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More than 1,000 priests sign letter claiming gay marriage is biggest threat to religious freedoms
Daily Mail ^ | January 12, 2013 | ANTHONY BOND

Posted on 01/13/2013 2:15:07 PM PST by NYer

More than 1000 priests have signed a letter voicing concerns about how same-sex marriage will threaten religious freedoms and may even lead to Catholics being excluded from jobs.

In the letter, which is one of the biggest open letters of its type ever written, the priests claim that same-sex marriage could threaten freedoms in a way that was last seen during centuries of persecution of Catholics in England.

The letter, signed by 1054 priests as well as 13 bishops, abbots and other senior Catholic figures, expresses fears that the simple acts of practising or speaking about their faith will be severely limited.

They even claim the freedom to speak freely from the pulpit could be at risk.

Published in The Daily Telegraph, the letter goes as far as to compare David Cameron's proposed changes to the meaning of marriage to those of Henry VIII, whose efforts to divorce Catherine of Aragon sparked centuries of upheaval between Church and State.

Their fear is that Catholics who believe in the traditional meaning of marriage would effectively be excluded from some jobs - in the same way as Catholics were barred from many professions from the Reformation until the 19th century.

It said: 'After centuries of persecution, Catholics have, in recent times, been able to be members of the professions and participate fully in the life of this country.

The split from Rome made the English monarch the Supreme Governor of the English church , making the Church of England the established church of the country.

However, the structure of the church became a matter of angry debate for many generations.

Those who remained Roman Catholic in England suffered various civil disabilities because the church organisation remained illegal until the 19th Century.

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Catholic; Current Events; Ministry/Outreach; Moral Issues
KEYWORDS: formerlygreatbritain; homosexualagenda; marriage; religiousliberty; religiouspersecution; romancatholic; ssm; uk

1 posted on 01/13/2013 2:15:15 PM PST by NYer
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Comment #2 Removed by Moderator

To: NYer

I was just in England a couple of weeks ago and I was very impressed by English Catholics. I think there were a lot of weak sisters among the heirarchy, but BXVI has made a lot of good appointments and things are changing.

Everybody there seemed to be very much aware of how this gay assault paralleled Henry VIII and his attack on the Church because she refused to indulge his serial marriages.

Also, we have to remember that virtually every day, another Anglican church group, whether a parish or a monastery, is going over to Rome.

This means the British are reevaluating their relationship with the State and maybe realizing that opting for the Church would be a better idea, both now and in eternity.


3 posted on 01/13/2013 2:23:11 PM PST by livius
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To: livius
Thank you for posting an "on the scene" report! To what extent, do you suppose, one can attribute his visit to the UK in 2010?

POPE BENEDICT XVI IN THE UNITED KINGDOM

4 posted on 01/13/2013 2:42:27 PM PST by NYer ("Before I formed you in the womb I knew you." --Jeremiah 1:5)
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To: NYer

Duh! Homosexual promotion is a promotion of Vice-—Satanic occultism.

You can never raise little children in a culture that promotes such a unnatural debasing “act” as “normal” and “Good”. It not only defies teleological Natural Laws—it removes Reason and common sense from the worldview of children.

You will get —like all homosexual cultures-—one which denies God’s Design of man—and produces pederasty and no sexual morality-—like in all Ancient/pagan/occult countries and like in todays Afghanistan-—where women are hated and reduced to breeders and little children are used for sexual recreation.

Judeo-Christian Ethics can not exist in such a climate where Hollywood promotes such Satanic “values’ like in their Glee programs promoting sodomy among boys in schools, and public schools are forced to normalize “Pride” in sodomy in the minds of children. Those books-—Heather has Two Mommies and Daddies Roommate-—etc....are all to normalize sodomy and eject Christian morality in young children. They are teaching “Good is Evil” and “Evil is Good”.

They are trying to finish that Marxist goal to eliminate Mother and Father (Family Unit necessary for human excellence and emotional health) and destroy all meaning of “biology”.

Marxists deny Natural Law Theory (bases of USA) and know to get control of all children’s minds like in Brave New World—they have to destroy the idea of Mother—that natural maternal instinct to care for their own children-—that is why abortion is forced onto our culture by unconstitutional laws. It is to destroy the Natural Instinct of motherhood so they are “happy” to kill their own genetic offspring-—unheard of for Christian nations for thousands of years).

Marxism destroy the relationship of men and women. All Marxism is to destroy relationships and create groups that hate each other. Feminism/homosexuality were Communist constructs-—Founders were Communists to infiltrate and destroy our Christian (Virtue) culture.

No Freedom (including Religious Freedom) can exist when cultures promote Vice as Virtue. Justice is a Virtue and Rule of Law is based on Virtue—as our Legal system.

Of course-—that is the Marxist plan to corrupt innocence of children with Sex Education which warps their worldview of sex and removes morality from the sex act-—which removes religion from the public square—and creates corrupt cultures like the vulgar Weimar Republic—which always collapses into totalitarianism.


5 posted on 01/13/2013 3:05:39 PM PST by savagesusie (Right Reason According to Nature = Just Law)
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To: savagesusie

Gay marriage is a vice, but God hates child sacrifice. It has gone on too long.


6 posted on 01/13/2013 3:12:24 PM PST by huldah1776
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To: NYer

Signs that the Church is waking up. God Bless and may He give All the Strength they need to Fight the Beast with the Light of Truth!


7 posted on 01/13/2013 3:20:37 PM PST by jafojeffsurf (Return to the Constitution)
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To: huldah1776

I think they are almost equal in result-—but, yes, killing is worse than sexual immorality.

Abortion and Homosexual behavior are both Mortal Sins and the insidious rot of homosexual behavior undermines morality in Civil Socieites as much as abortion does. They are both equal in the amount of Rot and vulgarness they cause.

Both Acts are Mortal Sins.


8 posted on 01/13/2013 3:24:00 PM PST by savagesusie (Right Reason According to Nature = Just Law)
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To: savagesusie

Both abortion and sodomy are pro-death. Human lives that could be saved by Christ and could worship Him never come into existence(although I do believe aborted children enter Heaven though I can’t say I have a definite Biblical proof-text for it).


9 posted on 01/13/2013 4:38:56 PM PST by ReformationFan
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To: savagesusie

In reading God’s responses to child sacrifice, He has said it never came to mind. As if He couldn’t imagine this ever occurring. Shocked disbelief of the abhorrence and He states that He hates the shedding of innocent blood over and over. I truly believe this is the abomination that causes desolation.


10 posted on 01/13/2013 5:06:55 PM PST by huldah1776
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To: huldah1776

No doubt.


11 posted on 01/13/2013 5:12:34 PM PST by savagesusie (Right Reason According to Nature = Just Law)
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To: huldah1776
And when Revelation speaks of the Dragon whose tail sweeps 1/3 of the stars out of the skies, I think of cities in the USA where 1/3 (or more) of their unborn children are swept out, cast down to destruction.

What are we, as a nation, asking for?

12 posted on 01/13/2013 6:11:51 PM PST by Mrs. Don-o (He will come on that Day to judge the living and the dead, and the world by fire.)
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To: NYer; Reaganite Republican; Clintons Are White Trash; HerrBlucher; mgist; raptor22; victim soul; ...
+

Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:

Add me / Remove me

Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of general interest.

13 posted on 01/13/2013 6:20:26 PM PST by narses
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To: NYer; Reaganite Republican; Clintons Are White Trash; HerrBlucher; mgist; raptor22; victim soul; ...
+

Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:

Add me / Remove me

Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of general interest.

14 posted on 01/13/2013 6:20:56 PM PST by narses
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To: NYer; Reaganite Republican; Clintons Are White Trash; HerrBlucher; mgist; raptor22; victim soul; ...
+

Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:

Add me / Remove me

Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of general interest.

15 posted on 01/13/2013 6:21:58 PM PST by narses
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To: NYer

It’s true. If gay “marriage” is to pass, what’s to stop the government from forcing priests to “marry” gay couples? The Church is on the road to persecution.


16 posted on 01/13/2013 7:10:15 PM PST by Ezbieta12
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To: livius

Placemark.


17 posted on 01/13/2013 8:47:18 PM PST by little jeremiah (Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point. CSLewis)
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