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We Catholic priests and religious oppose Gay marriage.
In one of the biggest joint letters of its type ever written, they raise fears that their freedom to practise and speak about their faith will be “severely” limited and dismiss Government reassurances as "meaningless".
They even liken David Cameron’s moves to redefine marriage to those of Henry VIII, whose efforts to secure a divorce from Katherine of Aragon triggered centuries of bloody upheaval between church and state.
They claim that, taken in combination with equalities laws and other legal restraints, the Coalition's plans will prevent Catholics and other Christians who work in schools, charities and other public bodies speaking freely about their beliefs on the meaning of marriage.
Even the freedom to speak from the pulpit could be under threat, they claim.
And they fear that Christians who believe in the traditional meaning of marriage would effectively be excluded from some jobs – just as Catholics were barred from many professions from the Reformation until the 19th Century.
The comments are contained in a letter to The Daily Telegraph, signed by 1,054 priests as well as 13 bishops, abbots and other senior Catholic figures.
They account for almost a quarter of all Catholic priests in England and Wales.
Read more here : Source
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6 comments:
UK, you're not alone. Catholics, let's fasten our seatbelts, we are in for a world-wide persecution.
Our Lady Help of Christians, pray for us!
Holy Martyrs under Communist persecution, pray for us!
I, too, hope that there’s a mechanism for others to sign. I see my Bishop, all three VGs and over half the Cathedral Chapter of my diocese amongst the signatories and yet I have, today, spoken to eight priests of my diocese who were not approached, all of whom would have signed. I also note that there are over 800 permanent deacons in England and Wales (this legislation doesn’t apply to Scotland (which has its own proposals) or Northern Ireland) and not one of them appears to have been asked to sign. I am one of them and would welcome the opportunity to publicly indicate my support.
I wonder how many Catholic clergy in the past have signed petitions against civil marriage, divorce, and remarriage afterwards?
How many Catholic clergy in recent times have been forced to perform marriages of people who have had merely a civil divorce? Does anyone know?
**Sigh**
Just when I was getting comfortable being a Catholic in the free, safe West...
We are facing the same issue here in the United States as more and more states are passing marriage equality laws. And some of the protestant churches here are giving their blessing for these laws. I just read in the local newspaper the other day that the Episcopal Church here is in the process of creating a "blessing" ceremony to perform for homosexual unions. Not only is the Catholic Church being faced with the marriage issue but we still have a health mandate in effect that will force the Catholic Church to pay for contraception, abortion procedures, and sterilization procedures for it's employees. I'm praying the Supreme Court will intervene, which does show promise. But worst case scenario if they do not, all the Catholic charities, hospitals, universities and schools in this country will have to close. In this year of faith, let us all offer daily prayers for the protection of our Holy Church from the attacks of ever increasing secular governments that pose threats to our rights to religious liberty.
Craig from Pennsylvania
Jack - very good point concerning all manner of satanic institutional proceedures.
Meanwhile in NZ no one's heard a peep out of the Church since it was decided that this ad was 'not likely to offend':
http://www.3news.co.nz/Gay-marriage-billboard-complaint-rejected/tabid/423/articleID/282564/Default.aspx
perhaps the company responsible in a bid for religious equality should have an orthodox rabbi presiding or an imam, next time...but I don't think that will happen.
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