US: Pastor of forty years speaks out in favour of equal marriage in Maryland

[rug]

by Joseph Patrick McCormick
30 October 2012, 7:52am

A Baltimore priest who had served his parish for almost forty years, spoke out in an impassioned sermon urging Catholics to vote in favour of equal marriage in Maryland.

Reverend Richard T Lawrence, who had served as a priest at St Vincent de Paul Church since 1973, gave his sermon in response to a letter from Archbishop William Lori, who said that Catholics should vote against equal marriage in the state.

Reverend Lawrence said that, irrespective of sexual orientation, couples’ commitment to one another was the most important issue, reported Catholic Culture:

“I will continue to stand in genuine awe of all those couples — straight, gay and lesbian — whose day-to-day, year-to-year, and decade-to-decade faithfulness to each other is to me a sacrament, a believable embodied sign, of the absolute faithfulness of God to us all,”

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2012/10/30/us-pastor-of-forty-years-speaks-out-in-favour-of-equal-marriage-in-maryland/

He read the Archbishop's letter, as required, then launched into this outstanding sermon, received with a standing ovation.

Bravo, Fr. Lawrence!

[mykpart]

1. I like what he said about civil law

allowing what the Church cannot. There are many legal contracts over which the Church has no jurisdiction, nor does it seek any. A legal contract of civil marriage between two people need not be sanctioned by the Church in order to be legal. And for the Church to seek to control what is beyond its jurisdiction is the same thing as a Bishop declaring that the speed limit is immoral, or a Baptist preacher seeking to prohibit the sale of alcohol and tobacco.

[rug]

2. Exactly right.

And he went on:

He did, however, go further to give his personal support for equal marriage, saying that he hoped to see a progression of the law to allow it:

“Personally, however, I would go further than that,” he said. “I personally believe that this is a possible line of future development in theology and perhaps eventually even in church teaching. And if this is even a possibility, could we not judge that civil marriage for gay and lesbian couples ought to be allowed by the state at this time?”

“Could not civil law be allowed to progress where church law cannot go, at least not yet?” Father Lawrence added. “Personally, I believe that it can and that it should.

He ended his sermon to a standing ovation from his parishioners, and said that his words reflected “the official teaching of the church and my personal reflections.”

He's pointed the way, which is all we can ask of any priest.

[Ken Burch]

3. A good and brave man.

They'll probably defrock and excommunicate him unless he recants, like with Roy Bourgeois on women priests.

[rug]

4. We'll see. What's interesting about this priest is he's well ensconced.