Obama ends the charade:
He supports gay marriage
as a 'human right' for everyone
Surprisingly little reaction so far in the Catholic media about President Obama's honest-at-last declaration of support yesterday for gay marriage as essentially a fundamental human right for everyone. After having rejected support early in his term for the Defense of (Traditional) Marriage Act passed in the Cinton administration, and in view of his documented record of having stated prior to his 2008 presidential campaign that he favored same-sex marriage, was anyone really surprised?
US TV yesterday however also replayed his election-campaign interview with best-sellign evangelist Rick Warren who asked him how he would define marriage, and he said, without any hesitation, "It is the union between a man and a woman", and that as a Christian, he also believes it is a promise made to God. (Did he take the name of God in vain?) His campaign has defined Obama's position on gaymarriagea s something that was 'evolving' - it has radly that: it was 'revolving' (or 'spinning', to use current jargon) depending on the circumstances in which he was saying it!
The USCCB itself reacted almsot immediately with a statement from its president, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, which the USCCB news agency, CNS, chose to report only in its CNS Blog and not on its regular news service. Go figure!
Cardinal Dolan's reaction
WASHINGTON, May 9 — Cardinal Timothy Dolan, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), issued the following statement today:
President Obama’s comments today in support of the redefinition of marriage are deeply saddening.
As I stated in my public letter to the President on September 20, 2011, the Catholic Bishops stand ready to affirm every positive measure taken by the President and the Administration to strengthen marriage and the family.
However, we cannot be silent in the face of words or actions that would undermine the institution of marriage, the very cornerstone of our society. The people of this country, especially our children, deserve better.
Unfortunately, President Obama’s words today are not surprising since they follow upon various actions already taken by his Administration that erode or ignore the unique meaning of marriage.
I pray for the President every day, and will continue to pray that he and his Administration act justly to uphold and protect marriage as the union of one man and one woman.
May we all work to promote and protect marriage and by so doing serve the true good of all persons.
One must note that Obama was apparently forced to take an unequivocal stand once and for all because last Sunday, his Vice President, unfortunately a cafeteria Catholic who tends to leave out the most essential 'food groups' in the Catholic menu, declared on public TV that he was "absolutely comfortable with the idea of a man marrying another man or a woman marrying another woman, because why should they not have the same right as everybody else?"
Given that unabashed declaration by his nominally Catholic VP, Obama could not do less than to man up and end his pretense of still 'evolving' his views on gay marriage. Did I say 'man up'? Have the policemen of political correctness come up with a gender-neutral definition of that terse and very powerful idiom? Maybe 'person up"? Reductio ad absurdum.
Obama’s rejection of traditional marriage also came a day after North Carolina became the 30th U.S. state to introduce a constitutional protection for traditional marriage, overwhelmingly approving an amendment that defines marriage solely as a union between a man and a woman. Obama narrowly won North Carolina in 2008, and the Democratic nominating convention will be held there in September. Other commentators also point out that it came a day before he attends a massive fund-raising dinner at actor Goerge Clooenys' home in Los Angeles tonight which is expected to raise $14-million from a community that is very much pro-gay anything..
U.S. bishops applaud North Carolina's
referendum decision to protect marriage
by State constitutional amendment
WASHINGTON, May 10 — The decision by the voters of North Carolina to define marriage in a constitutional amendment as the union of one man and one woman “affirms the authentic and timeless meaning of marriage,” said Bishop Salvatore Cordileone of Oakland, California.
Bishop Cordileone, chairman of the Subcommittee on the Promotion and Defense of Marriage of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), applauded the May 8 decision with Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Raleigh and Bishop Peter J. Jugis of Charlotte, North Carolina.
“The success of this amendment demonstrates people’s awareness of the essential role that marriage, as the union of a man and a woman, plays for the common good,” said Bishop Cordileone. “Despite his comments yesterday, I would hope that President Obama would recognize this essential role as well. This is not a partisan issue, but a matter of justice, fairness and equality for the law to uphold every child’s basic right to be welcomed and raised by his or her mother and father together.”
He added, “I extend my gratitude to all of the people in North Carolina who worked tirelessly to make this a reality. The people of North Carolina join millions of other Americans in affirming the importance of marriage in our society.”
North Carolina is the 30th state to pass a constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 11/05/2012 16:00]