Bishop Egan's has released a statement following the legalisation of 'same-sex marriage'. It is wonderful to hear a Bishop speaking with such courage and clarity.
“As Catholics, like Israel in Egypt, we now find ourselves in an alien land that speaks a foreign language with unfamiliar customs. For what we mean by matrimony, sexual intercourse and family life is no longer what today’s world, the Government, the NHS and policy-makers understand by marriage, sex and the family."
“Parliament’s Orwellian attempt to redefine marriage radically changes the social context and this presents a massive challenge to the Church in England and Wales: to those who wish to marry in our churches, to Catholic parents bringing up children, to teachers in our Catholic schools, and to the clergy engaged in pastoral ministry. It may also be a legal minefield, although we will have to wait before the full implications of the new legislation take effect.”
“We will certainly need to review our preaching, teaching and school curricula, which henceforth must recognise that our Catholic system of meanings and values is strikingly different from what secular culture now deems normal or acceptable.”
"The Church loves homosexual persons, even if we hold firm to our Christian conviction that sexual relations find their true place within marriage”.
"As Catholics, let us be on our guard, and continue compassionately to warn our society of the wrong turns it is taking.”
Bishop Egan said that the passing of the Marriage (Same-Sex Couples) Bill was “the inevitable outcome of a process that has been gathering pace since the sexual revolutions of the 1960s.”
While the World opines about what the Pope did say or didn't say, it is refreshing to hear an English prelate stating the truth in charity.
Yes, there is no need for a Bishop or Pope to say anything that the Faithful would have difficulty reconciling with the doctrine of the Church or natural reason, and which can be easily used by the enemies of the Church and the Truth to further their evil agenda.
ReplyDeleteYes, I had this on my blog as well. What a great leader. We in the trenches need excellent leaders at this time and clear marching orders.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the timely reminder.
To be fair, Catholics in England should already know how to live as a minority in a country that speaks 'a foreign language with unfamiliar customs.'
ReplyDeleteThey would do well to recall that the first Christians were a minority in an 'alien land.' Things have come full circle.
They could also learn a lot from Israel, and not just during their time in Egypt.
Language 'evolves'.
ReplyDeleteWhat, like the word 'marriage' 'evolves'?
Well he might be right... but who are we to judge others?
ReplyDeleteThe good Bishop is not calling on us to 'judge others', but to speak out in defence of marriage against pseudo-marriage.
ReplyDeleteWell thank you Bones for commenting on my comment before it has been posted. No, not like 'marriage evolves'. Words do have different meanings over time and in different contexts. This is not relativism. It's history. We should resist the redefintion of marriage. Arguing over the word gay is trivial, especially as in your lifetime it has always had a homosexual connotation and before that had other double meanings. Arguing over the word marriage is not trivial. It's an argument worth having because the attempt to change its meaning is happening now.
ReplyDeleteFair comment.
ReplyDeleteWhat is denoted by the term "marriage" in English is an objective reality unchangeable across time and place, intrinsic as it is to the objective nature of man, male and female.
ReplyDeleteThe use of the term 'gay' didn't evolve. It was engineered, and I think that resisting it is hugely important.
ReplyDeleteIf the progressives deliberately exploited the precepts of lexical semantics to soften-up and legitimize one of the four sins which cry out to heaven for vengeance, then I think we should also be vigilant to just what is going on there.
Andrew, I'm afraid all you will do is push Catholics to the margins. No one will listen to us. It's quite possible to hold fast to Catholic teaching on homosexuality while being respectful of other people and using the word gay. Jack Valero did a very good job of this on the radio the other day. I'm afraid your approach will simply lead to like minded people reinforcing the ghetto walls and having little or no impact on wider society.
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