No Same-Sex Weddings at West Point's Catholic Chapel, Says Military Archdiocese

(CNSNews.com) – Will same-sex marriage ceremonies be allowed at the Catholic Chapel of the Most Holy Trinity at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point?

“The answer is ‘no,’” said Taylor Henry, director of public affairs and media relations for the Catholic Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, and spokesman for Archbishop Timothy Broglio, who certifies all Catholic chaplains for the armed services.

“Holy Trinity is an actual Catholic parish, unlike the non-denominational chapels that are found on other military installations, and the only services held there are Catholic services. The Catholic Church does not perform the sacrament of matrimony for same-sex couples,” he said.

“What non-Catholic chaplains do in nondenominational chapels on U.S. military grounds around the world will be up to the military, but no Catholic chaplain is authorized to perform a same-sex marriage under any circumstances,” Henry added.

Archbishop Broglio, meanwhile, has denounced directives issued last week by Under Secretary of Defense Clifford Stanley and DoD General Counsel Jeh Johnson clearing military chaplains to perform same-sex weddings in military chapels.

“The Pentagon's new policy, as outlined in these two memos, appears to ignore the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which was signed into law 15 years ago and remains in effect,” Broglio said in a statement released last week.

If the church wants to keep its tax free status, or perform public weddings, baptisms, counseling or adoptions, they will kowtow to the PTB, or be destroyed financially. It is another step to the destruction of the family, and the church will need to drop its tax free status to be free to choose. Not many will do that. There was a photographer in San Diego, that refused to be hired to take wedding pictures, but referred the woman woman couple to another. She was sued, and lost the case. The California supreme court upheld the verdict. Similar things happen in Canada all the time, you can even lose your tax free status, and be criminally liable for preaching against sodomy, same sex marriage, and warning people about the dangers of Islam. Coming soon here, their weapon, the courts.

We’ve been warned that the Church would necessarily be smaller and hidden.

Its not a new prophecy but something that comes in confrontation from time to time. Pope Benedict reiterated this message again in 2010:

“...We’ve been referred to the set of interviews gathered as Salt of the Earth, pp. 15-16. Here Ratzinger was asked about his failure “to bring about a broad movement against the currents of our time and a general change in mentality.” He responded that he never imagined he could “redirect the rudder of history. And if our Lord himself ends up on the Cross, one sees that God’s ways do not lead immediately to measurable successes.” He then alludes to Jesus’ parables about the mustard seed, the yeast, which told the disciples “that statistics is not one of God’s measurements.” He went on:

“In spite of that, something essential and crucial happens with the mustard seeds and the leaven, even though you can’t see it now. In that sense, I think we have to disregard quantitative measures of success. After all, we’re not a business operation that can look at the numbers to measure whether our policy has been successful and whether we’re selling more and more. Rather, we’re performing a service, and in the end, when we’ve done our job, we put it in the Lord’s hands. On the other hand, that doesn’t mean the everything is totally in vain. In fact, there are stirrings of faith among young people on every continent.
“Perhaps the time has come to say farewell to the idea of traditionally Catholic cultures. Maybe we are facing a new and different kind of epoch in the Church’s history, where Christianity will again be characterized more by the mustard seed, where it will exist in small, insignificant groups that nonetheless live an intensive struggle against evil and bring the good into the world–that let God in. I see that there is once more a great deal of activity of this kind…. There are certainly no mass conversions to Christianity, no reversal of the historical paradigm, no about-face. But there are powerful ways in which faith is present, inspiring people again and giving them dynamism and joy. In other words, there is a presence of faith that means something for the world.”

http://www.commonwealmagazine.org/blog/?p=10517

Smaller, hidden, Sounds like the Catacombs doesn’t it?

*and look what happened!

As we say at Mass every day:

“When we eat this bread and drink this cup we proclaim your death, Lord Jesus, UNTIL YOU COME IN GLORY”; “Dying you destroyed our death; rising your restored our life, LORD, JESUS, COME IN GLORY”

“Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again,”

“We wait in joyful hope until You come again.”

Staying faithful will cost and has cost many. We have been blessed to live here, but perhaps it is our turn to learn obedience and faithfulness in a way that costs.

Will I? I hope so, but then again, I’m a pretty frail vessel.

**“What non-Catholic chaplains do in nondenominational chapels on U.S. military grounds around the world will be up to the military, but no Catholic chaplain is authorized to perform a same-sex marriage under any circumstances,” Henry added.**

This is exactly what he and all the other Catholic Chaplains said.

God bless the Catholic Church! Will it be the only one standing against this?

~~~~~~~~

Hallelujah! And amen! They must hold their ground and face the repercussions, whatever they are. God bless and protect them.

No one is discussing this, which is a very important point thst I think the Archbishop rightfully noted. In my years of service, I never knew the Military leadership to knowingly violate the written law of the land. Even the president has to, as part of his oath of office, "faithfully execute the laws of the United States."

Even if the president orders them to do so, the military cannot violate the law. Nurenberg, anyone?

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