It’s really sad to see this happening, especially with priests, those who are supposed to be pastors of souls. It’s no wonder then that we see the trickle down effect of apathy (or even support) among lay Catholics on this issue, as is evident here.
The first problem is relativism: “Truth may be truth but whose ‘truth’?” You can’t find a more nonsensical statement than that, and it’s something that isn’t echoed only by secular humanists and atheists, but by an increasing amount of people that have been baptized, and still consider themselves, Catholic. “You have your truth, I have my truth, and they have their truth”, we often hear. Except all you have are opinions, not truth. The word “truth”, in the 21st century, has been reduced to that of a personal view or an opinion. How sad…
Then, we are constantly told (as we’ve also seen in this thread) that many Christian’s views have “evolved” on state sanctioned homosexual marriage and whether or not homosexual actions are morally right. The word “evolve” denotes that someone or something is progressing to something better. Wouldn’t it be more accurate to say that such religions and people who no longer see anything wrong with homosexual acts and attempts by those of the same sex to marry have in fact “
devolved”. This has nothing to do with women “not being allowed to speak in churches”, as it’s clear some have completely misunderstood that verse from St. Paul, and have set up a strawman.
No, this has everything to do with natural law, and one doesn’t need to use the Bible or Tradition to have a convincing argument that state sanctioned same sex marriage does nothing to help society, and in fact, hurts marriage by making the definition of “marriage” completely nebulous. It definitely makes me cringe to think that my children have to grow up in a society (sadly, composed of apathetic or SSM supportive Catholics) that thinks a marriage between a man and a woman is on the same level as that of a solemnized relationship between a man and a man; that there is no distinction between either.
I in no way respect the opinions of Catholics, such as this priest in the OP, who support state sanctioned same sex marriage. I respect their right
to have an opinion, but the opinion they themselves hold is disgusting, and they should be ashamed to hold it, especially if they are a pastor of souls.
Now, if the Church did an about-face on something like the attempt of two men or two women to marry, and stated that it was permissible and/or good for such persons to solemnize a union and that such activity that took place, I would cringe. I wonder if most self-professed Catholic Christians today would do the same, though. I would cringe because not only is this spiritually dangerous for a person (sexual activity outside of marriage is gravely sinful), but, especially in the case of men who have sex with men (because we can safely say that such a “marriage” includes sexual activity), there are dangers to physical health. I don’t think there are many things more cringe worthy than the tearing of the sphincter or the extremely heightened risk of contracting HIV,
to which men who have left that active lifestyle can attest to.
Even if we presuppose that such people are monogamous (a judgement in itself), how can one be said to be living in accord with the Church if they engage in fornication? I can understand secularists not getting this, but Catholic Christians? It’s a testament to how we really need that renewal of catechesis that our last three popes have explicitly called for. But as we can see by the rise of the “nones”, apathy is winning the day. As William Lloyd Garrison was quoted to say, “The apathy of the people is enough to make every statue leap from its pedestal and hasten the resurrection of the dead.” And for those that have done a complete 180, and proclaim same-sex state sanctioned marriages a moral good, it would seem that St. Paul’s warning to St. Timothy can be applied to our current day:
…preach the word, be urgent in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, and exhort, be unfailing in patience and in teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander into myths. (2 Tim. 4:2-4)
