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Down to the wire
by Dennis Coday on Nov. 03, 2009
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PDF versionDown to the wire, Maine voters appear to be evenly divided on the marriage referendum. A most recent poll -- released yesterday -- showed advocates of voting "Yes" on Question run, that is, rejecting the law that allows same-sex marriage -- with a 51 to 47 percent lead.
A group of self-described Catholics who have chosen to dissent publicly from established Catholic doctrine on the nature of marriage as the union of one man and one woman recently published a paid political ad entitled “Statement of Conscience by Maine Catholics Regarding Marriage Equality.”
Printer-friendly versionSend to friendPDF versionVoters in many locales and states are going to the polls today. In my little corner of democracy we vote on a city measure to ban smoking in all public areas and whether or not to renew a 1/8 cent sales tax to support county law enforcement. I don't expect too much media attention in my hometown.
The election in Maine won't be as quiet. Voters there are being asked to vote yes or no on Question 1, which reads: "Do you want to reject the new law that lets same-sex couples marry and allows individuals and religious groups to refuse to perform these marriages?"
Chuck Colbert, who writes for NCR on occassion, is in Maine monitoring the election. Chuck is from Boston and is a gay rights activist, but he has not been an activist in this election. He sent an assessment of the Maine election that we put on the web site at the end of last week. (See In Maine, same-sex marriage is a Catholic issue.)
Chuck is there again for Election Day and he says the campaign is incredibly close. He sent this info this morning as the polls opened:
Based in Raleigh, N. C., Public Policy Polling (http://publicpolicypolling.blogspot.com/) surveyed 1,133 likely voters from Oct. 31 through Nov. 1. The survey's margin of error is plus or minus 2.9%.
Coming after a poll released two weeks ago, which showed Question 1 in a straight-up tie at 48 percent in favor and 48 perecent opposed, the latest findings suggest a shift, "a slight movement toward its passage because independents support it (52 percent to 46 percent) and because there are more Democrats (27 percent) in favor of it than there are Republicans opposed to it (22 percent)," according to a press release of the survey results.
Chuck says the apparent even split among the electorate has motivated both sides to get their supporters to the polls.
Sunday Chuck met Pamella Starbird Beliveau of Lewiston, Maine, who was removed as a lector and Eucharistic Minister after her pastor read an opinion piece she wrote for the local newspaper approving of same-sex marriage.
Beliveau was with about two-dozen gay marriage backers, members of a new group Catholics for Marriage Equality, rallying outside the cathedral of the local dioceseduring the 10 a.m. Mass.
"I am sad but not surprised by what happened” to me, she told the gathering and local broadcast media yesterday. “The Catholic Church has every right to determine who can and cannot serves as ministers in the Church. I respect that.” Nonetheless, Beliveau said. “We must keep our eyes focused on the issue and that is equality for our gay and lesbian citizens."
About 700 Maine Catholics who support same-sex marriage have signed either a newspaper ad or a declaration of support for same-sex marriage being circulated by the Portland-based Catholics for Marriage Equality.
Fifteen percent of Maine's population is Catholic, and Portland’s Bishop Richard J. Malone has been a leader in the campaign to repeal the state's law legalizing same sex marriage. The diocese has given $550,000 to the effort to repeal the same-sex marriage legislation. The Catholic fraternal organization, the Knights of Columbus, has given another $50,000 to the cause.
This morning on the diocese's Web site, Malone has a statement titled REFERENDUM ALERT TO FAITHFUL CATHOLICS warning "faithful" Catholics against "a group of self-described Catholics who have chosen to dissent publicly from established Catholic doctrine on the nature of marriage."
Here's his full statement:
The evidence for their dissent runs through the statement and is crystallized in the following sentence: “…we find disturbing any suggestion that formal Church teaching obligates all Catholics to oppose marriage equality.”
In contrast, please let your conscience be formed by these clear and authoritative words of Pope Benedict XVI (Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger): “In those situations where homosexual unions … have been given the legal status and rights belonging to marriage, clear and emphatic opposition is a duty."
(Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, July 2003)
A Catholic whose conscience has been properly formed by Scripture and the teachings of the Catholic Church cannot support same sex marriage. Please vote YES on question 1.
Most Reverend Richard J. Malone, Th.D.
Bishop of Portland
Let us all say a few decades
Let us all say a few decades of the rosary that the people of ME reject the nonsence of alleged gay marriage. There really is no such thing in objective truth anyway!
You cannot support homosexual
You cannot support homosexual unions and be a faithful Catholic. Simple as that. Catholics who vote in support of homosexual unions and who are activist in supporting them commit gravely immoral acts. Homosexual unions are contrary to God's will and contrary to human nature, indeed contrary to human love and affection truly understood and properly ordered.
When I read these kinds of
When I read these kinds of posts I am a bit amused more than anything else. What makes you think you can tell someone if they are or are not a faithful Catholic? It is time for some humility and admit that no matter how much you insist otherwise, you are only giving your opinion. It may be correct and it may be incorrect. Frankly, in reading those, both on the left and those on the right, who have this attitude, it is a good reminder to myself to be attentive and, dispite my strong convictions in some areas, to realize it is only my opinion, nothing more. This is what I find so beautiful about the pursuit of a spiritual life. It kicks out the ego and finds a way to live comfortably with so much uncertainity. For if you have certainity, there is no need for faith.
Prayers for your journey of faith.
Actually, I say a couple
Actually, I say a couple decades a night for unity on the gay marriage issue for acceptance and solidarity towards those who are oppressed by anti-gay marriage movements. Catholic Social Teachings call us to reach out in solidarity towards the oppressed and marginalized.
It is a traditional, conservative American stance, a live and let live stance as I hope they can have happy lives together and their union does not affect my social life at all. I am responsible for my relationships rise and fall, not my neighbors. Marriage has never and will never be at risk over same-gender people forming life-long unions in the civil realm.
"Let him who is without sin
"Let him who is without sin cast the first stone"!
I think it is always a mistake when people think God has to obey them. I'll take my chances supporting my brothers and sisters who want to be married. How can people ignore all the things that Jesus taught yet insist that to be Catholic we have to address an issue He never mentioned!
We are Christians living in a
We are Christians living in a secular and pluralistic society in a nation that recognizes certain unalienable rights, among which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, which are endowed by Divine Providence. Our Founding Fathers understood these rights as belonging to free, white males. This is neither wrong nor right. It is a fact and fault of humanity.
This fact and fault applies to human law. In human law, mariage is a civil contract witnessed and enforced by the laws currently "on the books". Since it is a contract, there are certain conditions and requirements that must be met before a "mariage license" is granted, e.g. age, relationship, consent, gender and in some cases even race. Once married according civil law, for many and varied reasons, or even for "no fault", either or both parties can petition to end the contract, i.e. seek a divorce. Again, if certain conditions and requirements are met, the civil contract can be ended. That is the contract that civil marriage laws govern and administrate.
The Sacrament of Marriage is based on Divine Law. While civil laws may sometimes help or sometimes hinder the recognition of this Sacrament, it in no way diminishes its validity before God and his people. A man and a woman make the Marriage Covenant with each other before God and their family "until death do us part". As Jesus said, "What God has joined together, no human being must separate."
So in our secular and pluralistic society, we must make sure that all human unions, whether hetero- or homosexual, including familial unions (e.g., a son caring for his mother, an individual rearing a foster child, et.al.), be guaranteed those same unalienable rights enshrined in our Declaration of Independence. We should find acceptable and appropriate terms, "civil marriage", "civil union" or some other wording, to describe the social and political status of the individuals involved.
As for the Sacrament of Marriage, as Christians it is our mission to show the world by example and by witness the beauty of the First Sacrament instituted by God, the Sacrament that mirrors the love of the Holy Trinity and the relationship of the Lover with his beloved, the Sacrament that constitutes the Mystical Body of Christ called to the Divine Marriage Feast. We do this through the workings and action of the Holy Spirit.
Just as we do not look to civil law to validate our Christian way of life, we cannot impose our beliefs and doctrines on others who are not initiated into our Christian family. Jesus came to call us and invite us Home, not to force us where we weren't willing to go. Example and service are the evangelizing methods Jesus showed us and asked us to follow. That's the divine way that humans aspire to imitate: good example and loving service, united in God's love. Paz y Bien, Rolando.
Chuck Colbert is NOT a gay
Chuck Colbert is NOT a gay rights activist. He is a journalist who happens to be gay.
Just a question. My
Just a question. My undersatanding of scientific research is that the main purpose of sex is babies. How does homesexuality fit into that?
So, if you don't intend to
So, if you don't intend to have babies, then you shouldn't have sex.
Right?
Oh, I forgot your copout -- the MAIN purpose of sex is to have babies.
Gee, slap MY hands.
Who am I to say to God, "You
Who am I to say to God, "You made a mistake in the way you created Gays and Lesbians."? Any such statement is the height of arrogance.
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