“A tragic error”

THE president of United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), Archbishop Joseph Kurtz called the US Supreme Court ruling on marriage “a tragic error.”  On the morning of June 26, 2015, the Supreme Court of the United States handed down a 5-4 decision establishing the legal right of two individuals of the same sex to legally marry in all 50 states of North America.

            

It was victory for the LGBT and their supporters.  But the Catholic Church in the US immediately rose in protest.  “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….it is profoundly immoral and unjust for the government to declare that two people of the same sex can constitute a marriage,” contested the president of the U.S. bishops’ conference, Archbishop Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky.   

           

While calling for continued pastoral care for homosexual persons, the bishop of Tyler in East Texas, Most Rev. Joseph Strickland, issued a strong pastoral statement on the very day the Supreme Court released its contentious decision.  Short of calling for civil disobedience, he said “Given this and recognizing my responsibility and moral authority as the shepherd of this Church of Tyler, I will shortly issue a decree in this Diocese establishing, as a particular law, that no member of the clergy or any person acting as employee of the Church may in any way participate in the solemnization or consecration of same-sex marriages, and that no Catholic facilities or properties, including churches, chapels, meeting halls, Catholic educational, health or charitable institutions, or any places dedicated or consecrated, or use of Catholic worship, may be used for the solemnization or consecration of same-sex marriages.”

            

Like the many Catholic bishops in the U.S., the bishop of Lafayette in Louisiana, Bishop Michael Jarrell instructed all Catholics under his care not to comply with the Supreme Court ruling on gay “marriage.”  He said, “Let me state this very plainly that no human court has the authority to change what God has written into the law of creation.  The ruling is irreconcilable with the nature and definition of marriage as established by Divine Law…I realize that this ruling will create conscience problems for many Catholics, especially those in public office.  In some cases, civil disobedience may be a proper response.”

            

It has been said rather flippantly that whenever the United States sneezes, other countries gets cold.  Well, there were pockets of jubilation and rallies, too, in this country following the U.S Supreme Court decision on “gay marriage”.   But well meaning Catholics in this part of the world will fight tooth and nail before the local Legislature or the local Supreme Court starts to ape the Americans.