This is the Sunday in the lectionary cycle of Protestant and Catholic churches that the Holy Family is remembered. It was a rocky start, all things considered, with lots of tension in the story with an unwed mother conceiving a child, a shocked earthly father-to-be who was anxious about all that was going on, and God who seemed to know what was going on in this unfolding epic story.
So here is my dismay: knowing the raucous way that God came to earth in human form, I read the Catholic Diocese newsletter this morning that showed me how out of step, out of place, out of time, the Catholic Church is in parts of this world, namely the nation's capital:
In recent years the Gay community has insisted that since marriage is just about two people being happy they should be allowed to marry since they deserve this happiness too. While Gay marriage should be opposed, it remains true that opponents are caught a bit flat footed when children are now only a way of “accessorizing” marriage and happiness is the overarching principle in the minds of most Americans. Only if children are an essential end of marriage does limiting marriage to heterosexuals really win the day.
Click here for more.
First of all, happiness in marriage or civil union is not such a bad thing. Why not strive for happiness, or to use biblical language, "peace, joy, hope, and love" in marriage? Why can't two people who are of the same sex find the same thing as heterosexual couples do in marriage or unions? Or are we to have disturbed marriages just for the sake or producing children for the good of the Church?
Second: children are the end of marriage? Really? I just recounted the story of the unmarried couple Mary and Joseph above. They were not married. God impregnated Mary--if you believe in Virgin birth--who was not betrothed yet. Again: they were not married. End of story.
And what of the gay or lesbian couples who, like heterosexual couples, feel the call, the desire, to have children...and not as accessories?
Or what of the heterosexual couple who, like the same sex couple, do not feel the call to bear children into the world?
If the Catholic Church is interested in pulling in more of us who are self-identified as LGBTQ, then there has to be a change in such stances as taken by the leaders of the Catholic Church in DC.
"Here's to the Holy Family, which started out of wedlock!" What else is there to say?
Let's celebrate today all the ways we can be family.
B
1 comment:
"but the clear will of God is that he intends sex for the marriage bed alone, not because he wants to limit our fun but because he wants to protect marriage."
I am fortunae to live in the State of Iowa, where my partner of 23years and I were legally married in September.
I have was previously married and have children by that marriage. Following the wedding my daughter came up to me and said that our marriage ceremony had changed her understanding of same sex marriage.
That is why LGBT people want marriage. We want everyone to understand that our relationships are about loving and commitment and fidelity, the things that heterosexual marriages are supposed to be about.
All we really need to understand is that Christianity is about loving God and loving one another and marriage is an expression of that love.
Loren A Olson MD
www.MagneticFire.com
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