[mobglob-discuss] Vatican announces 21st-century Inquisition

[Liz]

The interesting thing about this effort by the Vatican is that it really
does signal an end to the kind of political influence it has enjoyed in the
world for a few hundred years. I think that there are too many people in the
world today that consciously separate church and state to allow this
initiative to have any legs at all.
Liz
-----Original Message-----
From: Graeme Bacque <gbacque at colosseum.com>
To: Mobglob-Discuss <mobglob-discuss at resist.ca>
Date: Thursday, July 31, 2003 3:23 PM
Subject: [mobglob-discuss] Vatican announces 21st-century Inquisition


>The language being used by the Church is extremely frightening. The enemy
is
>clearly prepared to emerge swinging on this one. - Graeme
>-------------------------------------
>http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Arti
c
>le_Type1&c=Article&cid=1059648030183&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972
1
>54
>
>July 31, 2003 01:17 PM The Toronto Star
>
>Vatican launches campaign against gay marriage
>RC politicians have 'moral duty' to oppose laws; non-Catholics urged to
join
>fight
>
>FROM CANADIAN PRESS AND ASSOCIATED PRESS
>
>VATICAN CITY — The Vatican urged Roman Catholics and non-Catholics alike
>today to unite in campaigning against gay marriages and gay adoptions,
>seeking to stem the widening legal recognition of same-sex unions and the
>increasing acceptance of homosexual lifestyles.
>
>One Canadian bishop went so far as to predict that Prime Minister Jean
>Chrétien will go to hell if he makes same-sex marriage legal.
>
>Catholic politicians have a "moral duty" to oppose laws granting legal
>rights to gay couples and non-Catholics should follow their lead since the
>issue concerns "natural moral law" and not just Roman Catholic teaching,
>said the Vatican's orthodoxy watchdog, the Congregation for the Doctrine of
>the Faith, in its latest effort to rally public opinion on the issue.
>
>The 12-page document, which was issued in seven languages, was immediately
>criticized by gay groups across North America and Europe, where
politicians,
>including some conservatives, are increasingly granting homosexual couples
>the same legal status as heterosexual couples.
>
>"This new document is intended to intimidate public officials across the
>globe into doing what the Vatican has not been able to do on its own: stem
>the growing tide for justice," said Marianne Duddy, executive director of
>Dignity USA, an organization of gay Catholics.
>
>"It is a tremendous shame that the leaders of our Church are becoming the
>vocal proponents for intolerance and continuing discrimination."
>
>But the document was welcomed by some conservatives and the clergy,
>including those in Pope John Paul's native Poland, where Roman Catholic
>bishops read out excerpts of the text at a news conference to condemn a
>proposal by leftist legislators to legalize homosexual unions.
>
>"The idea is immoral and hurting to families and marriages," said Bishop
>Stanislaw Stefanek. "We strongly object to it."
>
>The document, Considerations Regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition
>to Unions Between Homosexual Persons, sets out a battle plan for
politicians
>confronted with legislation legalizing same-sex unions and also rails
>against gay adoption, saying children raised by same-sex parents face
>developmental "obstacles" because they are deprived of having either a
>mother or a father.
>
>"Allowing children to be adopted by persons living in such unions would
>actually mean doing violence to these children, in the sense that their
>condition of dependency would be used to place them in an environment that
>is not conducive to their full human development," it said.
>
>The document says Catholic politicians must vote against laws granting
>recognition to homosexual unions. If the laws are already on the books,
>politicians must speak out against them, work to repeal them and try to
>limit their impact on society.
>
>"To vote in favour of a law so harmful to the common good is gravely
>immoral," it added, although it didn't provide for specific penalties for
>Catholics who fail to oppose such laws.
>
>However, one Roman Catholic bishop from Alberta is warning that Chrétien,
>who is Catholic, risks burning in hell if he makes same-sex marriage legal
>in Canada, the Globe and Mail reported Thursday.
>
>"He doesn't understand what it means to be a good Catholic," Bishop Fred
>Henry of Calgary told the newspaper yesterday.
>
>"He's putting at risk his eternal salvation. I pray for the Prime Minister
>because I think his eternal salvation is in jeopardy. He is making a
morally
>grave error and he's not being accountable to God."
>
>A spokeswoman for Chrétien said the PM's primary responsibility is to serve
>the Canadian public — not his church.
>
>"As Prime Minister of Canada, he has the moral responsibility to protect
the
>equality of Canadians," Thoren Hudyma told the newspaper. "There needs to
be
>a separation between the church and state."
>
>The federal government drafted legislation that redefines marriage as "the
>lawful union of two persons," after two provincial courts ruled it is
>unconstitutional to deny same-sex couples the right to marry. The Supreme
>Court is reviewing the legislation after which time a free vote will be
held
>in Parliament.
>
>In the United States, the state of Vermont has a "civil union" law, giving
>same-sex couples the rights and responsibilities of traditional marriages,
>and the highest court in another state, Massachusetts, is weighing whether
>to legalize such unions.
>
>In reaction, some Republican politicians in Washington are calling for a
>constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriages nationwide, despite
>recent polls showing that opposition to gay marriage had diminished in
>recent years.
>
>Yesterday, U.S. President George W. Bush weighed in on the issue, telling a
>news conference that marriage was defined strictly as a union between a man
>and a woman and that he wants to "codify that one way or the other."
>Government lawyers are exploring measures to enshrine it into law, the
White
>House said.
>
>Over the past two years, the Netherlands and Belgium extended marriages
>rights to all couples, no matter the partners' gender. Germany, France,
>Sweden and Denmark also have "civil union" laws.
>
>In the Netherlands and Belgium, the proposals were backed by conservative
>Christian Democrat parties, which stressed today that they respected the
>Vatican's viewpoint but had decided that its teaching on the issue wasn't
>appropriate.
>
>In Belgium, where three-quarters of the population is Roman Catholic, the
>Flemish Christian Democrats who voted in favour of the law said the issue
>boiled down to supporting all kinds of families.
>
>"For us, what's important is sustained relationships," said Luk Vanmaercke,
>a party spokesman. "We do not want to exclude gay couples from sustained
>relationships. On the contrary, we want to encourage them to take that
>responsibility too."
>
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>mobglob-discuss mailing list
>mobglob-discuss at lists.resist.ca
>https://lists.resist.ca/mailman/listinfo/mobglob-discuss
>