Cardinal Dolan: Obama's 'gay marriage' support undermines society

cna ^ | May 10, 2012 | Michelle Bauman

[Natural Law]

"Think somebody out there feels threatened by Natural Law?"

I'm harmless.

[Mrs. Don-o]

"Define "natural". We are that far down the drain.

Well, you ain't kidding. The great analytical philosopher Lady Gaga says (with a danceable beat), "Whether transgender, bi or gay / (Thumpa-thumpa-thumpa) You were Born That Way!"

(I'm rolling my eyes so far I can see my brain.)

[Mrs. Don-o]

Primum, non nocere :o)

[stfassisi]

I was talking to a priest about a quote from Leo XIII I was going to put in the weekly bulletin and he said to me, "You can't go wrong with Leo XIII." :-)

So much of what he warned about is actually happening now, it's so fitting that he gave us The Prayer to Saint Michael The Archangel..

PRAYER TO SAINT MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL

St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the Devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly hosts, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan, and all the evil spirits, who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen..

I say this more than once daily and pray the chaplet of Saint Michael daily as well

[jonrick46]

The concept of Natural Law puts the concept of sex for procreation in an unique position where it relates to that special relationship between man and women. It says that the natural design that has made procreation between a man and a woman the natural order of things. It is that natural order that cannot be broken and must be protected.

The Christian thinking takes the natural order to a new level: The Divine Order. Man and women have been designed by God for the purpose of creating new human beings for His glory. That special purpose has been reinforced by that special relationship with marriage. Catholics have sanctified that special relationship with the sacrament of Matrimony. It is a divine creation by the author of the universe that cannot be amended by man. The gay community has other ideas about God. They will be judged by that rebelliousness.

[Mrs. Don-o]

I could benefit from a little discussion here. As I understand it, the Catholic Church reconizes such a thing as "natural marriage" and such a thing as "sacramental marriage" (Matrimony). The former is not a sacrament, but is still rcognized and respected because, irrespective of religious affiliation or belief, it is based on human nature. It is how humans --- universally ---secure identity, natural kinship, and economic provision for their children, raise them to be part of the wider culture, and secure the mutual support of the husband and wife for each other.

Not all cultures have religion, but they all have marriage, and it always involves a man and a woman. For instance, even with polygyny and (much rarer) polyandry, the plural wives aren't married to each other, nor are plural husbands married to each other. It's always the male-female bond that consttutes marriage. Isn't that so?

[jonrick46]

For the scholarly examination of the human role in marriage, read Casti Connubii, the encyclical by Pope Pius XI on Christian Marriage, December 31, 1930. If Christians were aware of this encyclical, they would be well armed for the argument to be made for marriage.

I leave this exerpt from that monumental work:

50. How grievously all these err and how shamelessly they leave the ways of honesty is already evident from what we have set forth here regarding the origin and nature of wedlock, its purposes and the good inherent in it. The evil of this teaching is plainly seen from the consequences which its advocates deduce from it, namely, that the laws, institutions and customs by which wedlock is governed, since they take their origin solely from the will of man, are subject entirely to him, hence can and must be founded, changed and abrogated according to human caprice and the shifting circumstances of human affairs; that the generative power which is grounded in nature itself is more sacred and has wider range than matrimony — hence it may be exercised both outside as well as within the confines of wedlock, and though the purpose of matrimony be set aside, as though to suggest that the license of a base fornicating woman should enjoy the same rights as the chaste motherhood of a lawfully wedded wife.

51. Armed with these principles, some men go so far as to concoct new species of unions, suited, as they say, to the present temper of men and the times, which various new forms of matrimony they presume to label “temporary,” “experimental,” and “companionate.” These offer all the indulgence of matrimony and its rights without, however, the indissoluble bond, and without offspring, unless later the parties alter their cohabitation into a matrimony in the full sense of the law.

52. Indeed there are some who desire and insist that these practices be legitimatized by the law or, at least, excused by their general acceptance among the people. They do not seem even to suspect that these proposals partake of nothing of the modern “culture” in which they glory so much, but are simply hateful abominations which beyond all question reduce our truly cultured nations to the barbarous standards of savage peoples.

For a link, I give that to all who want to be educated:

http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Pius11/P11CASTI.HTM

[Mrs. Don-o]

Thank you for these references. Pope Pus XI was prophetic on so many things in terribly unsettled times (I'm thinking also of Mit Brennender Sorge!)

Am I correct, then, ithinking that the Church respects, in some measure, "natural" (man-woman) marriage among, for instance, the non-baptized, even if it is not sacramental?

[milford421]

I agree with your points completely.

Yes, we must rise to the challenge of defeating the socialist. I’m happy to finally see a leader like Cardinal Dolan that will lead the charge.