Tag Archives: marriage

B 16 on Homosexual “Marriage”

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Here we offer an “interview” with Pope Benedict XVI that draws on his previous writings on the subject of homosexuality, on giving legal recognition to homosexual unions, and on the duties of Catholic politicians.

1) Your Holiness, thank you for joining us today. You recently referred to the “powerful political and cultural currents seeking to alter the legal definition of marriage” in the United States. How should the Catholic Church in America respond to such pressure?

The Church’s conscientious effort to resist this pressure calls for a reasoned defense of marriage as a natural institution consisting of a specific communion of persons, essentially rooted in the complementarity of the sexes and oriented to procreation.

Sexual differences cannot be dismissed as irrelevant to the definition of marriage.

Defending the institution of marriage as a social reality is ultimately a question of justice, since it entails safeguarding the good of the entire human community and the rights of parents and children alike.

2) Many try to dismiss this as a matter of religion and say that it should have no place in a modern, pluralistic society. What do you say?

Since this question relates to the natural moral law, the arguments that follow are addressed not only to those who believe in Christ, but to all persons committed to promoting and defending the common good of society.

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.

No ideology can erase from the human spirit the certainty that marriage exists solely between a man and a woman.

3) Many people think think of homosexual unions as on par with heterosexual unions–only with the genders changed. What should we make of this view?

There are absolutely no grounds for considering homosexual unions to be in any way similar or even remotely analogous to God’s plan for marriage and family.

Marriage is holy, while homosexual acts go against the natural moral law. Homosexual acts close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.

Sacred Scripture condemns homosexual acts as a serious depravity (cf. Rom 1:24-27; 1 Cor 6:10; 1 Tim 1:10).

This judgment of Scripture does not of course permit us to conclude that all those who suffer from this anomaly are personally responsible for it, but it does attest to the fact that homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.

This same moral judgment is found in many Christian writers of the first centuries and is unanimously accepted by Catholic Tradition.

4) What does this say about people with same-sex attraction? How should they be treated? And how should they view their situation? Read more here:

SECRET INFO: Pope Benedict on Homosexual “Marriage” – 

Just When You Thought You Couldn’t Stand Another Flash Mob

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You Chose Me From the Earth

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You Chose Me from the Earth

The day has begun,
And, already,
You have embraced
Your wee one.

I greet You
With the opening
Of my eyes,
With thoughts
That stream anew.

My slumber has brought me
To New Day.
The night was spent
In healing, and a continuity,
That like the day
Follows one unto the other,
Within Your sovereign embrace.

My body leaned
Upon You in trust,
To rise refreshed.
Phantoms of the night
Fled as Your Sun
Rose with purple dawn,
For I place my Trust
In You.
You knit me,
Body, soul and spirit,
Into a unity,
I have known
Since You willed me
Into being.
Unity creating one nature,
Sharing in your dual nature
Of God and Man.
Born of God,
In the Holy Spirit,
I am wed to You
And made ready,
Sun on sun,
For Eternity.

Remembering my frame,
And my need,
Stir into flame
Your Godly Presence,
So that the Bridegroom
Of my Soul
May this day
Take to Himself
The bride He won
From the Cross,
And I ,
Dust of the Earth,
May know the sacred bliss
Of having been chosen.
Being chosen,
And living, in the flesh,
The Life of God.

 

©2012 Joann Nelander

 

Did You Dance?

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Did you laugh?
Did you dance?
You were there
I remember.

The invitation,
Sent from my heart,
Was as personal
As a dream.

Hopes,
Whispered and shared,
Then tucked away
With our days,

The stuff of weavers,
Spinning bright threads
Running their course
Replete with expectations
Not to be denied.

Full of welcome,
An invitation to dance,
With the bride
Loving her groom
In the Mystery of You,

Did you dance,
Did you laugh,
When our love
Blossomed and bloomed,
Bearing children
To delight our hearts,
Gladdening our garden
With sweet enchantment.

Today I pick flowers,
Memories like posies,
In colored bouquets.
Today our hearts are full.
Today we celebrate,
And spread our blanket
On grassy meadows.

Resting and remembering
All happiness,
And passing sorrow,
Shared and savored,
As water turned wine.

Come and laugh.
Come and dance.
Years like water,
Running a course.
Years full and fleeting,
Waltzing and jigging
Spent in embrace.

Our dance goes on,
On to trip through the night,
Marathon run,
Accompanied with music
Floating on Life’s breezes.
Two become one,
Dancing in You.

By Joann Salerno Nelander, Bride

Shout for Happy!

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O holy saints of God,
Help Us to celebrate this day.
Bedeck our house in pure white lilies,
Picked by the hand of Love.
Such were the souls of Mary and Joseph,
As they journeyed forth to live the Father’s Will,
As they kept faith,

Bless the years that pass.
Bless the days that be.
Our youth God entwined,
Weaving gold out of straw,
Fashioning a cord that bound us ever close in dreams of love.

O, Holy Love,
Your fiber of Being,
Imperceptible, yet alive,
Knit the garment of our marriage.
As we gifted each other
With our very lives
And lived the Promise.

Taking pleasure in each other,
And the mystery You impart,
Mutual donation and happy hopes
Gave substance to our youthful reveries.
Soon, You delighted Your children with children to sweeten the wine we sipped.

You never waited on our understanding or perfection .
You built rather on duty and faith, Married unto eternity.
Your sacrament enfleshed in our lives as grace,
Filled our days with laughter amid challenge,
Befriended us in friends ,
As a corsage of heart and healing.

You opened the door of opportunity,
And we feared not to enter in.
Receiving in the womb, Your joy and plenteous reward,
Covenant love lived despite our weakness.
Hope hanging like numberless leaves,
On trees the formed an arbor for our love.

Yes, dear saints, sing songs with us,
To welcome home the Promised Groom,
Who never left our side.
Make of this day a joyful shout,
A happy anniversary!

Religion and Morality Are Indispensable Supports of Democracy

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The Left would like to place marriage, decisions regarding life and end-of-life, abortion, embryonic stem cell research, and quite possibly cloning, outside of religious proscriptions. They would like to forget, or rather, re-write history. It is the Church’s message that is the foundational structure of our liberty, our National conscience, our democracy and our human rights. In fact, it is the message of Christianity that is the bench-mark of Western Civilization.

George Washington’s in his Farewell Address emphatically states, “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them.”

John Adams, who followed Washington in the Presidency writes, “Statesmen, my dear Sir, may plan and speculate for liberty, but it is religion and morality alone, which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand…. The only foundation of a free Constitution, is pure Virtue, and if this cannot be inspired into our People, in a greater measure, than they have it now, they may change their rulers, and the forms of government, but they will not obtain a lasting liberty. They will only exchange tyrants and tyrannies.”

Issues of marriage, decisions regarding life and end-of-life, abortion, embryonic stem cell research, and cloning are precisely where separation of church and state have meaning. Said another way, “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s” The Left would like to isolate the message of the Church, have us believe it speaks to practicing members alone. However, it is God who speaks through His Church, and God speaks from Eternity. He breaks into Time, all time, lighting up every Age. The Church’s commission obligates it to announce Truth to all peoples of all times. Their message is the stuff of a true humanity.