upcoming 'Solidad O'Brien Investigates' special entitled "Gary & Tony Have a Baby". The documentary is being previewed at 'Newfest: a LGBT Film Festival in New York. I believe that it is to be aired on CNN on June 24th.


Watch for further details. I look forward to the broadcast. I do so, not to follow that old Irish  maxim 'know your enemy', rather to grow in my understanding of the reality of gay families today. It may not be a traditional configuration, but my
previous training as a social worker as well as my life experiences have taught me that children raised in any stable, loving and chaste relationship will be as normal as a child raised in a traditional family.


One cannot know the full truth of any social, moral or medical experiment until the matter is broadly studied, but if the state says that gay couples merit the same legal status as heterosexual marriages, then they are entitled to the same rights, privileges and responsibilities.


Please, before jumping into a polemic of posting in defense of either side of the LGBT / Orthodoxy argument, consider that we must all be open to understanding the truth - no matter whether our dogma presages will be reality of non-traditional families. Anecdotal stories abound on both sides of this debate because there is a greater truth at work: bad kids come from good families, and visa versa. If it is demonstrated through longitudinal studies that there is no harm, then children should be afforded the opportunity to be raised in loving, stable homes with any legally approved couple, willing and able to accept the challenge. This is most certainly a preferable option to aborting a child - irrespective of where one stands vis a vis sexual morality. God's approval does not in and of itself deny something being legally permitted: adultery being a powerful illustration of this. The Church need offer its sacraments only to those who its chooses as determined by our creeds and dogma, but history has taught that its authority should reach only as far as the walls of Church. This is how it should be.


Now... if Catholics individually or collectively want to exercise their right to free speech to argue for legislation that reflects their values, that is their right (and, I would add) obligation to do so.  However we live in a democracy, meaning that governments must strike a balance between the rights of the majority & minority. The Kingdom of God will not be imposed on this world... until He returns - an event promised to be beyond dispute when it comes. Until then, citizens perhaps acknowledge that        MAYBE.... and I stress MAYBE, this is the key to  reconciling the obligations of faith and rational citizenship for Catholics and secularists. It's an answer that seems just out of reach... but I'm sure it's in here somewhere. Maybe I'll find it as I take up Richard Neuhaus' last book "American Babylon: Notes of a Christian Exile".

Comments

  1. Before we pass judgement on anybody we need always to remember that ALL of us are created in the image and likeness of our God....a God who holds us and keeps us

    ReplyDelete
  2. Fr. Tim Moyle,

    I have a question for you.
    I have an adult gay son who has a partner for some years. What happens if he calls me one day and tells me that I am invited to their marriage ceremony. When I go does that mean I self-excommunicate myself from the Roman Catholic Church. Even though in my heart when I think of marriage it is between a man and a woman?

    Thanks ahead!
    Lina

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous18 June, 2010

    Lina:

    Personally, I would go to my child's wedding whether they marry a same sex partner or an opposite partner. I am straight and if my child turned out to be gay I would love and support them just as Jesus does. I wouldn't let ANYONE tell me what to do. And I would continue to be a practicing Catholic. I would also support my child having a family with their partner, same sex or otherwise. Good parenting is not determined on sexual orientation of the parents. WWJD? He would love all of us! I try to emulate Jesus Christ and no one else. Don't let anyone tell you what is moral and correct in your relationships with family members, you know what is right!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Lina: I agree with 'Anonymous'. No matter what, he is your son. You can no more fail to love him than you could cut off your arm! It is up to the Church to teach what we understand to be the truth, but it is up to God to judge. Just because your son MAY decide to enter into a relationship that the church does not sanction does nothing to diminish your love for him. He is not asking your approval, but he has every right to expect your love and support. The Church has no right to expect differently of you.

    Fr. Tim

    ReplyDelete
  5. Lina: P.S. Sorry for taking so long to respond. I did not see your initial question until just now.

    Fr. Tim

    ReplyDelete
  6. Fr.Tim & Anonymous...thank you for your input and response.

    That is what I felt in my inner most being, in my heart. I do love and support my son.



    P.S.
    Fr. Tim no need to apologized I was going to follow my heart anyhow. Just reading Anonymous and your response to my post helped me so much. Thanks

    Lots of hugs,
    Lina

    ReplyDelete

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