extreme Catholic 

 
The traditional marriage debate is not rational

Society and Marriage: Quid pro Quo : Dr Jeff Mirus, Catholic Culture

...it makes no sense to provide the benefits of marriage to same-sex couples, a very simple and pragmatic reason: Society will gain no benefit from doing so. Heterosexual marriage generates families which constitute the fundamental unit of the social order. This is a great benefit to society as a whole. Indeed, it is the sine qua non of society, and it is a benefit provided at considerable sacrifice on the part of the married couple. In return for this benefit, all societies foster, encourage and protect marriage in various ways, including laws which make it financially easier for married couples to maintain their families. This arrangement is based on a quid pro quo which cannot be duplicated by same-sex couples.

By de-criminalizing contraception, society proceeded down a slippery slope which leads to the call for "marriage equality." Heterosexual marriages can remain as sterile as homosexual marriages. If you think children are "a great benefit to society as a whole", look at their treatment in the tax code which is how "society" can put its money where its mouth is. No, I don't think we can turn back the clock to pre-Griswald, but we can't pretend this is a rational debate either.

Labels: marriage, politics

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 11:44 PM   Permalink  

 
Cardinal Jose Policarpo warns Catholic women

LISBON, Jan 14 (Reuters) - Portugal's Cardinal Jose Policarpo has warned young women in the predominantly Catholic nation against marrying Muslims. "The advice that I give to young Portuguese girls is -- be careful with relationships, think twice about marrying Muslims," the patriarch of Lisbon said. "It is getting into a pile of troubles, that not even Allah knows where would end."

Policarpo made the statement at a gathering on Tuesday evening in a well-known casino that organizes meetings of public figures with paying guests. His comments were repeated on several television stations on Wednesday.

There are about 40,000 Muslims in Portugal, which like neighboring Spain was once ruled by Muslims from north Africa, where many Muslim immigrants come from. The country's biggest Islamic organization said it was upset by the comments.

"We were in a way hurt by the choice of words by the patriarch of Lisbon about our community and about the dialogue that we have sought with all religious denominations, and especially with the Christian religions," the Islamic Community of Lisbon said in a statement.

The Vatican discourages Catholic women from marrying Muslims and Policarpo echoed that position in blunt terms. "I know that if a young European of Christian background marries a Muslim, as soon as they go to his country, they'll be subject to the regime of Muslim women," Policarpo said. "Just imagine it." Policarpo, a leading cardinal who was tipped as a contender in the 2005 conclave that elected Pope Benedict, also said dialogue with Muslims was not easy in Portugal. "It is only possible to dialogue with those who want to have dialogue, for example with our Muslim brothers dialogue is very difficult," he said.

Labels: catholic, church, guest theologian, islam, marriage

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 11:28 PM   Permalink  

 
The Deacon's Bench: Catholic teacher loses job for marrying without annulment

I side with the school on this one. During the time I was contributing on a daily basis to this blog I covered the story of Michelle McCusker fired for refusing to get married after getting pregnant in defiance of the school's teacher's code of conduct to live according to Catholic teaching. The ACLU took up the case, I guess the ACLU lost because they last updated the case status in 2006.

Labels: church-state, marriage

posted by Patrick Sweeney at 11:50 PM   Permalink