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By Archbishop Bruce J. Simpson
Benedictine Order of St. John the Beloved (an Old Catholic order)

http://www.advocate.com/html/stories/89 … impson.asp

Pope John Paul II has felt it necessary to go beyond his critical statements of preceding months against legislative efforts to legalize same-sex marriages. He has now issued a document titled ?Consideration Regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions Between Homosexual Persons? that will ?outline a course of action for politicians and other lay people to oppose extending the rights accorded traditional couples.? The Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, the ultra-conservative watchdog of Roman Catholic dogma, prepared this document. It is a clear declaration of war on the gay population of the world.

The church in the Middle Ages?as a way to exercise further control over people?s lives?constructed the institution of marriage. In doing so, it was named a Holy Sacrament, and it has been treated as such ever since. The church does not ?marry? people; it ?witnesses? the exchange of vows and blesses the union.

The institution of marriage is portrayed as being under attack by efforts to extend the blessings of marriage to same-sex couples. However, if one looks at marriage today, one finds a horrendous divorce rate among not only Catholics but across the religious spectrum. Marriage itself is a threat to its own existence and is not affected at all by the movement to legalize same-sex marriage. How does allowing more people to wed endanger a failing institution? Should not the church be searching for ways to encourage two people to promise themselves to each other for life, and then to remain together? Should not the church be addressing massive adultery that takes place in these marriages? Or is the Vatican afraid that if same-sex unions become legal and acceptable, that a good percentage of its clergy would be partnered?

The Vatican relies heavily on the central thesis that the essential ingredient for marriage is the ability to procreate, to be ?fruitful and multiply.? This ?fruitfulness? becomes an essential part of marriage. In the section of the document titled ?From the Biological and Anthropological Order? the Vatican states, ?Homosexual unions are totally lacking in the biological and anthropological elements of marriage and family which would be the basis, on the level of reason, for granting them legal recognition. Such unions are not able to contribute in a proper way to the procreation and survival of the human race.?

If one is to believe and enforce this ?moral imperative,? then any heterosexual couple not capable of producing a child, or those couples who decide not to have children, should be prohibited from marrying. Using the Vatican?s parameter for the legitimacy of marriage, a couple who cannot for biological reasons have children, or who choose not to have children, fit into the same category as a homosexual couple?they will not ?contribute in a proper way to the procreation and survival of the human race.? If this is the mainstay of the Vatican?s argument, then this further ?reasoning? must apply.

In various sections of the Vatican document, we find ?natural moral law? used as a basis for appeal to Christians and non-Christians to promote and defend the common good of society. I?m not sure that non-Christians would agree on the same things that are necessary to promote and defend the common good. St. Thomas Aquinas, in his Summa Theologiae, Prima Pars ?on the nature of man and whether or not man has free will?states, ?In order to make this evident, we must observe that some things act without judgment, as a stone moves downwards; and in like manner all things which lack knowledge. And some act from judgment, but not a free judgment; as brute animals. For the sheep, seeing the wolf, judges it a thing to be shunned, from a natural and not a free judgment, because it judges, not from reason, but from natural instinct.?

The Vatican presupposes that homosexuals act out of free will and ?choose? to be homosexual while ignoring the evidence that one who is homosexual is homosexual by instinct and not by choice. Therefore it is a natural conclusion that homosexuals would seek each other out and form life-long relationships and families natural to their instincts. If homosexuals are homosexual by instinct, then they are of God?s design, and therefore good in their very essence, for God cannot create that which is bad or evil.

Homosexuals, therefore, cannot be ?objectively disordered, evil, intrinsically disordered, gravely immoral, contrary to right reason, insignificant, against good order, harmful to the body of society, deviant, and just plain sinful,? as the Vatican asserts. One need only to compare these adjectives with the men and women of history who were and are homosexual to see just how silly it all really is in comparison. I dare say, shall we look at the men, both historical and present, who were and are homosexual, and who have made up the Roman Catholic Church?

It is also sad that in this day and age, when the world is overpopulated, that the Vatican is urging strict adherence to prohibiting birth control and marriages that do not produce more children. The real sin is a family with children that they cannot feed, support, educate, and give a decent life to. Is it moral and for the greater good of society to have 10 children, when eight of them are starving to death?

One of the biggest lies contained within the Vatican document relates to the impact of homosexuality upon the young, arguing that equal rights for gays should be opposed ?to avoid exposing young people to erroneous ideas about sexuality and marriage that would deprive them of necessary defenses and contribute to the spread of the phenomenon.? This same ignorant reasoning is used in arguing that ?these unions create obstacles in the normal development of children who would be placed in the care of such persons.? And in the ultimate desperate, shameful reach for justification for this diatribe, the Vatican cites the ?United Nations Conventions on the Rights of the Child? as authority for preventing same-sex couples from adopting children. Apparently, loveless orphanages are preferable to adoption by gay couples.

The main concern of Vatican officials is that they are losing control not only over people but over nations. The Vatican was upset that their efforts to place certain phrases into the proposed constitution of the European Union failed. This is a loss of influence, and thus lessens the power of a theocracy. Now in America politicians are commanded to follow the Vatican line when approving or disapproving civil legislation regarding the rights of same-sex couples. This is tantamount to interfering with the rule of government in the United States, which states that separation of church and state shall be complete. A legislator or judge shall not bring to bear his or her own belief system or religious instruction upon his or her civil service obligations.

The Vatican is obsessed with the gay population of the world. It is Vatican dogma that gay people should not be ?unjustly? discriminated against but that they must lead a chaste life unless they enter into a heterosexual marriage. On one hand, they say, ?Don?t discriminate based on sexual orientation,? and then turn around and launch massive efforts to do just that: discriminate, hurt, and in some cases cause death.

The Vatican relies on scripture as a basis of this homophobia that has obsessed it since the 12th century. However, many theologians have discredited the ?on the surface? prohibition against the gay community. St. Paul, in his Biblical condemnations of homosexuality, was condemning male prostitution, especially as it related to temple worship. Further, Paul was concerned about and preached against man acting against his nature by having relations with his own gender. The intentional misinterpretation of the story of Sodom and Gomorrah in the 12th century by Rome set the stage for centuries of condemnation and hatred. It is interesting to note that in the 12th century, the Roman Catholic rite for same sex-unions also disappeared from view. Not much is known as to how often this rite was used, but it did exist.

It is time for the Vatican to pay more attention to world problems such as hunger and disease and war, and far less to the sexual nature of the world?s population. After all, isn?t that what Jesus would want?

For more information about the Benedictine Order of St. John the Beloved, go to www.osjtb.com.