Catholic Priest Testifies Against Massachusetts Bill Defining Marriage As Only Between Man and Woman

BOSTON, May 27, 2003 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In his May 16 magazine e-letter, Crisis magazine editor Deal Hudson comments on the surprising testimony of Rev. James F. Keenan, S.J opposing Massachusetts constitutional amendment H.3190 which defines marriage as only between a man and a woman.  Hudson reports that Fr. Keenan,  a professor of moral theology at Western Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge, very selectively quoted Catholic documents on homosexuality in his April 28 presentation to a Massachusetts judicial committee.  Keenan quoted Catholic Catechism section 2358 which states, “Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided”.  Hudson notes that Keenan neglected to also quote section 2357, immediately before this statement, which says, “Tradition has always declared that ‘homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.’ They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved”.  Hudson reports that two other influential Catholic priests opposed a similar bill last year and calls on the priests’ bishops to “reprimand them and denounce their ideas publicly” for “attempting to mislead not only Catholics, but the population at large by presenting anti-Catholic rhetoric in the name of Catholicism.”  See the full text of Fr. Keenan’s testimony at   https://www.massequality.org/keen.html