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PDF versionThe clergy who helped marriage equality pass
by Jamie L Manson on Jul. 22, 2011
In case you missed it earlier this week, Samuel G. Freedman of The New York Times offered a long-overdue profile of the clergy who helped same-sex marriage to pass in New York last month.
Many politicians still rely on the clergy to lend themselves moral authority when debating social issues. But, as Julian E. Zelizer observes in the article:
"If religious support is fractured, and supporters of the legislation can point to clergy who are on their side, then it’s easier to counteract the claim of religious conservatives who say there is only one answer to this question....We know more about how the right has done it, but liberals can do the same."
It was the Empire State Pride Agenda’s Pride in the Pulpit program that began recruiting clergy who support marriage equality. The initiative began in 2004 with a few dozen ministers and rabbis. By the time the marriage bill went to a vote last month, more than 700 clergypersons were signed on to support the cause.
This group, of course, is pretty low on Catholic clergy. And, yet, we know that the key players in passing marriage equality were, in fact, Catholic. Are we entering an age when Catholic politicians will draw on the authority of the sensus fidelium (the 72 percent of baptized Catholics support same-sex marriage), rather than the clergy, when contemplating their stances on social issues?
The term "sensus fidelium"is
The term "sensus fidelium"is constantly abused by those who propose radical changes in the millenial beliefs of the Church. If a majority of baptized Catholics hold to a particular position at a given point in history and at a given place, we are told that this is the "sensus fidelium" by those who know right well that it is not. Baptized Catholics often hold to ideas and convicitons that are diametrically opposed to the constant teaching of the Church. I know many baptized Catholics who hardly believe in God, yet these same Catholics are included in this definition of the "sensus fidelium" The sensus fidelium is composed of thjose Catholics who are devout in the practice of the faith and aqccept the beliefs of the Church transmitted through its sacred tradition. Hence, they are composed not only of a body in the present but also in the past. One of the most important elements in determinng whether a teaching is true is first that it is reiterated in the tradition of the Church and second that the believing faithful assent to it. This precludes absolutely the acceptance of same sex marriage. This concept is profoundly alien to the entire moral and theological tradition of the Church.
"Are we entering an age when
"Are we entering an age when Catholic politicians will draw on the authority of the sensus fidelium"? Great insight/point Jamie M. I hope that quote gets wide distribution among readers, the media and public throughout the catholic world.
The Holy Spirit is not without wiles and street smarts. It was the "secular"- media and justice system - which forced the church to respond to the sexual abuse/response/management. It is the secular/lay media which is challenging absolutist, exclusionary, homophobic, selectively traditionalist patriarchalism and giving a voice and weight to the whisper of the Spirit. It is the observant media which will give weight to the grounded clergy as well.
Where is the big outcry that
Where is the big outcry that these clergy were violating "the separation between church and state"? Oh yea, that only applies to those protecting Gospel values. When a priest urges to vote pro-life, liberal scream their heads off that tax-exemptions should be dropped. But the Obama gets up in a pulpit of liberal protestant church and gives a campagin speech and all of a sudden the media is silent!
There is only Civil
There is only Civil Partnership between two people of the same sex. It does not matter how many times you call it "marriage" Ms Manson. It is not and can never be.
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