Tuesday July 25, 2006
Seattle Archbishop Condemns Gay “Marriage”, Fears State-made Theology, Lawsuits
By Gudrun Schultz
SEATTLE,
Washington, July 25, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Permitting same-sex
“marriages” could lead to a serious loss of religious freedom, Seattle
Archbishop Alexander Brunett warned Thursday in a legal brief filed in
the ongoing battle over the state’s ban on homosexual “marriages.”
The court hearing the case, however, rejected the brief on account of
the fact that it comes over a year too late; oral arguments were heard
in the state Supreme Court in March 2005. The archbishop was finally
convinced to file the brief after witnessing the legalization of
homosexual "marriage" in other states and its possible legal
ramifications on religious institututions, reports The Seattle Times.
“The state would be in the position of establishing socially acceptable
public theology...Such an intrusion into religious practice should not
be permitted,” wrote Archbishop Brunett.
He warned that overturning the ban would set up “an inevitable
collision with religion,” saying the church would be in danger of
losing the civil authority to perform marriages and could be vulnerable
to discrimination lawsuits for refusing to conduct homosexual
“marriages.”
Earlier this year Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo caused a stir when he similarly warned
religious leaders worldwide that the current secularist direction the
West is taking could see the Church hauled before an international
criminal court. He explained that "speaking in defense of life and for
the rights of the family is becoming in some societies a type of crime
against the State, a form of disobedience to the Government, a
discrimination against women."
While the brief marks Archbishop Brunett’s first contribution to the
legal battle underway in the state, in September 2005 he issued a
pastoral letter clarifying the Church’s teaching on marriage. Entitled
The Gift of Marriage, A Union Most Sacred, the letter responded to
“challenges to the understanding of marriage commonly held in our
society.”
Calling on the faithful to witness to the sanctity of marriage, the
Archbishop said, “By upholding marriage as a union between a man and
woman…we place before others the reality that marriage is more than a
legal agreement and should not be changed by civil authority.”
“It is important to remember that the bond between husbands and wives
in marriage and their fruitfulness as parents is the essential building
block of society. This is a common good that government exists to serve
and uphold. It also is the reason the Catholic Church opposes attempts
by proponents of same-sex unions to overturn the state’s Defense of
Marriage Act.”
“Irrespective of our background, our social status, our race, our
culture or our economic standing, we are all here as a result of the
union of a man and a woman.”
The battle over the state’s ban on homosexual marriage has been in the
courts since 2004, when Seattle King County Superior Court Judge
William Downing ruled that denying same-sex couples the right to
marriage violated the state constitution. Supreme Court Justice Susan
Owens said Thursday the decision on the same-sex “marriage” case would
likely come September 19, according to the AP.
Read Archbishop Brunett’s pastoral letter on marriage:
http://www.seattlearch.org/NR/rdonlyres/180AB20E-B5DA-4D23-9DE8-96A73AD23E47/4605/Marriage_eng.pdf
See related LifeSiteNews coverage:
Judge Legalizes Same-Sex "Marriage" for Washington State
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2004/aug/04080411.html
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