I’m just interested to hear if you guys heard anything rom your pastor on Sunday about marriage. In light of the Supreme Court’s ruling I thought it would be an apropos time to discuss marriage and/or religious freedom.
Now, I was up in Hershey, PA last week so I wasn’t at my home parish but I can tell you the priest at the small parish that I visited that day didn’t mention anything about marriage or religious freedom. I didn’t hear anything this week either.
The USCCB published an insert for parish bulletins warning people about possible ramifications of the Court’s recent ruling on marriage.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has prepared an insert–for placement in church bulletins distributed at Sunday Masses around the country–that responds to the Supreme Court’s ruling that same-sex marriage is a “right.”
The insert, entitled Marriage and the Supreme Court, says that the court ruling falsely redefines marriage, “threatening religious freedom in numerous ways,” and calls on Catholics to give “witness for the truth of marriage,” and to be “prepared for false charges of discrimination” when they do so.
“This broad, adverse ruling redefines marriage in the law throughout the entire country, changing thousands of laws regarding marriage, family and children and threatening religious freedom in numerous ways,” says the bulletin insert.
“Regardless of what a narrow majority of the Supreme Court may declare at this moment in history, the nature of the human person and marriage remains unchanged and unchangeable,” the bulletin insert says, quoting Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, who is the president of the USCCB.
The bulletin insert asks and answers the question: “What is Marriage?”
“Marriage is the permanent and exclusive union of one man and one woman, for the good of the spouses and for the procreation and education of children. One man, one woman, for life,” say the bishops.
It tells Catholics: “Don’t be afraid to talk about it.” But then it warns that when Catholics give witness to the true meaning of marriage they should expect to be falsely charged with discrimination.
So the bishops have told us not to be afraid to talk about it so what have you heard?
