Posted on 03/09/2012 1:56:31 PM PST by NYer
CNN's Kyra Phillips asked a Catholic bishop on Thursday "why not get on board" with dissenting Catholics who favor gay marriage. Given CNN's past [1] support [2] for LGBT causes, they clearly would not question the motives of a religious minister favoring gay marriage.
In fact, in 2010 Phillips fawned [3] over a Christian pastor who publicly began accepting the lifestyle of gays and lesbians.
Phillips had cited a statistic saying 43 percent of American Catholics favor gay marriage. "So, Bishop, times are changing. Views are changing. You're changing your tactics even," Phillips said. "So, why not get on board with the 43 percent of Catholics?"
"Well their thinking is outside the realm of Catholic teaching for 2,000 years," Bishop Malone responded.
Phillips' interview with Bishop Richard Malone of the Diocese of Portland, Maine, was over the Catholic Church's new tactic concerning the state's referendum vote in November asking voters to approve same-sex marriage.
[Video below. Click here [4] for audio.]
The bishop wanted to focus the resources of the diocese on educating Catholics about a "more profound" understanding of marriage between a man and a woman. But as he told Phillips, "let there be no confusion about the fact that the diocese and I will still be very involved in the effort to protect marriage as the union of one man and one woman."
Phillips hyped the diocese's change in tactics as a "stunning move." She saw the opportunity to pop the question to the bishop, "Are you softening your stance on same-sex marriage?" To which Bishop Malone responded "Not at all. It will be even stronger and more vigorous."
A transcript of the segment, which aired on March 8 on Newsroom at 11:19 a.m. EST, is as follows:
KYRA PHILLIPS: Well, in the battle over same-sex marriage, a stunning move by the Catholic Church in Maine. The church says it will not actively campaign against a November referendum asking voters to approve gay marriage. Now, that stands in stark contrast with the church's position in 2009 when it waged a campaign to overturn a law passed that same year legalizing same-sex marriage.
Now, the gay activist group, Human Rights Campaign, says the church spent nearly $2 million in the fight to repeal that law. Joining us now, the bishop of Portland, Richard Malone. Bishop, thanks so much for being with me. You're not going to take an active role, from what I see here, in fundraising, staffing, advertising, or campaigning against the gay marriage referendum this time around. Why?
Bishop RICHARD MALONE, Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, Maine: Good morning, Kyra. Well, let there be no confusion about the fact that the diocese and I will still be very involved in the effort to protect marriage as the union of one man and one woman. But we've decided this year that our best efforts can be to put our energies and resources into educating our Catholic community better about the very nature of marriage.
PHILLIPS: So, Bishop, let me ask me ask you. You know, this plan of action has changed quite drastically since 2009, you know, where you had very active campaign. And now you're moving toward education and putting funds towards that. Are you softening your stance on same-sex marriage?
MALONE: Not at all. It will be even stronger and more vigorous. One of our discoveries in 2009 was that really, many of our Catholic people in Maine could use a bit more profound understanding of how the church has understood marriage for 2,000 years. So, I decided, while we will certainly be in close contact with our allies who will lead the political battle, we intend to focus on the education and formation of consciences of our people.
PHILLIPS: Now, let me ask you, Bishop, according to the Public Religion Research Institute, right now this is a recent survey that was conducted Catholics are more supportive of legal recognition of same-sex relationships than members of any other Christian tradition and American overall. It reports 43 percent of Catholics nationally favor gay marriage. Is that why you're taking a different approach here?
MALONE: Well, you're on to something there, Kyra. To the extent that we can trust that those numbers are accurate and that's always a question, of course but that proves exactly the motivation for the approach that we're taking. We're taking no chances that our people will not have a really accurate understanding of what marriage is and to the impact on society should anyone try to change that definition of marriage.
PHILLIPS: So, Bishop, times are changing. Views are changing. You're changing your tactics even. Or your I guess you say your strategy. So, why not get on board with the 43 percent of Catholics?
MALONE: The 43 percent who
PHILLIPS: Who have no problem with gay marriage.
MALONE: Well their thinking is outside the realm of Catholic teaching for 2,000 years. And those are the folks that we want to focus on so they'll perhaps be able to have what I would call an intellectual conversion about a very key building-block of society, that is the nature of marriage as the union of one man, one woman.
Yet, as Blessed John Paul II observed, the future of humanity passes by way of the family (cf. Familiaris Consortio, 85). Indeed, the good that the Church and society as a whole expect from marriage and from the family founded on marriage is so great as to call for full pastoral commitment to this particular area. Marriage and the family are institutions that must be promoted and defended from every possible misrepresentation of their true nature, since whatever is injurious to them is injurious to society itself (Sacramentum Caritatis, 29). In this regard, particular mention must be made of the powerful political and cultural currents seeking to alter the legal definition of marriage. The Churchs conscientious effort to resist this pressure calls for a reasoned defense of marriage as a natural institution consisting of a specific communion of persons, essentially rooted in the complementarity of the sexes and oriented to procreation. Sexual differences cannot be dismissed as irrelevant to the definition of marriage. Defending the institution of marriage as a social reality is ultimately a question of justice, since it entails safeguarding the good of the entire human community and the rights of parents and children alike.
Benedict XVI: Address to U.S. Bishops
Catholic Ping
Please freepmail me if you want on/off this list
Because it would be promoting sin and the church should not take that path.
How effen stupid are these “journalists”?
To compormise with evil is to become evil oneself.
The thinking man opts for the wisdom of the ages over the spirit of the age every time.
43% my eye!
Totally fraudulent numbers.
here’s a thought for these people.
How about you lot coming to our view, a view which has reproduced naturally for thousands of years , a view which does not give you diseases like the queer sex does, a view which kids can have a better upbringing and a person they can look up to.
A father for a boy and a mother for a girl.
So you queer pushers out there why not come round to the fact you are a minority a vocal one but a minority and a sick one at that
B U M P
On board with the minority?
There is a biblical basis for government acting under majority rule:
Mark 15:6-15
New International Version (NIV)
6 Now it was the custom at the festival to release a prisoner whom the people requested. 7 A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising. 8 The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did.
9 Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews? asked Pilate, 10 knowing it was out of self-interest that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. 11 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead.
12 What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews? Pilate asked them.
13 Crucify him! they shouted.
14 Why? What crime has he committed? asked Pilate.
But they shouted all the louder, Crucify him!
15 Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.
Because it would be sinful and contrary to the Christ’s teaching?
Excellent observation.
Why not get on board? Because God isn’t PC. The Bible is clear about the fate of practicing homosexuals.
Stupid people like this CNN reporter make my brain sad.
Really, why not change the name of the Church to “The Church of Whass Happenin’ Now”
Let’s take polls and vote every month on what we should believe. Morality to be determined by majority rule
I have a counter question:
“What if we could cure homosexuality? Do homosexuals that wish to be heterosexual, but cannot on their own, have the right to advocate for a cure without political reprisal?
Today, if the Church announced that it was funding an effort into the causes of homosexuality in pursuit of a cure, would we be met with anyting other than scorn?
We could do more research into whether pedophilia and homosexuality are related, and research or therapeutic approaches into one may reveal insights into the others.”
The only proper response to this harpy’s suggestions is “Get thee behind me, Satan.”
No need for the devil, the human race would have non-procreated it self out of existence by two horny guys with two hairy butts.
The devil would have invented a woman, and God would still be laughing, saying ,"I created gayness and liberalism and now they want to be conservatives and have families".
There is no satisfying this "human" creature, I'm not sure I'll let my Son go down and try to save the miserable creatures.
The stupidity of her question absolutely makes my mouth drop open.
But I thought the bishop handled it very well; he stuck to his point and wouldn’t let her distract him or get anything out of him that could be used as a soundbite to imply that he supported gay “marriage.” Score one for the Bishop!
You've got that right.
I wish the bishop would have asked “Why don’t you try being real journalists instead of pimps for Satan for a change?”
Both Jesus and Paul warned us that in the last days many would fall away from the true faith and try to corrupt it. They also warned us not to follow this sign of the times - but to read it for what it is. ".....and those who find it are few."
Or maybe the survey was taken in Nancy Pelosi’s district.
As far as responding to Kyra Philip's question as to why he wasn't joining the ranks of the 43% of Catholics who allegedly support homosexual marriages, the Bishop should have just pointed out that it is wrong to support anyone marching off to an eternity in hell: 99% could support it, but he would not.
Romans 1:26-28
Colonel: Now answer my question or you'll be standing tall before the man.
Private Joker: I think I was trying to suggest something about the duality of man, sir.
Colonel: The what?
Private Joker: The duality of man. The Jungian thing, sir.
Colonel: Whose side are you on, son?
Private Joker: Our side, sir.
Colonel: Don't you love your country?
Private Joker: Yes, sir.
Colonel: Then how about getting with the program? Why don't you jump on the team and come on in for the big win?
Private Joker: Yes, sir.
Colonel: Son, all I've ever asked of my Marines is that they obey my orders as they would the word of God. We are here to help the Vietnamese, because inside every gook there is an American trying to get out. It's a hardball world, son. We've gotta keep our heads until this peace craze blows over.
Private Joker: Aye-aye, sir.
Get on board the soul train.
The soul train to Hell.
I must have missed the part in Scripture where it says, “Take ye a vote on what’s a sin”...
Wow. You can’t explain right and wrong to somebody who doesn’t get it.
AAAAA-MEN!!! From now on, when anyone tries to tell us we need to believe contrary to what the Word of God says, that needs to be our response. That would tick them off so bad, lol!!..... but I’m gonna do it!! :)
If Kyra Phillips is a Catholic, she must be of the cafeteria type. Obviously has never read or understand the Bible.
Well, Pelosi’s district is not quite human : )
Not at all. Catholics in large numbers see their Faith as cultural and not spiritual. I taught my daughter's grade level in the parish religious ed program. Of the 103 students who were confirmed in 2001 only my daughter and two or three others were to be seen at Sunday Mass less than two years later.These are the 43% and that number IMO is low.
And..
Romans 1:18-32 .
1Cor 6:9-11
Galatians 5:19
Ephesians 5:3-7
Colossians 3:5-7
1 Tim 1:10
Titus 1:16
Jude 1:4,7,19
That doesn’t even address the OT verses either. It is wrong, period. I have also known a few people with homosexual desires who, through Christ, overcame those desires and are in (some for over 30 years) God centered Heterosexual unions and testify that God removed the temptation from them.
In short, Christ can change them. Not a popular view, but a true view nonetheless.
You would never see my two girls attend Mass at the parish where they were baptized/First Communion either. That is because we attend Tridentine Mass 10 miles away.
Sorry to hear that. I am not Catholic, but our church is probably 98% against homos getting married.....and that includes the HS and college kids.
As stupid as their liberal followers.
While the MSM is busy trashing Christianity with all their might and force, they are busy portraying the murdering, wife beating, pedophiles, psychopaths, as lovey peaceful people.
All in the name of objectivity...of course.
The next time anything is done to the Catholic Church, the first response has to be, "Let the Muslims do it first." Muslims will never support contraception or gay-anything. Muslims will never support any of the loony-tune nonsense coming from the Left. And, so far, they have never been asked to. The focus of the MSM is always exclusively on Christians.
Islam shares the same exact view on homosexuality.
Liberals are Islamaphobic.
Good grief, get the damn govt out of marriage.
Well, yes and no. When your survey is only 200 people in an area that is known to support same-sex marriage.... that’s the kinda numbers you get.
Mar 15, 2011 CNN Newsroom anchor Kyra Phillips, 42, and her fiancée, Fox News senior national correspondent John Roberts, 54, welcomed fraternal twins
Your questions presuppose that it is a genetic/medical condition rather than a choice. I know many gays (and ex-gays) who admit it is/was a choice or pressure - often because of sexual abuse.
My father, who died of AIDS, even said it was a choice - one he wished he could take back but by then it was too late.
If they did the same survey of 200 people in my town, they would get <1% support - regardless of religion.
first soledad then this phillips person. Proof neither are qualified. Jack asses! Both airheads. Asking such a question. What an ignorant idiot.
Sounds like a good place to live.
Yep, and those so-called Christians either never read the Bible, or don’t believe in it. Either way, they are lost.
Sorry CNN and “modern times”, the Catholic Church will not bend to your will. The Church has dealt with this for 2,000 years and it is still standing. Evil will never prevail against it...just like Jesus told Peter.
My question presupposes nothing, except that insufficient research on the entire matter has been done. There is evidence that its a choice. The best science so far says there is no gay gene. There is evidence that people discover that they are gay and feel that it was not a choice, regardless of the cause.
The point is anybody in medical science who attempts to either study it, or raise money to study it, will find themselves unemployed.
Cynthia Nixon nearly got her head handed to her for suggesting she chose it.
The only headway that anyone will make on the MEDICAL or SCIENTIFC question of what causes homosexuality, and what, if anything, can be done about it, could only really be done by the Church.
They have a vital interest in the question, since it has so damaged them in every respect in the last 40 years especially. I daresay they could make it a cause worthy of fundraising in search of a cure.
Who does not want a cure for pedophilia, for example? If they are linked, the Church could do the world a massive medical service.
It is actually. It is so safe we don’t usually lock our doors or our cars. People ‘break and enter’ to LEAVE things (usually vegetables, meat, or milk) and the last crime we had was a year ago when the neighbors got into a fist fight and someone called the cops.
The town is over 125 yrs old and our last murder was in 1980. We only had 2 before that in the entire history of the town. It is kind of surreal in a way.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.