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San Francisco Bishop Affirms Church's Role in Prop. 8, Calls for End to Disrespect

By Kathleen Gilbert

SAN FRANCISCO, December 4, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Archbishop Niederauer of San Francisco has written a column urging both sides of the same-sex marriage debate to treat their opposition with appropriate respect, reminding them that tolerance is always a "two-way street" and criticized those presuming evil motives in the opposition.

"Tolerance, respect, and trust are always two-way streets, and tolerance respect and trust often do not include agreement, or even approval," said the Archbishop.  "We need to be able to disagree without being disagreeable.

"We need to stop talking as if we are experts on the real motives of people with whom we have never even spoken. We need to stop hurling names like 'bigot' and 'pervert' at each other. And we need to stop it now."

Archbishop Niederauer issued critical feedback from his purview as Catholic leader of overwhelmingly the most homosexual-friendly county in California, in which 75% of voters rejected the true marriage initiative Proposition 8.  Niederauer was also one of the driving forces behind the interfaith coalition that united Christians, Orthodox Jews, Mormons and others in support of Proposition 8. 

52% of California voters supported Proposition 8, which defines marriage in the state Constitution as between a man and a woman.  An outburst of protests followed the passage of Proposition 8, including several lawsuits challenging its constitutionality, which are currently under review in California's Supreme Court. 

The archbishop mapped out the circumstances behind the support and subsequent passage of Proposition 8, and addressed the angry response of homosexual lobbyists to the Church's advocacy of true marriage.

"Some voices in the wider community declare that there could be only one motive: hatred, prejudice and bigotry against gays, along with a determination to discriminate against them and deny them their civil rights," said the archbishop.  "That is not so. The churches that worked in favor of Proposition 8 did so because of their belief that the traditional understanding and definition of marriage is in need of defense and support, and not in need of being re-designed or re-configured."

Speaking to the objection that the Church overstepped its bounds by speaking on a political matter, Niederauer affirmed the Church's right to speak out on matters of public policy and its responsibility to teach its own doctrine, which includes beliefs about marriage and the family.

"Such a gag order would have silenced many abolitionists in the nineteenth century and many civil rights advocates in the twentieth," the archbishop pointed out.  He said proponents of Proposition 8 strove to protect "a definition of marriage that recognizes and protects its potential to create and nurture new human life" above a mere "contract for the benefit of a relationship between adults."

He notes that same-sex couples still have the same benefits in civil unions under the new amendment, and Proposition 8 simply recognizes the essential difference between the two.

Niederauer concluded that "we churchgoers need to speak and act out of the truth that all people are God’s children and are unconditionally loved by God."  In the spirit of respect, he said, "with God’s grace and much prayer, perhaps we can all move forward together."

To see Archbishop Niederauer's column in full, go to: http://www.sfarchdiocese.org/about-us/news/?i=1505

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