Wednesday, August 04, 2010

Putting things in perspective

In response to Judge Vaughn Walker's overturning of California's Proposition 8 in his ruling on Perry v Schwarzenegger issued today, I'd like to remind everyone that the Church has always supported the right of gays and lesbians to marry. And as long as there are no impediments (e.g., blood relations, already married, etc.), we also support the rights of Christian gays and lesbians to have their marriages solemnized and blessed in the church.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

WTF??? What do you mean, exactly? Is this April 1st? Are you going back to TEC?

Fr Timothy Matkin said...

No cussin' in the comments, please.

Anonymous said...

Could you please explain this post, sir? It was my understanding that homosexuality, while itself morally neutral, was a defective sexuality which should be remedied through pastoral care and counseling and required celibacy, and that marriage was a sacrament reserved exclusively for one man and one woman. Perhaps I am misreading your post, any clarification would be greatly appreciated.

Fr Timothy Matkin said...

I have no disagreement with the comments you made. The biggest problem (in my opinion) with these current events is that it redefines marriage for everyone (which I hoped to illustrate), so that even in the church you have to specify what kind of marriage you mean. Of course, there are not really different kinds of marriages. There are marriages and there are counterfeits.

The church has always supported the right of a gay man to marry a woman and the right of a lesbian to marry a man (as long as there are no impediments).

Anonymous said...

I understood your points immediately, Father; however, I have to wonder whether what you say is correct. I know of no statements from any of the Churches (or from any of the Protestant ecclesial communities for that matter) which support it, and, given that many persons experiencing same-sex attraction have attempted heterosexual/normal married life only to ultimately fail, seriously complicating the lives of their spouses and any children produced, it would seem that pastorally, celibacy, perhaps in a monastic situation, would indeed be the best choice in most, if not all, of these situations. An exception might be found in cases where both the man and the woman have same-sex attraction and are struggling to pursue normal lives.

Fr Timothy Matkin said...

Good points. My post was only about rights, not about wisdom or viability.

Stephanie said...

Dear Fr. Matkin,
I would very much like to contact you via email regarding your book "Defense of the Seven Sacraments." I work for a Catholic non-profit that would like to do a major promotion of your book. Could you contact me privately via email so I can ask you a few questions? I'm sorry to post the request here, I just can't find a personal contact for you.
Many thanks and God bless,
Stephanie @ Family Life Center
www.familylifecenter.net
stephanie@familylifecenter.net