Bondings 2.0 is continuing its coverage on the historic U.S. Supreme Court ruling on marriage equality. We are continuing to provide our readers with more responses from Catholic leaders, organizations, and individuals. If , in your general reading on this topic, you come across a Catholic response that you like, please send the link to: info@NewWaysMinistry.org. We will try to include it. Please limit suggestions to responses from Catholics or that discuss Catholic issues. Of course, feel free to share your own reactions in the “Comments” section of this post.
For yesterday’s post, which contains more reactions, click here. For a prayerful response, click here. For New Ways Ministry’s official response, click here.
The following are some of the responses we’ve been collecting. For each excerpted response, we provide the link back to the full statement or article.
Lisa Fullam
Lisa Fullam, Associate Professor of Moral Theology, Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley:
After providing an analysis of how Catholic principles underlie Justice Anthony Kennedy’s judicial opinion in Obergefell v. Hodges, Fullam states:
“Perhaps a good first step for Church leaders would be to applaud the Court’s decision in light of its overlap with Catholic values regarding marriage. Of course, the Church may still refuse to marry lesbian and gay couples, just as it refuses to marry anyone with an un-annulled previous marriage. In time, I trust that Church teaching on sacramental marriage will evolve, too, and take note of the powerful spirit of love and commitment vivifying lesbian and gay marriages as well as straight marriages.
“But in the meantime, please, please, let’s stand with the Court and celebrate the equal human dignity of ALL God’s children.” (From a Commonweal magazine blog post)
[Read Professor Fullam’s article, “Civil Same-Sex Marriage: A Catholic Affirmation,” published on Bondings 2.0 on April 15, 2014.]
Bishop Robert McElroy
Bishop Robert W. McElroy of San Diego:
After a statement expressing a desire for government to preserve a unique status for heterosexual married couples, Bishop McElroy stated:
“The Catholic community of San Diego and Imperial counties will continue to honor and embody the uniqueness of marriage between one man and one woman as a gift from God- -in our teaching, our sacramental life and our witness to the world. We will do so in a manner which profoundly respects at every moment the loving and familial relationships which enrich the lives of so many gay men and women who are our sons and daughters, our sisters and brothers, and ultimately our fellow pilgrims on this earthly journey of life. And commanded by the Gospel of Jesus Christ we will continue to reach out to families of every kind who are encountering poverty, addictions, violence, emotional stress or the threat of deportation, and to attempt to bring them faith and care, service and solidarity.” (From a statement)
(As mentioned in yesterday’s Bondings 2.0 blog post, a number of bishops have issued statements on the court’s ruling, many of which were similar in tone and message. We provided links to blog posts which contain excerpts and links to these if you would like to read them. We will try to provide excerpts from bishops’ statements which we consider to have some unique aspect or tone to them.)
Christopher Hale
Christopher Hale, Executive Director, Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good:
“Friday’s Supreme Court decision to legalize gay marriage across the country presents an interesting moment for Catholics in the U.S. The church opposes gay marriage, and this likely won’t change even under Pope Francis the Troublemaker. But we also must acknowledge that this moment is a great joy for many Catholics—gay and straight. In recent history, many upstanding and faithful Catholics have said that they have heard the voice of Jesus say to them that the love between two persons of the same-sex isn’t sinful, but holy, sanctified, and blessed.
“I myself struggle with this conundrum. There’s nothing more important in my life than being Catholic and a part of the universal Church of Jesus Christ. For me, it’s not just membership in a fraternal organization or civic group, but in a family that gives me my identity, my roots, and my wings. I take my faith’s teaching on every issue—including gay marriage—seriously, but I, too, can’t help but feel joy for my LGBT friends who celebrated Friday’s decision.” (From a Time.com blog post)
Archbishop Wilton Gregory
Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Atlanta:
After reiterating official Church teaching that marriage is only between a man and a woman, Archbishop Gregory stated:
“This judgment, however, does not absolve either those who may approve or disapprove of this decision from the obligations of civility toward one another. Neither is it a license for more venomous language or vile behavior against those whose opinions continue to differ from our own. It is a decision that confers a civil entitlement to some people who could not claim it before. It does not resolve the moral debate that preceded it and will most certainly continue in its wake.
“The moral debate must also include the way that we treat one another–especially those with whom we may disagree. In many respects, the moral question is at least as consequential and weighty as the granting of this civil entitlement. The decision has offered all of us an opportunity to continue the vitally important dialogue of human encounter, especially between those of diametrically differing opinions regarding its outcome.” (From a statement)
Jason Welle, SJ
Jason Welle, SJ, Contributor, The Jesuit Post:
After describing the challenging closeted situation that his grandmother and her lifelong woman companion, Nana and Dot, endured decades ago, Welle reflects on the significance of the court’s ruling:
“This weekend, I’m thinking about Nana & Dot as the Supreme Court has ruled that marriage is to be considered a civil right for all couples, without exception. This week, thousands of couples in the United States will not have to endure a life of secrecy and legal uncertainty. This ruling means that their unions have the law behind them. Their families will be treated equally by the states, they will not risk losing their children and property because someone else disapproves of their union. As of today, as Justice Kennedy notes in his opinion, ‘This Court’s case and the Nation’s traditions make clear that marriage is a keystone of the Nation’s social order,’ and gay and lesbian civil marriages will be respected, as far as the law is concerned, as part of the foundation that contributes to our civil and social order. . . .
“The trending hashtag on Twitter this weekend is #LoveWins. I hope that this will be true for everyone of goodwill in this nation, regardless of their view of this decision. While the legal case may be settled, it does not bring everyone into agreement. But I sincerely believe that when they’re at their best, the United States of America and the Catholic Church are about the same thing: enabling and inspiring people to greater love, fidelity, and mutual care. Nana and Dot were both American and Catholic and these are the things they taught me to value most. It is my prayer that this ruling, which brings gay and lesbian people more openly into the mainstream of American society than ever before, can be an opportunity for greater understanding and mutual love and concern for each other.” (From a blog post on The Jesuit Post)
Michael Sean Winters
Michael Sean Winters, Columnist, The National Catholic Reporter:
“Yesterday, the Supreme Court issued a decision. The sky did not fall. Young men and women will still fall in love, get married, and make babies. The Church will still be there to accompany them. The fact of sexual difference is not going away anytime soon. But, as in the referendum on this issue in Ireland, yesterday’s decision is a wake up call for the Church. Are we going to continue to fight same sex marriage in the courts and in our words, to the exclusion of other more pressing issues? Are we going to continue to let the egalitarian, and largely secular, left set the Church’s agenda? Or are we going be about our business of accompanying people, all people, and especially married couples, with a teaching about marriage, and with the grace of the sacrament, and with the loving support of the Christian community, all of which are as beautiful today as they were at 9:59 a.m. yesterday. ” (From a blog post on NCRonline.org)
Stay tuned for more excerpts from commentary continuing this week.
–Francis DeBernardo, New Ways Ministry
Tagged: Archbishop Wilton Gregory, Bishop Robert McElroy, Christopher Hale, Jason Welle, Lisa Fullam, Michael Sean Winters