At first I thought it was kind of schmaltzy - the music over the top - the rhyming/rap kind of like Longskirts. Then I watched it again, and one more time. It is really very good. (Fr.'s middle name is Dusty.)
His comeback to "Why I love Jesus but hate religion" was great, but now he's just ripping that guy and himself off and it cheeses me out. Just sayin...
The Roman Catholic Church will always have the right to say 'no' to 'gay marriage,' just as it has -- and will always have -- the right to refuse to marry people of other religious denominations and people who are divorced. For right or wrong, these restrictions are all part of its current sacramental understanding of matrimony.
Currently in Minnesota, however, many people, including Catholics, are troubled by the Catholic hierarchy's concerted efforts to impose this religious understanding of matrimony onto wider society by its active support of a constitutional amendment that would deny civil marriage rights to same-sex couples -- rights that, in should be noted, are already denied to them.
As a gay Catholic man, I also take issue with the thinking that labels all my sexual acts as 'bad.' Of course there's a difference between orientation and acts. The Courage folks declare this as if it's some profound revelation that's escaped everyone else's attention. The fact is we all know this and most people have gone the next step and entered the adult reality that recognizes that there are differences between the various 'acts' that I or anyone else can and does choose. Some are loving, others are exploitative. Some are life-giving, others are life-denying. Some take place in the context of a relationship, others do not. By denying this complexity of sexuality and sexual expression the hierarchy does a great disservice and injustice to people -- gay people especially.
The Catholic people understand this, and have moved on from the inadequate and, in many ways, dysfunctional sexual theology of the hierarchy. Not surprisingly, a majority of U.S. Catholics support civil rights -- including civil marriage rights -- for gay people.
I know we disagree on this, Terry, but my hope and prayer is that here in Minnesota, this support is manifested in the defeat of the so-called 'marriage amendment.'
Yes we do disagree, but you may be right that the support in Minnesota seems to be for the defeat of the marriage amendment. The signs "Vote No" cover the neighborhood, as you know.
Yes, but we live in somewhat of a bubble here in south Minneapolis, Terry. As you move beyond this bubble, all those orange 'Vote No' signs soon become few and far between. At this point, I really can't say how I think the vote will go. I just wish it wasn't happening.
As a gay Catholic man, I also take issue with the thinking that labels all my sexual acts as 'bad.'
Yeah, well, nobody likes being told that sins are sins. Thus it has ever been. All my sexual acts outside of the marital embrace with my wife are 'bad', too.
But Christ tells us to "repent", not to "redefine".
Yes, but LarryD, in the grand scheme of things as decreed by the Roman Catholic hierarchy, you at least get to have a partner. Also, I have to say that your words remind me of a quote by the late Isaiah Berlin:
"Happy are those who live under a discipline which they accept without question, who freely obey the order of leaders, spiritual or temporal, whose word is fully accepted as unbreakable law; or those who have, by their own methods, arrived at clear and unshakable convictions about what to do and what to be that brook no possible doubt. I can only say that those who rest on such comfortable beds of dogma are victims of forms of self-induced myopia, blinkers that my make for contentment, but not of understanding what it means to be human."
Please comment with charity and avoid ad hominem attacks. I exercise the right to delete comments I find inappropriate. If you use your real name there is a better chance your comment will stay put.
His comeback to "Why I love Jesus but hate religion" was great, but now he's just ripping that guy and himself off and it cheeses me out. Just sayin...
ReplyDeleteHe's very sincere though.
DeleteThe Roman Catholic Church will always have the right to say 'no' to 'gay marriage,' just as it has -- and will always have -- the right to refuse to marry people of other religious denominations and people who are divorced. For right or wrong, these restrictions are all part of its current sacramental understanding of matrimony.
ReplyDeleteCurrently in Minnesota, however, many people, including Catholics, are troubled by the Catholic hierarchy's concerted efforts to impose this religious understanding of matrimony onto wider society by its active support of a constitutional amendment that would deny civil marriage rights to same-sex couples -- rights that, in should be noted, are already denied to them.
As a gay Catholic man, I also take issue with the thinking that labels all my sexual acts as 'bad.' Of course there's a difference between orientation and acts. The Courage folks declare this as if it's some profound revelation that's escaped everyone else's attention. The fact is we all know this and most people have gone the next step and entered the adult reality that recognizes that there are differences between the various 'acts' that I or anyone else can and does choose. Some are loving, others are exploitative. Some are life-giving, others are life-denying. Some take place in the context of a relationship, others do not. By denying this complexity of sexuality and sexual expression the hierarchy does a great disservice and injustice to people -- gay people especially.
The Catholic people understand this, and have moved on from the inadequate and, in many ways, dysfunctional sexual theology of the hierarchy. Not surprisingly, a majority of U.S. Catholics support civil rights -- including civil marriage rights -- for gay people.
I know we disagree on this, Terry, but my hope and prayer is that here in Minnesota, this support is manifested in the defeat of the so-called 'marriage amendment.'
Peace,
Michael
Yes we do disagree, but you may be right that the support in Minnesota seems to be for the defeat of the marriage amendment. The signs "Vote No" cover the neighborhood, as you know.
DeleteYes, but we live in somewhat of a bubble here in south Minneapolis, Terry. As you move beyond this bubble, all those orange 'Vote No' signs soon become few and far between. At this point, I really can't say how I think the vote will go. I just wish it wasn't happening.
ReplyDeleteAs a gay Catholic man, I also take issue with the thinking that labels all my sexual acts as 'bad.'
ReplyDeleteYeah, well, nobody likes being told that sins are sins. Thus it has ever been. All my sexual acts outside of the marital embrace with my wife are 'bad', too.
But Christ tells us to "repent", not to "redefine".
Yes, but LarryD, in the grand scheme of things as decreed by the Roman Catholic hierarchy, you at least get to have a partner. Also, I have to say that your words remind me of a quote by the late Isaiah Berlin:
ReplyDelete"Happy are those who live under a discipline which they accept without question, who freely obey the order of leaders, spiritual or temporal, whose word is fully accepted as unbreakable law; or those who have, by their own methods, arrived at clear and unshakable convictions about what to do and what to be that brook no possible doubt. I can only say that those who rest on such comfortable beds of dogma are victims of forms of self-induced myopia, blinkers that my make for contentment, but not of understanding what it means to be human."
Yes, but LarryD, in the grand scheme of things as decreed by the Roman Catholic hierarchy, you at least get to have a partner.
DeleteAs if the Roman Catholic hierarchy saying you can't have a partner is going to stop you. You make me laugh.
And bravo for Isaiah Berlin. He just described Jesus Christ. Except for the self-induced myopia and following parts.
Kwitcher whining, bear your cross, and get to heaven. Why are you making this harder for yourself?