US Embassy flies homosexual flag, Obama Admin shouts about “rights”

From Breitbart:

RAINBOW FLAG FLIES OVER U.S. EMBASSY IN MADRID

The Obama administration seems to have forgotten the International Day of the Family last week that was celebrated at the UN and around the world May 15.

Yet the administration was very enthusiastic about the May 17th celebration of the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, issuing proclamations by the Secretary of Defense and a statement by the President. Moreover, at least one ambassador flew the rainbow flag over his embassy.
Spanish papers reported that the rainbow flag flew over the U.S. Embassy in Madrid for at least one day last week and that former Home Box Office executive, now openly gay U.S. Ambassador James Costos flew the rainbow flag over his official residence.
President Obama compared gay rights to the fight for civil rights of African-Americans:

This year, the United States celebrates the 60th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, and the 45th anniversary of the Stonewall riots. In doing so, we reflect on lessons learned from our own civil rights struggles and reaffirm our commitment to ensuring that the human rights of all people are universally protected.

In his proclamation noting the day, Secretary Kerry said:

It’s not lost on anyone that this year’s International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO) coincides with the 60th anniversary of the ruling in Brown v. Board of Education. Our commitment to advancing the human rights of LGBT persons is part of this country’s long history of fighting to ensure that all people can exercise their human rights.

[GET THIS…] Kerry went on to signal that the administration is willing to pressure private companies and religious groups:

This past week, we convened religious leaders and representatives of faith-based organizations to think about how we work together to promote and protect the human rights of LGBT persons. Next week, we will convene meetings with our private sector allies to discuss the important role of the business community in promoting equality and the ways we can partner through the Global Equality Fund.

While the administration was practically shouting about gay rights, it seemed to be completely silent on the family.
The UN celebrated the International Day of the Family, this year being the 20th anniversary of its establishment.
Breitbart News could not find a single statement this year from the administration even recognizing the day. A call to the State Department press office turned up no statements either.

Evil.

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68 Comments

  1. James C says:

    Oh Father, you haven’t seen the half of it! Look what the US Embassy to the Holy See posted on its Facebook page!

    http://s23.postimg.org/s24ihm27f/image.jpg

    It’s like they are trying to rub their anti-Catholic bigotry on purpose.

  2. Polycarpio says:

    Here’s where I think we need to be careful not to be goaded into a false civil rights confrontation. I do not think it is wise to brand as “evil” the genuine aspiration to protect homosexual persons from marginalization and discrimination. Pope Francis reminds us that Catholic social teaching instructs that gay people “must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity,” and that, “Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided.” [Catechism of the Catholic Church, par. 2358.] Therefore, a genuine desire to reduce unjust discrimination is not only not “evil,” but it is something we can aspire to in Faith.

    One can take a good thing and take it too far, and here, there are excesses. I wonder if it is not a violation of the Flag Code, for example to fly the “pride” flag along with the Stars and the Stripes from a U.S. Embassy, no less. Much more importantly, there is an attempt underfoot to equate “equality” with “marriage equality,” which in turn is an attempt to prop up gay marriage and purport to hold it on a par with marriage as it is traditionally defined. Those are clearly distinctions we need to continue to make, and the Secretary of State’s idea to reach out to faith groups to explore ideas on how to promote dignity and equality for gays is a great opportunity for us to insist that the best way to promote this just cause is by having a clear focus on avoiding unjust discrimination, and not conflating it into a larger agenda. If we dismiss the entire thing as just “evil,” though, we are writing ourselves out of the conversation and unnecessarily ceding the battlefield.

  3. Sonshine135 says:

    I would tell all of my fellow Catholics, get ready for it:
    http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/pope-kisses-the-hand-of-gay-activist-priest-allowed-to-concelebrate-mass
    We don’t know all the details yet, but here we go again trying to defend and tap dance around the indefensible.

  4. LarryW2LJ says:

    If only we would get treated with the same tolerance, respect and understanding that they are demanding.

  5. Stephen McMullen says:

    I am not surprised anymore. 2014 is the Year of the Gay. All of this year there has been an orchestrated push in every state; every gov’t agency for gays. This is the year of the In Your Face
    Gay-stapo tactics. I am guessing that no 501c3 Gay Rights org has had an audit by the IRS.
    Domine, ad adjuvandum me festina nobis! Jesus, come quickly!!!!

  6. DavidJ says:

    Sonshine135, amazingly, St. Francis of Assisi would have done exactly the same thing, kissing the hands of a priest.

  7. Franko says:

    If only the administration stood up for the rights of Christians being martyred in the middle-east with a quarter of the enthusiasm they showed for forcing the *celebration* of homosexuality in every nation of the globe.

    Has our society really become so hopelessly hedonistic that we place the celebration of homosexuality over protecting the lives of thousands of people dying for the theistic beliefs they hold? What a sickening disgrace.

  8. Kathleen10 says:

    Polycarpio, your comment would be a right response for 1980, but things have changed since then. It is no longer a matter of “discrimination” against homosexuals by heterosexuals. The war has been won. Gay rights have ruled the day. The battle is all but over. Now it is a matter of gay fascists demanding everyone cheer for homosexuality or suffer for it. And suffer we will. It is already happening, retributions, persecutions, people losing their jobs or careers because they did not properly salute the gay flag. Gay activists have proven they are the worst kind of tyrannical masters, and will use any means necessary to punish you if you do not support homosexuality. This includes their designs on children, which are taking hold in states like Massachusetts, where in public schools children are being indoctrinated into the belief that homosexuality is good and normal. I encourage everyone to follow two great sources for information on the latest, “MassResistance” and “Defend the Family”. Brian Camenker runs MassResistance and Pastor Scott Lively runs Defend the Family. Both have very informative and useful links and articles which will bring you up to speed on the biggest threat to our way of life besides Islam. It is important information for us all, particularly if you have a child in a public school. It is all long past tolerance or any of that sort of nonsense. Full support, and nothing less, including your children, is be the mantra today. They now have the full weight of the American government on their side, and of course, the UN.
    Pope Francis. I simply cannot in my own mind defend this type of action. It makes no sense, is scandalous, and quite frankly, the only conclusion I can reach is he supports homosexuality. Too much has been said and done. The Catholic church has become so entirely worldly, accepting of everything (except the FFI of course). I suppose the last holdouts now are the Southern Baptists. God bless em. I hope they can last. We have apparently waved the white flag and the pretense is all but over.

  9. Phil_NL says:

    Just one thing:

    If you go so far off the rails as to do this, at least have the guts to do it at the US embassy in Ryaad (Saudi Arabia).

  10. Sonshine135 says:

    @DavidJ
    I think you missed the point of the article. Pope Francis took no issue with concelebrating with a Priest who equivocates homosexual love with the love between a man and a woman. Do you not think that to be a tad scandalous given the current issues in the church? Do you think Pope Francis would be as open to holding a Pontifical Mass with the FFI?

  11. Supertradmum says:

    Yesterday, two of us Catholics were discussing the fact that the gay rights movement, especially ssm, will be how the governments oppress Catholics to the point of persecution. We also think that Great Britain will be the first EU nation to persecute the Church. It has all been done before because of a “marriage”.

    Just wait…it is now inevitable that we in the West are entering into the age of martyrdom, which start with fines, confiscations, then imprisonment. What people call anti-Catholic bigotry is an open sign of hatred for God and His Church. The clergy will feel the brunt of it first. Then, those of use who are good, practicing Catholics, who will not compromise, will be next.

    The signs are too obvious.

  12. Marie Teresa says:

    The cloths for the altar and tabernacle at our local Catholic church have rainbow frontispieces which fall go all the way to the floor – they grab your attention. The spoken intention at Mass is that the Church will be more tolerant of gays. We do not have a single gay parishioner, and no one can recall the topic ever coming up.

    The priests don’t wish to address anything this parishioner does because as our last pastor said, “it gets ugly.”

    Fewer and fewer people have a knowledge of what the Church actually teaches.

    If the priests and bishops don’t lead the flock, then Satan is more than willing to step in and lead.

  13. Kathleen10 says:

    Marie Teresa, you may have some serious problems at your church. You might consider organizing with fellow parishioners and addressing this with Father. Sad to say, the rainbow has been hijacked. No longer is it representative of God’s covenant between himself and man. It is the worldwide symbol of homosexuality. You have a symbol of homosexuality on your altar.
    You likely have homosexuals in your church. One cannot identify the sexual orientation of anyone by appearances. The wounded are everywhere. Sinners are everywhere, which includes ourselves. All are welcome in God’s home of course. But it would be scandalous and wrong, I daresay evil, to put a symbol of homosexuality on God’s altar.
    Get active and make some holy lio in your church.

  14. Frank_Bearer says:

    Well you just wait until the bishops hear about John Kerry. Then, watch out!

    Brought to you by the USCCB and the campaign for Religious Free-dumb.

  15. acardnal says:

    James C wrote, “Oh Father, you haven’t seen the half of it! Look what the US Embassy to the Holy See posted on its Facebook page!

    http://s23.postimg.org/s24ihm27f/image.jpg

    It’s like they are trying to rub their anti-Catholic bigotry on purpose.”

    AND for the record, the current U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See is Kenneth Hackett, the former President of Catholic Relief Services, which is an agency accused of having too close a relationship with entities supporting abortion and artificial birth control (cf. LifeSite News).

  16. Marie Teresa says:

    @Kathleen10: Thank you for mentioning that rainbows should remind one of God’s promise!

    Possibly you’re correct, but it seems more the case that this person simply promotes one liberal cause after another. Our parish is very, very, very small. Everyone who attends Mass stays afterwards to visit. We’ve known one another for several generations. :D

    There is one domineering female who orchestrates these things. She has a very loud & unkind sidekick. These two families refuse to kneel; they stand toward the front throughout Mass. They’re aggressive. They verbally attack anyone who speaks up. (or anyone who kneels after Mass to pray for that matter.)

    It is indeed an offense against God. I will pray. There are indeed serious problems at our parish.

  17. frjim4321 says:

    You likely have homosexuals in your church. One cannot identify the sexual orientation of anyone by appearances. The wounded are everywhere. Kathleen10

    In some ways, a good comment.

    I have been thinking about this quite a bit. I believe that much of the pain comes from imposed shame, often from pseudo-religious sources. I suspect that much of the lamentable unhealthy sexual practice that we hear about is rooted in externally imposed shame.

    Further, although I don’t have this worked out, (and do not mean to disparage the GBLTQ community at all), I suspect that what is called “Gay Pride” is much more about “Gay Shame,” and to be very clear I’m referring to externally imposed shame.

    If persons with a homosexual orientation were better integrated into society I suspect that the need for parades, rainbows and the like would disappear. I also think that some of the lamentable practices mentioned above would be to a great extent attenuated.

  18. mrshopey says:

    frjim,
    I don’t think I can agree with your observation because that shame first comes from internal as the acts are disordered and against nature (written on our hearts by God). Society used to reflect this by discouraging the acting on this. So, if this is imposed on by God (written on our hearts first in Natural Law), then they would be railing against God in their Parades?

  19. robtbrown says:

    FrJim4321,
    I suspect that what is called “Gay Pride” is much more about “Gay Shame,” and to be very clear I’m referring to externally imposed shame.

    Do you think that all shame is externally imposed?

  20. Mike says:

    This from the administration that half of nominal U.S. Catholics voted for — with nary a word of discouragement from pulpit or chancery. Considering how the USCCB and its predecessor organizations have been championing left-wing causes fairly indiscriminately (excepting the right to life, and even there with considerable dilution) for more than a century, one can’t be very surprised, only profoundly saddened.

    With perhaps a couple handfuls of exceptions, I’m not tremendously interested in what any U.S. bishop has to say about anything whatsoever any more. Let ’em talk to the cameras.

  21. lsclerkin says:

    only a gay man would do this.
    Just sayin’

  22. greg3064 says:

    Just wait…it is now inevitable that we in the West are entering into the age of martyrdom, which start with fines, confiscations, then imprisonment.

    Fines, confiscation and imprisonment are almost more insidious, since they will force many to bend their knees.

  23. RANCHER says:

    Perhaps the embassy staff was trying to score points with the first gay president…….

  24. Bosco says:

    That Newsweek cover of Obama with the ‘halo’ round his head puts me in mind of the ‘halo’ in the heavens, the Norwegian Spiral, when Obama had just been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/09/norway-spiral-watch-stran_n_386281.html

    We have eyes to see and do not see. Ears to hear and do not hear. Mark 8:18

    I smell the coffee and it aint Mystic Monk. Pray the Rosary.

  25. Charles E Flynn says:

    From Love in a time of unreality, by Robert R. Reilly:

    Nonetheless, Cohen insists – and here the unreality gets thicker – that, “This love of men for men and women for women is no different and no less powerful than the love of men for women and women for men.” Think of all the things you would have to not know, or be willing to ignore, in order to believe this.

  26. frjim4321 says:

    “Do you think that all shame is externally imposed?” rbtbrown

    No, not all.

  27. Venerator Sti Lot says:

    In a later post elsewhere, Austin Ruse has what appears to be an implicit correction of his saying here “The UN celebrated the International Day of the Family”:

    “The fact that the UN now calls the day the International Day of Families shows how controversial the topic is. Families is usually used by the political left to include a broad definition while ‘the family’ is used by conservatives to underline a more traditional definition. The UN debate is, after all, about ideas but also words and how they are used.”

    See http://c-fam.org/en/2014/7850-children-not-owned-by-the-state-says-vatican-rep-to-un

  28. Gratias says:

    Dear US Bishops: please be forewarned that the Democrat party will come after your tax exemptions if Catholic Churches do not perform homosexual marriages. It is not that I can tell the future, I only read the writing on the wall. And you could too.

  29. Ivan says:

    I’m afraid of what will be happening in the future. For now, we are more or less just verbally attacked, but who knows what will be the “default” assault on the Catholic Church (and any other which does not conform to the liberal agenda) in the future…

    This makes me selfish, and I feel bad for it, but I sincerely do not want this to escalate during our lifetime (so that we can live a relatively normal spiritual life). But I fear for future generations.

  30. Geoffrey says:

    Society is on the brink of collapse, there can be no doubt about that. However…

    “This is our goal, our great ideal: let us advance towards a Catholic civilisation to be born from the ruins of the modern world, just as medieval civilisation was born from the ruins of the Roman world” (PLINIO CORRÊA DE OLIVEIRA, 1908-1995).

  31. SKAY says:

    This is the most unprofessional administration in living memory and that is saying a lot considering some of them. I am sure that ambassador felt quite comfortable flying that flag at our embassy representing our country at this time with this President who is tearing up our Constitution inch by inch as we speak(so to speak).
    Just to be “fair” could we not have a flag representing Christianity flown under the US flag also since we are all about equality?

  32. Kerry says:

    We agree with Supertradmum, and with Geoffrey. Those not for Christ will everywhere be against Him. It may seem ‘they are winning’. What will they have they won? The God sized space inside cannot be filled by world-sized rainbow flag.

  33. robtbrown says:

    frjim4321 says:

    “Do you think that all shame is externally imposed?” rbtbrown

    No, not all.

    They why do you think it is in this case?

  34. robtbrown says:

    Geoffrey says:

    Society is on the brink of collapse, there can be no doubt about that. However…

    “This is our goal, our great ideal: let us advance towards a Catholic civilisation to be born from the ruins of the modern world, just as medieval civilisation was born from the ruins of the Roman world” (PLINIO CORRÊA DE OLIVEIRA, 1908-1995).

    The birth of the Middle Ages from the ruins of the Roman world did not begin with political action or pastoral strategies. Rather, it began when a young man left Rome and retired to a grotto near a lake created under Nero.

  35. Bob B. says:

    How about Boston College honoring Kerry this weekend with Cardinal O’Malley attending!

  36. JustaSinner says:

    Just remember this, the LGBTQCDUAL crowd makes up less than 5% of the population. A purge is still feasible. Cancer treatment still consists of chem, radiation or surgery

  37. Kathleen10 says:

    But Father Jim.
    At some arbitrary point won’t we always hit a point of “shame”? Are human beings to become so depraved that all shame should be eradicated? Example, men marrying little boys, to throw one possibility out there. I am not trying to be extreme. Sad to say, this is not a ridiculous example. The National Man Boy “Love” Association, would no doubt be in favor of this sick act, and they are not social pariahs anymore! They sit at the table with distinguished professors from Johns Hopkins and openly discuss such matters such as how unfairly pedophiles are treated when they are just “minor attracted”. No faction of the gay rights movement has disassociated itself from this odious group, or adults having sexual relationships with children, nor have any individuals I’ve ever heard. Should men who wish to fornicate with little boys feel shame? Should we integrate these men and “families” into society? In ten years, if that long, they will be demanding their “rights” with children. On what basis can we tell them no?
    So, should the line be drawn there, with that depraved act? Wouldn’t those men feel “shame” if they are not integrated into society? Who decides? If yes, why is it wrong to draw the line here? After all, people who consider the foundation of society the male/female relationship exclusively have only scripture, tradition, virtually every society up until now, the entire human history to support their opinion.
    This debate is over. It is not about gay rights. That battle has been won. It is now about forcing Christians to reject their faith and what they believe is good and right. It is about convincing children that there are no rules, we make the rules, and everything evil is good.
    Finally, and importantly, it is about predators having sexual access to those children.

  38. RJHighland says:

    All I can say is America is Sodom, it is no longer a question, we are not heading toward evil we are evil as a whole. Too many in the Church are teaching us to be Lot’s wife. The Truth has to be taught and I understand Lot’s desire to help save the citizens of his city but they had no desire to change, their hearts were hardened. Just as the citizens stormed Lot’s door to take the angels our politicians and these homosexual advocacy groups protest outside of businesses and Churches and force acceptance of their sinful behaviors. Many in the Church are compliant with acceptance of this evil that is all about loving the sinner. Lot could not change them and God told him and his family to leave town and don’t look back. They want us to change and if we don’t they shut our businesses down and publically protest against us outside our Churches as if we are the evil ones. Paul never softened his message he preached from the town square against evils in his time and he suffered greatly for it. I attended a mass in Denver with my family a number of years ago and we did not realize that there was a Gay Pride Parade that day and the Church we attended was on the Gay Pride parade route. We did not understand why everybody was rushing out of mass and the ushers were directing everybody to go out the side doors. Christians are being killed around the world for their beliefs and our nation does not lift a finger, our Church does not even stand up for them in any real way, but we as a nation spread birth control, abortion and gay rights where ever we go. We are living in Sodom and we are Lucifer’s greatest evangelist, God will hold us accountable. We are called to preach the Truth and correct the sinner but we are not called to worship with those that have hardened hearts and wish to convert us to sin. We are called to cast-out those that do not accept the truth not continue to embrace them. Matt. 18:15 “And if he will not hear the Church, let him be to thee as the heathen and publican. Amen I say to you, whatsoever you shall bind upon earth, shall be bound also in heaven; and whatsoever you shall loose upon earth, shall be loosed also in heaven.” Interesting following the condemnation of the sinner Our Lord reiterates the Church’s authority to bind and loose. Some might say the Church can loose this sin without repentance, I don’t think that is how it works. What was a sin in Sodom is a sin in America in God’s eyes God does not change. So many of our priests and bishops are dedicated to not teaching the heathen and publican the Truth but accepting them with-out correction because now days it is all about love and not Truth. If your priest is putting a rainbow altar cloth on his table I would talk to him, if that doesn’t work bring some friends and talk to him, then if that doesn’t work go to your Bishop. If that doesn’t work that is where it gets tricky. We are getting to a point where Matthew 23:1-3 doesn’t make sense anymore. What if in good conscience you can’t do what they say or do what they do anymore? Isn’t this were Luther was at when he posted the 95 Theses, but then that didn’t turn out very well either for him. It did bring about the Council of Trent though. So what is one to do? In business when things go astray you return to the basics, that is what I have done, just go back in time before the problem started, to the last good known configuration so to speak. For me that was before Vatican II, that virus has done incredible damage to the system. We need a council like Trent or Vatican I to get this train under control again because this train is heading down a steep grade at full steam and the bridge over the lake of fire is out, I don’t know if the emergency break (Traditional Movement) is strong enough to stop the train in time, but that is why we have faith. At some point God will intervene, it has been worse than this before the Roman persecution, the Arian Heresy, the Reformation but man we are closer to that than I ever thought America or the Church as a whole would be.

  39. Peg Demetris says:

    Obama won’t be president forever….and his policies won’t last either.. its all “dust”.

  40. Priam1184 says:

    @Polycarpio I’m sorry. This agenda is evil. While the individual homosexuals that one encounters are likely just confused and deluded, and need to be prayed for and evangelized in whatever way possible, the agenda is evil. Not even in the darkest pagan cultures that we have any record of where homosexual behavior was rife did anyone ever attempt to conflate that behavior with marriage. This agenda is evil and its implementation will be the death blow to an already tottering civilization. But, like Peg Demetris reminded us, this won’t last forever.

  41. Vecchio di Londra says:

    Hm, so if we tell homosexuals that their acts are not shameful, they’ll tone them down a bit?

    How could that possibly go wrong?!

    Sorry, no, it’s actually complete and utter codswallop. If homosexuals are unchaste and feel shame for their lack of chastity, that’s very proper, and their sense of sin should be encouraged.

    How many times must we point out that 1) there is no such thing as ‘gay marriage’ and 2) homosexuals do not get some kind of free pass from the same laws of chastity that bind us all.

  42. Peg Demetris says:

    Here’s the thing: This agenda has NOTHING to do with “Equality” and everything to do with “Acceptance”. Its never going to fly because it will never be morally acceptable.

  43. Supertradmum says:

    One of the sins which cries out to God for vengeance is sodomy. This Old Testament list is in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

    As to shame, there is a difference between imposed shame and conviction which comes from natural law, which is in all our hearts. Those who keep turning away from God lose the sensitivity of conscience which is given to all by the fact that we are human.

    Also, do not pretend that some great awakening of Catholicism will happen after the collapse of this civilization. God is hearing the cries of many who have endured great evils.

  44. frjim4321 says:

    “Just remember this, the LGBTQCDUAL crowd makes up less than 5% of the population. A purge is still feasible. Cancer treatment still consists of chem, radiation or surgery.” Justa

    Oh good, and let’s purge the green eyed people because they are even less than 5%.

  45. Ivan says:

    The purge comment sounds a bit evil, if you get what I mean. But I’m sure you didn’t mean that in a bad way.

    It seems like there’s little hope for “striking back” because of the progress the liberal crowd made. Especially with America being the leading factor (correct me if I’m wrong). With so many big countries (minus Russia and China and similar, but China is bad in another, communistic way) being “LGBTQ friendly”, it will be hard for a smaller, less influential country (for example mine, Croatia) to stay normal in catholic terms. But then again, we have our Faith and God, so let’s pray for this every day and I’m sure we’ll see some Providence.

  46. Nancy D. says:

    F.Y.I.-

    http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/pope-kisses-the-hand-of-gay-activist-priest-allowed-to-concelebrate-mass

    How does this gesture help affirm The Sanctity of Marriage and The Family as God intended? In the new order of man, atheistic materialism has reordered man as an object of sexual desire/orientation.

  47. Elizabeth D says:

    Nancy D, this was my comment left yesterday on that LifeSiteNews article:

    Kissing the hand is honoring this very elderly [93 yr old] priest’s priesthood (ie the priesthood of Jesus Christ), not himself as an individual, and far less his propaganda against Catholic teaching. A positive interpretation is that he the Holy Father gives an example of not having a “phobia,” antagonism, or distancing toward an errant priest like this to an extent of not willingly honoring the priestly character that is permanently on him. In the US the hands of new priests are often kissed, my understanding is that in Latin America it is much more common to kiss a priest’s hands to honor the priesthood. I think this gesture of Pope Francis has been misunderstood. Read about St Francis of Assisi who surprisingly and movingly kissed the hands of a very publicly scandalous priest precisely to show honor to the priesthood and that those hands give Jesus Christ. Bet you anything that is exactly what Pope Francis had in mind. Don’t you think he knows the stories of St Francis of Assisi? http://www.qvdays.org/linksandarticles/priestlyhands.htm

  48. Ivan says:

    It doesn’t help at all, but as DavidJ said: “(…) amazingly, St. Francis of Assisi would have done exactly the same thing, kissing the hands of a priest.” I don’t think this gesture shows our pope’s approval of homosexuality or anything else. Maybe he wants to convert (in this case, priest(s)) with mercy, love and understanding.

  49. Gregg the Obscure says:

    ” ‘Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided.'[Catechism of the Catholic Church, par. 2358.]”

    NB – it did not say “every sign of any discrimination”, but only unjust discrimination. That means there is just discrimination. At a minimum that would include things everyone would agree on, like keeping the same presumptions of innocence and burdens of proof in criminal trials and allowing for food, shelter and the like, but also preventing practicing homosexuals from adopting children, pretending to marry each other or having unsupervised contact with children and adolescents of the same sex.

    It also seems to be clear unjust discrimination against homosexuals to publicly identify them based on their sexual behaviors and desires and to refrain from holding them to the same standards of behavior that are incumbent on all people.

  50. benedetta says:

    While it encourages more abortion past the already 50 million gone, America will never be able to regain any moral credibility, on any issue. Until America gets over its baby and child phobia, its priorities will be continuously confused. I just don’t comprehend why with the advent of these civil rights for lgbt that growing intolerance and hate crimes against people who even if Christian profess and act in no hostile way whatsoever towards gay persons. And, even if someone is “phobic”, thus suffering from some sort of pathetic disease, wouldn’t that reasonably dictate that the same person should be prayed for, shown mercy, helped along?

  51. Kathleen10 says:

    PegDemetris, I wish I thought that was correct, but I do not believe so at all. The culture is absolutely rotten, and children grow up in the culture. The message is there from public school, peers, tv, movies, video games, media, and so on. What shocks us today, will be nothing in 20 years. It would have been nice if we had one source of earthly support to stem the tide, but, we have precious little. A few good Bishops and priests. In times when all looks hopeless, and man is left with only God, He seems to have “heard the cry”, so, we have that.

  52. Nancy D. says:

    Elizabeth D., a priest who denies The Word of God Is The Word of God, has excommunicated himself from The Catholic Church; the pope’s message is clear in regards to rogue priests celebrating Mass.
    It is unjust to not desire that a man or woman overcome their disordered inclinations so that they are not led into temptation but become transformed through Salvational Love, God’s Gift of Grace and Mercy.

  53. Serviam1 says:

    Meanwhile on 5/19,
    http://www.catholicactionleague.org/
    OPERATION RESCUE: BOSTON AND CATHOLIC ACTION LEAGUE PROTEST AWARD TO JOHN KERRY

    The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts today joined with Operation Rescue: Boston to protest the conferral of an honorary Doctor of Laws degree on U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry by Jesuit administered Boston College. The honor was awarded this morning at the university’s 2014 Commencement Exercises, which also featured Kerry as the principal speaker.

    Among those in attendance was Cardinal Sean O’Malley, the Archbishop of Boston. The Cardinal had boycotted last year’s graduation, saying the 2013 award recipient, Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny was “aggressively promoting abortion legislation.” At the time Kenny’ government wanted to legalize abortion in cases of threats to the life of the mother.

    John Kerry is a supporter of unrestricted legal abortion, partial birth abortion, contraception, same gender marriage, embryonic stem cell research, physician assisted suicide, cloning, and the distribution of condoms to minors. In an August, 2003 story in The Boston Herald, Kerry accused Pope, now Saint John Paul II of violating the American separation of church and state over the issue of same sex marriage.

    In their 2004 statement, Catholics in Political Life, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said: “The Catholic community and Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles. They should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions.”

    The Catholic Action League called the award to Kerry “a betrayal of Catholic principles, of faithful Catholics struggling to protect the unborn, and of what little remains of BC’s tattered Catholic identity.”

    Catholic Action League Executive Director C. J. Doyle stated: “No rational person can reasonably be expected to take seriously Catholic opposition to abortion when a leading Catholic university honors a political figure who has spent the last thirty years working against the right to life, while the U.S. bishops Pro-Life Chairman, Sean O’Malley, looks on.”

    “The reversal in the Cardinal’s response is deeply disappointing. John Kerry’s record on this issue is more longstanding, more wide ranging, and more extreme than that of Enda Kenny. Moreover, this is the second time in a week that the Cardinal has participated in honors for a politician who supports legal abortion. Last week, Catholic Charities dedicated a plaque for former Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino.”

  54. SKAY says:

    Kathleen10 said–

    ” It is now about forcing Christians to reject their faith and what they believe is good and right. It is about convincing children that there are no rules, we make the rules, and everything evil is good.
    Finally, and importantly, it is about predators having sexual access to those children.”

    That is exactly what acceptance of ssm is about and that is why the Catholic adoption agencies are being targeted. Unfortunately Common Core -despite it’s original intent((or so we were told) which sounded fine-is now turning out to be an indoctrination tool of this particular federal gov. to push their “equality” agendas using their “Race to the Top” program and federal money to lure states in. States are always looking for federal money to prop up their education programs — and happy to give into any demands made in order to get it. Unfortunately businesses have now bought into that and are pushing legislatures to accept it. We are having that fight in our state and our legislators seem to have lost sight of what is truly important in education–the children and their parents. Even the Catholic school system is accepting it here.
    Thank you for the website Nancy D. These powerful stories need to be shared with others to point out what is possible with the Lord’s help. Each one is a message within itself. Sadly the priest in Luis’s story shows what harm can be done with no organizations there ready to help in the proper way within the Catholic Church community. Thankfully God answered his cry for help through his sister.
    It is a destructive lifestyle that is being used.

  55. Michael says:

    Religion at its finest. Believe whatever you want to believe, but do not attempt or expect to make others around you follow what your specific imaginary friend in the sky tells you is what is right and what is wrong. To be honest, if the god of the bible does exist, I don’t think it has any place telling us what is right and wrong after the atrocities that it committed and had others commit in its name in the Old Testament. It is very scary if you think about it…people denying other people rights because an invisible entity has whispered to them that certain things are bad. I don’t expect any of you to agree with me. The best similitude I can come up with to describe myself, who used to believe this stuff, trying to have a meaningful debate with people that believe in gods and goddesses is, “It is like a drunk person trying to describe what being drunk is like to an alcoholic.”

  56. Elizabeth D says:

    I lost my faith in adolescence (because I was so intelligent then and saw through it, so I thought) and was an atheist for years Michael, that was a painful time in my life. I have a sense from your words that you may also be a young person. Fortunately I was wrong, having had a very deficient understanding of the whole subject matter of God and religion (as well as wounds in life that led to quite a black outlook), and God does exist and love me, and He does love you.

    As far as deficient understandings of religion go, confusion about alarming Bible stories can be fairly easy to settle your mind about if you realize it is a story of God trying to teach and form people in a friendship relationship with Him, and their usually very stumbling responses. The people’s partial knowledge of God, and often their infidelity and perversity mean they misundestand Him and often have a totally inadequate moral vision (some of the most disturbing Bible stories are found in the book of Judges which is precisely about how things go awry when people do “as they think best” rather than follow God’s good ways). Only in Jesus Christ is God’s self-revelation complete. In Jesus God reveals His heart and what He really wants, and there is no endorsement of atrocities, nor retribution for atrocities, on the contrary He becomes subject to atrocities, He is radical mercy, forgiveness for every evil ever done. In Him the sin of every atrocity, indeed every sin of every kind, is put to death, and He rises again; all these refusals of God, refusals of love and mercy, cannot defeat God, cannot defeat the Love which is identical with the principle of existence, Who is utterly triumphant (your very existence is because God loves and says yes to you… Love at the root of Being is the reason WHY there is something rather than nothing… and the darkness does not comprehend or overcome it). Through His wounds we are healed… and we are meant to be followers of this crucified one. And that is not the way the world thinks. It seems to mean total defeat and is clearly not the way they thought in the Old Testament, except at moments someone had a flash of spiritual insight. Jesus was not quite the savior, the messiah most were expecting. He was not the truth they thought they knew and that they expected. And God is not what you think God is, either, like I myself as an atheist was very mistaken about God. When I read St Augustine’s Confessions, when I read St John of the Cross… boy I was surprised, even shocked how credible their witness to God was, how eminently intellectually reasonable and good, and how beautiful.

  57. Michael says:

    Elizabeth,

    No, I am not that young and know quite a bit about the Catholic faith. Once again, not to be mean, your post sounds to me like a drunk person trying to explain what it is like to be drunk to an alcoholic. I understand what you are saying. I tried to mask over all the atrocities that the Jewish/Christian god “ordered” as well. In the end, your god ordered the complete destruction of cities, killing innocent men, women and children, including babies. So much for pro-life. Also you can’t forget about it ordering them to take the virgins for themselves. It’s pro-woman too! It sounds to me, like all of this is the rantings of a bronze age people trying to make sense of the world they are living in, making up crazy rules and regulations in order to subdue the people (e.g. the crazy laws regarding menstruation, do you really think that an all powerful deity that created everything would be concerning himself with women’s periods that he supposedly created in the first place, or does it make more sense that it was just a bunch of retarded bronze age men who didn’t know any better. You can try to dress up this stuff all you want with anecdotes from church fathers, scholars and commentators and try to apply all sorts of self fulfilling prophetical and mystical meaning to such bronze age barbaric rantings, but in the end it is just that, bronze age and barbaric rantings.

  58. StWinefride says:

    Dear Michael, in “Introduction to the Devout Life”, St Francis de Sales speaks of the love that God has for His creatures:

    “Consider the eternal love which God has borne towards you; for before Our Lord Jesus Christ, as man, suffered on the Cross for you, His Divine Majesty contemplated you in His Sovereign goodness, and loved you exceedingly. But when did He begin to love you? Even when He began to be God. But when did He begin to be God? Never: for He has always been God without beginning and without end; so He has always loved you from Eternity…” Part IV, Chapter XIV

  59. CrimsonCatholic says:

    A pro-homosexual, atheist troll on Fr.Z’s blog? The defenses must be down.

  60. RJHighland says:

    Good luke on your journey Michael, you have picked an incredible site to challenge your belief system. I admire those that search not only their comfortable sources but also those that go against their personal beliefs. When the pieces of the puzzle start fitting together it is a beautiful thing. When they are not fitting together and pieces are being forced in where they don’t belong it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense and it is very frustrating.

  61. Michael says:

    RJHighland,

    Thanks. I appreciate your civility and kind words.

    CrimsonCatholic,

    I am no troll. I just have other beliefs and opinions than you. I suppose you like to live in a bubble and not have anything that you believe questioned???

  62. Michael says:

    StWinefride,

    If I were reading the quote as a devout Catholic it might have some meaning and I might say, “Wow that is very wise and deep,” but looking in from the outside it looks like the rantings of a cult follower, no different than what you would find in many of the other religions.

  63. benedetta says:

    Increased civil rights lead logically, without reference to God or religion, to, increased freedom for all, not totalitarianism hate imposed upon a minority group. So, logically, and based upon all the science, from a strictly progressive secular view, with the advent of civil rights comes acceptance of the responsibility for babies and children in our midst, and the acknowledgement by liberal leaders that 50 million slaughtered is far far too much for a “progressive” society that does not hold to child sacrifice type superstition and advances a socialist mindset. One would think that gay rights would go hand in hand with the right of children in the womb to exist.

  64. CrimsonCatholic says:

    @Michael- Perhaps my comment wasn’t charitable, but somebody launching insults like “cult follower” and somebody that believes is “drunk” isn’t looking for discussion.

  65. Michael says:

    CrimsonCatholic,

    “Cult follower” was directed to what Francis de Sales’ said in his quote and not to the one who made the comment. Also, I didn’t call anyone drunk. I said being an atheist who used to believe and having someone who does believe trying to explain their religion to you is LIKE a drunk person trying to describe what it is like to be drunk to an alcoholic. You do understand what an analogy is, right?

  66. Elizabeth D says:

    Michael, I am a teetotaler and always have been! Reality is better than you have thought. I know one of the most surprising things about coming to faith from having been an atheist was realizing a fundamental problem had been I had a strawman “god” that I found it impossible to believe in, but that didn’t correspond to the real object of Christian faith. I also found out that although “sola scriptura” protestant fundamentalists and atheists tended to take the Bible hardcore literally and as if it were supposed to have come right out of heaven immediately onto the page, Catholics saw it as by definitely human authors, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit but writing from their human and historical context, using various literary genres, containing sometimes errors of the various kinds humans make, though inerrant in teaching faith and morals when correctly interpreted, this truthful interpretation being one of the essential purposes why Jesus gave us the Catholic Church (Catholics don’t believe one gets at the whole truth in Scripture through purely private interpretation of Scripture, obviously those who do believe in that are the ones who create a zillion different protestant groups that all believe different contradictory things that they all say are based directly on the Bible). In other fora I have had many discussions with atheists who wanted to insist on their own interpretations of Scripture and their own “strawman god” that just doesn’t really correspond to Catholicism. I know when I was an atheist I defined God as something nonexistent. There is a phenomenon of committed atheists superficially wanting to “debate” but often not really wanting to seek out and engage with good Catholic thought. And I met one person online once who called himself a maltheist and insisted he believed in one god but that this god was evil. Perhaps some people who object to Judaism and Christianity could begin by inquiring sincerely into why Jews and Christians believe that God is good.

  67. StWinefride says:

    Michael, you are right. But I can only share what I believe, so I wish you all the best.
    God Bless!

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