The Arrogance of Nancy Pelosi: Sends Letter to Archbishop Cordileone Asking Him Not to Speak at March for Marriage

One of the scandals of our age is the behavior of some Catholics in public life who are unfaithful to the teaching of our Church. They demonstrate the danger warned of in the last great ecumenical council of our Church, Vatican II. The Council Fathers, in their document on the Christian mission - Lumen Gentium, "Light to the Nations" - used a phrase which has been repeated many times since then in numerous teachings from the contemporary Popes and is a favorite of our own U.S. Bishops. They warned of the "separation between faith and life." They called it one of the "greatest errors of our age". And, it is being advanced with the assistance of Minority Leader, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi. Her letter of June 10th, 2014, to the heroic Archbishop of San Francisco, Salvatore Cordileone, (the name means lion heart)  is but one more example in a long line of arrogance and error she has shown over many years. 

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WASHINGTON, DC (Catholic Online) - One of the scandals of our age is the behavior of some Catholics in public life who are unfaithful to the teaching of our Church. They demonstrate the danger warned of in the last great ecumenical council of our Church, Vatican II.

The Council Fathers, in their document on the Christian mission - Lumen Gentium, "Light to the Nations" - used a phrase which has been repeated many times since then in numerous teachings from the contemporary Popes and is a favorite of our own U.S. Bishops.

They warned of the "separation between faith and life." They called it one of the "greatest errors of our age". And, it is being advanced with the assistance of Minority Leader, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi.

Her letter of June 10th, 2014, to the heroic Archbishop of San Francisco, Salvatore Cordileone, (the name means lion heart)  is but one more example in a long line of arrogance and error she has shown over many years. 

Nancy Pelosi was corrected many times by her Bishop. Yet, she persists in a flagrant disregard for the teaching of the Catholic Church. She also demonstrates an intention to try and mislead her fellow Catholics about the unquestionably clear teaching of that Church.

She has the arrogance to pretend that in openly dissenting from this teaching she is somehow acting as a faithful Catholic. This was evident in her shameful interview with Eleanor Clift in Newsweek magazine back on Dec. 21, 2009 which completely misstated the teaching of the Church on conscience and freedom.

It prompted then San Francisco Archbishop George H. Niederauerto respond with a well written piece entitled "Free Will, Conscience and Moral Choice: What Catholics believe"

Nancy Pelosi has repeatedly rejected the teaching of the Catholic Church and the Natural Moral Law on the fundamental Right to Life. Now, she has added to her error a rejection of the teaching of the Catholic Church on marriage as solely between one man and one woman, intended for life, open to life and formative of family.

Members of what I have called a homosexual equivalency movement insist that there is a moral equivalency between homosexual relationships and marriage. They demand that a legal equivalency be given to homosexual relationships and marriage in the civil law.

Nancy Pelosi champions this mistaken position. She has joined with others in openly dissenting from the teaching of the Church and asks Bishops to do the same. 

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Like the teaching of the Catholic Church on the dignity of every human life, to insist that marriage is between one man and one woman is not simply a religious position; it is affirmed by the Natural Moral Law which can be known by all men and women through the exercise of reason. It is also accepted across cultures.

To state this bluntly is not to be 'anti-gay'; it is to defend marriage and the common good. To limit marriage to heterosexual couples is not discriminatory. Homosexual couples cannot bring into existence what marriage intends by its very definition.

We need a massive Marriage Movement in the United States of America. Such a movement is already global. I will attend the March for Marriage https://www.marriagemarch.org/ on June 19, 2014 in Washington, DC.  I sincerely hope it is the seed of just such a movement.

In January of 2013 the China Post reported that over 200,000 people marched in front of Taiwan's Presidential Office. They stood for the irrefutable truth that marriage is between one man and one woman.

"God created human beings as male and female. Only the union of a man and a woman can create the next generation, and the ability to create offspring is an important function of a family," said one of the participants, 40-year-old Ann Huang, who joined the rally with her friends.

In the network which sponsored the March to Defend Marriage was a group calling itself the Coalition for the Happiness of Our Next Generation.

Yu Yen-hung, one of the founders of the organization, who told the China Post, "We worry that this alternative family formation idea will confuse children's concepts on education and sexual identity. Therefore, we decided to stand up and fight against this bill that will affect the next generation."

Of course, that worry is a real one and their concern is correct. Children have a right to a mother and a father. Intact marriages, between one man and one woman, are the foundation of a family. Family is the first cell of a healthy society.

Massive crowds of people, from every segment of society, are gathering around the world to defend the truth about marriage against those who seek to undermine this vital social institution. Their cause is noble and just.

On Sunday, March 24, 2013, hundreds of thousands of French citizens marched along the Champs-Elysees Avenue, united in the same noble cause. They defended marriage and the family and society founded upon it against those who oppose marriage and seek to restructure civil society by legislative or judicial fiat. 

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They faced tear gas and clubs from the riot police representing the French Socialist regime. They were courageous and unwilling to back down. They sang La Marseillaise, the French National Anthem, and called for the resignation of the President. They are led by an association called La Manif Pour Tous (Protest for Everyone).

There were similar marches in Brussels, Bucharest, Madrid, Warsaw and Rome.  The propagandized press reported that these people were "against gay marriage" and "right wing".

However, they were marching FOR MARRIAGE. The press minimized their numbers. The crowds were massive - and the movement is just in its infancy.

Many media reports refused to report accurately because these events did not support their own social and politically charged agenda.

Though the Marriage Marchers came from every segment of society, and reflected a wide range of ages, ethnic identities and political persuasions, they were collectively labeled as conservatives in much of the international press.

The propaganda press uses Orwellian newspeak to fuel caricatures against those who defend marriage as solely between one man and one woman. Many in the Press oppose marriage while purporting to expand its definition. This is sophistry.

Like propagandists of the past, the propaganda press of this age attempts to frame public perception by referring to those who defend marriage as being against what they call 'marriage equality'. 

Homosexual and lesbian partnerships are incapable of achieving the ends of marriage. 

Marriage is ontologically between one man and one woman, intended for life, and formative of family. It has been inscribed by the Divine Architect into our moral and natural genetic code. Truth does not change, people and cultures do; sometimes for good and sometimes for evil.

Marriage is the first society into which children are meant to be born, learn to be fully human, grow in virtue, flourish and take their role in families and communities. We must not be afraid to make the claim that children have a right to a mother and a father. They do.  The marchers in China, in France and all over the world defend the rights of children to a mother and father.

Of course we should all care about the single parent family and the many broken homes which characterize this age. However, their existence in our midst does not change the normative nature of marriage as necessary for a stable and healthy society.

Intact marriages and families are the glue of a healthy and happy social order. We need to be a visible, palpable reflection of this truth about marriage and family in our own lives. To live a faithful marriage is now counter-cultural. 

Our convictions and claims concerning marriage are not outdated notions of a past era but pave the path to the future. Nor is our position defending marriage as between one man and one woman simply a religious position. We insist upon the existence of a Natural Moral Law which can be known by all men and women through the exercise of reason. 

The Natural Moral Law is the ground upon which every great civilization has been built. It is the source for every great and authentic human and civil rights movement. The Natural Law gives us the moral norms we need to build societies and govern ourselves. It should inform our positive law or we become lawless and devolve into anarchy. We are on the path to just such an unfortunate end without a serious response from concerned citizens.

There is a growing intolerance of those who defend marriage as solely between one man and one woman. It threatens our rights to free expression, association and political participation. This is reflected in efforts to curtail or even censor our vocal and public defense of this objective truth about marriage and the family. 

Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi professes to be a Catholic Christian. Yet, she openly rejects the truth as taught by her Church concerning the nature of marriage and the family founded upon it. She is in open dissent and causing scandal to the faithful. 

The position of the Catholic Church on the nature of marriage is clear. Nancy Pelois is not enlightened she is in error. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith of the Catholic Church explained it well in 2003:

"The Church 's teaching on marriage and on the complementarity of the sexes reiterates a truth that is evident to right reason and recognized as such by all the major cultures of the world. Marriage is not just any relationship between human beings. It was established by the Creator with its own nature, essential properties and purpose."

"No ideology can erase from the human spirit the certainty that marriage exists solely between a man and a woman, who by mutual personal gift, proper and exclusive to themselves, tend toward the communion of their persons. In this way, they mutually perfect each other, in order to cooperate with God in the procreation and upbringing of new human lives."

Civil institutions do not create marriage. Neither can they create some new right to marry for those who are incapable of marriage. Government has long regulated marriage for the common good. The ban on polygamy and age requirements were enforced in order to ensure that there was a mature decision at the basis of the Marriage contract. Redefining the institution of marriage is outside the authority of the State or Federal Government.

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Heterosexual marriage, procreation, and the nurturing of children form the foundation for the family, and the family forms the foundation of civil society. There is an international movement being birthed - and it is about to rock the world. We are the counter culture of this age.Please come to Washington, DC on June 19, 2014.

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