Rhode Island bishop: Stay away from gay weddings!

[DonViejo]

After marriage equality's big win, Catholics are warned to boycott nuptuals

BY MARY ELIZABETH WILLIAMS

That was a brief honeymoon, Rhode Island. Just hours before becoming the tenth state to approve marriage equality, the slim, pocket-sized state – which also happens to be the nation’s most Catholic — received a stern warning from the Bishop of Providence.

In a seriously buzzkill message, Bishop Thomas Tobin issued a pastoral letter to his brothers and sisters in the Ocean State, suggesting the invitations they might want to decline once same-sex marriage becomes official in August. “It is important to affirm the teaching of the Church, based on God’s word, that ‘homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered,’ (Catechism of the Catholic Church, #2357),” he writes, “and always sinful. And because ‘same-sex marriages’ are clearly contrary to God’s plan for the human family, and therefore objectively sinful, Catholics should examine their consciences very carefully before deciding whether or not to endorse same-sex relationships or attend same-sex ceremonies, realizing that to do so might harm their relationship with God and cause significant scandal to others.”

Well, if anybody would be an authority on significant scandal, I’d bet it’d be a Roman Catholic priest.

Nobody expects a Catholic leader to issue a “Mazel tov on your big gay weddings, you guys!” Tobin is a product of a specific system and represents its ideology, to which he has to conform. It’s worth pointing out, however, that the Church can and does reverse itself, which will someday soon make Tobin’s comments look especially absurd. After all, in 1965 it stopped blaming all the Jews for killing Jesus. Just six years ago it decided that unbaptized babies might actually go to heaven. And a mere 359 years after branding him a heretic, the Church decided maybe it had been a little hasty toward Galileo.

There’s hope for these guys yet to figure out civil rights!

full article
http://www.salon.com/2013/05/03/rhode_island_bishop_stay_away_from_gay_weddings/

[brooklynite]

1. So, more cake for everybody else...

...and a shorter line at the bar.

Seriously, why can't the Church takes it lumps and get on with life? After NY passed Marriage Equality, the Bishop of Brooklyn opined that any legislator who had voted for it would no longer be welcome in a Catholic Church. I haven't set foot in one since.

[Squinch]

2. Everyone else: "Stay away from Rhode Island bishops!"

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

5. Especially if you're under the age of thirteen (nt)

[roamer65]

10. Bingo!

[TheCowsCameHome]

3. I wonder what his spouse thinks of this.

Oh, that's right..............

[Pab Sungenis]

4. How long until some yahoo priest denies Communion

to someone who attends a gay wedding?

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

6. I wonder what happens...

If somebody would just grab the big goblet of wine and the plate of crackers and run for the door.

Anybody who tries to find out, I've got $20 for your legal defense fund.

[rug]

11. He would immediately run to reddit and 4chan and post pictures.

Afterwards he would do his homework.

[geek tragedy]

7. I would urge people who support marriage and gender equality

to think twice about setting foot in church's in that bishop's diocese and thereby endorsing his work.

[Drale]

8. If you have a problem with homosexualality

the couple is probably going to already know it and your probably not getting an invitation anyway.

[shenmue]

9. Yeah, someone may have a good time at a wedding

And you know how evil receptions are. Drinks, dancing, smiling - they must end!

[RainDog]

12. No, people should stay away from pedophile-enabling institutions!

Like his organization.

In fact, it would get great if people who had been abused would picket in front of Catholic churches every day for the rest of their lives, to point out what this institution did to children supposedly in their care,

It's shameful to support such an institution. What sort of moral gymnastics do you have to go through to claim the church isn't the problem when the church is the problem?