Diogenes at Catholic Culture has the story of the reaction of the Archdiocese of Dublin to the reaction of people to the answer that Archbishop Diarmuid Martin gave to a question about homosexual acts. The Archbishop gave a weasily non answer to an unasked question to insure that his liberal credentials and his Catholic in good standing remain intact.
The Dublin archdiocese is displeased that “many anonymous sources” have dared to suggest that Archbishop Diarmuid Martin backpedaled away from an opportunity to provide a clear statement of Catholic teaching on the immorality of homosexual acts during a recent television interview. In fact, the archdiocese says:
In response the first question of the interview Archbishop Martin clearly and without hesitation replied that he fully accepted the teaching of the Church on the morality of homosexual acts in its entirety.
True. Archbishop Martin said that he accepted Church teaching.
And what is that teaching of the Church?
Interviewer Vincent Browne asked the archbishop whether people “who engage in homosexual sexual relations are engaged in an intrinsic moral evil?” The archbishop professed to have “no idea.”
“I would not call any person evil,” the archbishop said. But he wasn’t asked whether homosexual people were evil; he was asked whether homosexuals acts are objectively evil.
While the Archdiocese protests that these remarks are out of context, the full context only serves to make the situation worse.
This is the kind of weasily two faced talk that has frustrated Catholics for decades. I am glad that the Archbishop is on the defensive. He should be. You are an Archbishop of the Catholic Church, act like one. Stop couching your answers, stop shying away from the truth, and answer the question as Jesus would. The actions are intrinsically evil and the Church loves them too much to pretend otherwise. Period.
We should hold the hierarchy to account on these things or we might be.
January 18, 2009 at 4:33 pm
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January 18, 2009 at 5:03 pm
Lee,
You would make a good bishop- that is if you were installed twenty years ago.
January 18, 2009 at 5:23 pm
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you. ‘Ah, Lord God!’ I said, ‘I know not how to speak; I am too young.’ But the Lord answered me, Say not, ‘I am too young.’ To whomever I send you, you shall go; whatever I command you, you shall speak. Have no fear before them, because I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord.” ~Jer 1:5-8
In Scripture there are countless cases where GOD insists on the Truth being spoken with the assurance that the speaker will not be alone. JESUS Himself tells us clearly what will happen with the lukewarm.
Blessings, mum26
January 18, 2009 at 5:24 pm
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January 18, 2009 at 5:47 pm
Well, Patrick, I’ve just checked my pollsters, I mean, sources, and they’ve told me that many people do not think anything is actually evil. Therefore, you are evil, for suggesting that such a thing as evil might actually exist, and that anyone could be guilty of anything besides thinking that sin is a problem.
January 18, 2009 at 8:54 pm
As a priest and religious working in the Archdiocese of Dublin I think that you are being unfair to the Archbishop. The Irish media are only too willing to misrepresent and hound anyone who doesn’t sign up to their agenda. Dublin is a very small archdiocese geographically but big population wise (1 1/2 million). The abuse of children and the Church’s mishandling of this issue have done a lot of damage. The media want a sound bite an over-simplification that they can beat the Church with and drive a wedge between Catholics with. In the meantime they completely ignore that the HSE (Gov agency in charge of health) has not complied with any of the recommendations made by past reports – they can’t even say how many allegations have been made against staff! The bishop is a good man with a hard job who tried, on the program, to present a fuller picture of the Church’s teaching while under the spotlight with a tough interviewer – Mr. Bowman is very experienced and Irish politicians, bishops etc., don’t get the nice treatment their colleagues get in the US. Please remember that the Lord alone is judge.
January 18, 2009 at 11:54 pm
Well, just for the record, my blog had the initial story http://smasher-lagru.blog.com/4462984/ first before Catholic Culture, and the Archbishop’s reaction as well http://smasher-lagru.blog.com/4483959/ if you want the local Irish perspective.
Smasher Lagru