Cardinal Mahony: Prop. 8 ruling based on feelings, not God's plan for mankind

8/7/2010
Catholic News Agency (www.catholicnewsagency.com)

The judge wrongly assumed that marriage is of human origin

"The union of a man and of a woman in a life-long loving and caring relationship is of divine origin. No human nor civil power can decree or declare otherwise," Cardinal Mahony wrote. "For many of us, we will continue to believe that God is the origin of marriage, and we will follow God's constant revelation to that effect."

Cardinal Roger Michael Mahony was appointed Archbishop of Los Angeles by Pope John Paul II on July 16, 1985 and was installed as the fourth Archbishop of Los Angeles on September 5. Pope John Paul II created him a cardinal on June 28, 1991.

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LOS ANGELES, CA (CNA) - A federal judge's decision overturning Proposition 8 relied solely on feelings and not God's plan for human society, Cardinal Roger Mahony said on Wednesday. He added that the judge wrongly assumed that marriage is of human origin and can mean "anything any person wishes."

Writing in a Wednesday statement, the Archbishop of Los Angeles responded to U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn R. Walker's ruling that Prop. 8, which restored California's legal definition of marriage to be a union of a man and a woman, was unconstitutional.

The cardinal characterized the prime question as whether marriage is of divine or human origin.

"Judge Walker pays no attention to this fundamental issue, and relies solely upon how Prop 8 made certain members of society 'feel' about themselves," Cardinal Mahony wrote.

He said that those who supported Prop. 8 did so because they "truly believe that Marriage was instituted by God for the specific purpose of carrying out God's plan for the world and human society. Period."

The belief in marriage has been unanimous across cultures and histories and is "embedded deeply" into the spirit of human beings, he noted.

The cardinal further stated that Judge Walker was wrong to assume that marriage is of human and civil origin and "can mean anything any person wishes to ascribe to the institution."

"The union of a man and of a woman in a life-long loving and caring relationship is of divine origin. No human nor civil power can decree or declare otherwise," Cardinal Mahony wrote. "For many of us, we will continue to believe that God is the origin of marriage, and we will follow God's constant revelation to that effect."

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1 - 10 of 25 Comments

bubbles
2 years ago
Ron, Sin doesn't go to Hell, sinners do. And incidently, we all better remember the 3 last things, Death, Judgement, Heaven or Hell. Even you Muscular! Oh, I guess you don't have to cause YOU are God!
musculars
2 years ago
It is unfortunate that the outmoded and disordered catholic theology of natural law is not put on trial. It would be dismantled and demolished in seconds. The so called natural law is based not upon actual nature , but upon unfounded prejudices masked as "rational and ordered." It is mere assertion and when proof is demanded it collapses under the weight of its only irrationality and unfounded premises usually employing a fallacious arguementun a petitio principii.
The poverty of the mind demonstrated by the present Magisterium in its binary and dichtomous thinking is an astounding squandering of its rich intellectual legacy. While a limerick of the "unnatural" virgin birth comes to mind, this one is more appropos:
No longer dancing sur le pont d'Avignon
the pope merely presides in Rome
He proclaimed sex perverse
while it was merely diverse
unable to see shades of gay.
mike
2 years ago
Natural Law isn't written down anywhere - except in the human heart. Turns out there is very much confusion as to the prescriptions of the Natural Law. That's because of cultural differences; and Original Sin causing the intellect to be slow to comprehend, and to comprehend incorrectly. The Roman Catholic Church has no infallible teachings about morality - all are doctrinal. Pope Paul VI's encyclical against artificial contraception is the closest the Church comes to an infallible moral pronouncement.
I think the Pope would do well to make an infallible moral statement about marriage to definitively clarify the current issues about marriage. In His day, Jesus did just that - declaring marriage to be indissoluble. Com'on Pope, let's hear it !
John D
2 years ago
Vance, you're right. Once you change a basic legal definition it can unleash many long term consequences. Already Catholic adoption agencies have been shut down in Washington DC and Massachusetts as they feared being sued for not placing children in married same sex households. There will also be a push for "educating" younger and younger children on alternative lifestyles. There could also be a court challenge some day for plural marriage. There is much more then meets the eye here. People who claim opponents of same sex marriage are bigoted homophobes are seeking to use these sensational accusations to create an emotional environment and distract everyone, so they can sneak this by.
John D
2 years ago
Max, what has happened to civilizations which have ignored the Natural Moral Law? Answer: they no longer exist. They wiped themselves out. Through all the rises and falls of empires in 2,000 years, the RC Church doctrine has remained the same. The story of civilizations rising and falling has played over and over again. People have success and gain wealth and then they get decadent and engage in relativism that ultimately leads to their demise. You don't believe me? Just look at the patheically low birthrates in Europe, Japan, and Korea. They are slowly aborting and contracepting themselves out of existence. So, knock yourself out. Keep doing whatever you feel is "right" at the moment. Go ahead and ignore the Natural Moral Law - to your own peril. I will pray for you.
vance
2 years ago
HERE WE GO AGAIN! A Liberal Activist judge rules against the people. This is judicial tyranny. We the people decided twice by democratic vote that marriage is between one man and one woman. This is one person who decides how all of us are to live. If the US Supreme Court agrees with this judge, there will be far reaching ramifications for the Catholic Church. What's going to happen to priests who refuse to grant the Sacrament of Marriage to two homosexuals?? It would be the law and he could be fined or jailed or both. Can it happen? You bet it will.
Bill
2 years ago
Max - weak conjecture!! You would not be reading this web site if that was the case. The truth can never be silenced. Individuals attempting to tell the truth can be silenced and often are by vicious smears and hollow accusations. However the truth will emerge again. The Church is all about the truth so get used to it - we will be telling the truth long after both of us are gone whether or not you think the truth is relevant!
Max
2 years ago
Watching the Church sllide into social and political irrelevance gives me enormous pleasure. it speaks of a better world. There is no higher vocation than to silence those who would lecture others what "God's Plan" is. Game over, folks. You've lost moral stature and intellectual relevance, and for good.

Thank God.
BennyG
2 years ago
I think the issue here is that there are two institutions of marriage in this country. Those of a secular nature (the government benefits of marriage i.e. taxes, family rights, etc.) and those of the religious, the Sacrament. Natural law does not dictate tax breaks, visitation rights, insurance, inheritance, property rights - the list goes on. Therefore if we are to base marriage upon natural law and on god's order, let us strike those principles of marriage that do not pertain to it. No more benefits for married couples rids all the arguments of the homosexual community. Tell me then, who among you would stand for natural law and true equality?
Trebuchet
2 years ago
Does anyone remember the steel girders that formed a Cross found by the Firemen and Rescue Workers in the rubble of the WTC and how it was moved to a place of honor and expected to be made part of any eventual memorial at the site? Does anyone remember what happened to that Cross? At the insistence of the Left it was ordered removed because it did not represent the faith of all the people killed in 9/11. Now, the same groups of Left wing loons are insisting just as loudly that the Mosque must be allowed to be built overlooking Ground Zero because it shows that the 1st Amendment of the Constitution guarantees freedom of expression. After the court decision on prop 8 I thought about this and got a chill. The Judges decision is base on his rejection of 2000 years of Law based on the Judeo Christian moral codes. This is similar to the Nazis claim at Nuremberg that the West had no right to try them based on the Judeo - Christian moral codes since they did not believe or adhere to those codes. The Nazis developed a 'progressive' theory of law in which 'law' was interpreted as a result of force and social struggle. According to the Nazi legal theory, the legal system should not contain fixed rules of law but evolve in continuous flow as a 'living law'. If the Judges decision is allowed to stand as it is, it will rip a moral hole in the Constitution. Something will fill that hole and judging from what happened to the Cross at Ground Zero and the support for the Mosque, well lets just say it may be a foreshadowing of things to come.

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