From Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone’s address at the March for Marriage in Washington DC:
And let us not forget: we must also proclaim this truth especially with love for those who disagree with us on this issue, and most of all, for those who are hostile toward us. We must be careful, though, not to paint our opponents on this issue with broad strokes. There is a tendency in our culture to do this to groups of people the powerful don’t know and think they don’t like. We must not do that. We must recognize that there are people on the other side of this debate who are of good will and are sincerely trying to promote what they think is right and fair. It is misdirected good will. But even those from whom we suffer retribution – and I know some of you have suffered in very serious ways because of your stand for marriage – still, we must love them. That is what our ancestors in faith did, and we must, too. Yes, it is easy to become resentful when you are relentlessly and unfairly painted as a bigot and are punished for publicly standing by the basic truth of marriage as a foundational societal good; it is tempting to respond in kind. Don’t. For those of us who are Catholic, we just heard our Master command us in the gospel proclaimed at Mass the day before yesterday: “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Mt 5:44). We must not allow the angry rhetoric to co-opt us into a culture of hate.
Read the rest there.
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Well said.
The ‘other side’ doesn’t care how nice we are, how caring or loving, because they define us as bigots simply because of what we believe about marriage. They want 1 thing only – to win (which includes making us disappear). It was Mao’s approach and it worked as long as he lived.
Prudence, wisdom guided by experience, sometimes teaches us not to waste our time trying to “clarify” too much to those who don’t care. Archbishop Cordileone seems to me to be a sensible, spiritual, and prudent leader.
That was my favorite part of his talk also and can be so true.
Sorry to site fishwrap, but I thought this was an interesting tidbit not included in Archbp Cordileone’s speech:
“A key backer of the advocates’ efforts, according to San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone: Pope Francis. Speaking on the Capitol lawn in humid weather for a rally before the second annual March for Marriage on Thursday, Cordileone noted that Archbishop Carlo Viganò, the apostolic nuncio to the U.S., was in the audience. Viganò’s presence, Cordileone said, “signifies the presence and support of Pope Francis for what we are doing today.”
http://ncronline.org/news/people/same-sex-marriage-opponents-claim-papal-blessing-see-biblical-battle
Yes, and true too for any truth of the Church for which we stand, even (especially) the liturgy.
Catholic News Service (CNS) video of the March for Traditional Marriage today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-zFK9i3a2s&feature=em-uploademail
………… “we must also proclaim this truth especially with love for those who disagree with us on this issue”……..
Yes but we must never apply cannon law to Nancy Pelosi, being pastoral and all.
Pray for Nancy’s conversion. And there are others, too, suffering from the same malady who are in need of prayers.
Jim Dorchak,
The nature of Canon 915 is that it is applied to the ministers of Holy Communion, not to the likes of Pelosi.
Actions speak louder than words. He allied himself with some bad actors.
Rev’d dear Fr Jim,
assuming what you say is true (I have no particular information on the subject),
what is the difference between a friend and an ally?
One can pick one’s friends.
In fact, it would be downrightly illogical if we try to fight this fight without allying us to the kind of people who, consciously or subconsciously, rebel against the modern trend because the resent violation of natural law. (Natural law is natural to man, as the name implies; hence, a reaction to violation of it has to be expected, and has indeed occurred, even in this case.)
Even if their reaction sometimes crosses the clear boundaries of charity. That is a sin, but it is a rather normal action of fallen men to go into excess for good things. We have to distance ourselves from such actions (and not do them) and, in obstinate cases, try to convert them… of course. But that’s that.