Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Archbishop Rebuts Pelosi's Government-run Church

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Democrat from San Francisco and self-proclaimed Catholic, jettisoned her typical separation-of-church-and-state rhetoric and told the Archbishop of San Francisco, Salvatore Cordileone, that he should not participate in this week's March for Marriage in D.C. -- the "venom masquerading as virtue" in her words. In response, Cordileone told Pelosi he WILL join the march because it's in line with Church teaching.

For background, read how (the real) Pope Francis counters the Gay Agenda, and how American Catholic leaders support natural marriage.  Also read about myriad attacks on Catholic institutions for opposing the Gay Agenda.

In addition, read Rep. Nancy Pelosi is a Fraud, Catholic Leaders Say as well as Pope Francis Says Wayward Politicians Can't Take Communion (e.g.: Biden, Pelosi, Kerry, et. al.)

-- From "Nancy Pelosi urges S.F. archbishop to exit marriage march" by Carla Marinucci, The San Francisco Chronicle 6/14/14

Pelosi, who is one of the country's most powerful Catholic politicians, made a passionate appeal to the archbishop in a letter obtained by The Chronicle not to participate in the National Organization for Marriage's June 19 march on the Supreme Court in Washington.

Invoking the [misinterpreted] words of Pope Francis with regard to gays and lesbians, she wrote, "If someone is gay and is searching for the Lord and has good will, then who am I to judge him?"

The San Francisco Democratic leader is the most influential in a parade of public figures who have come forward to protest the San Francisco archbishop's participation in an event that is also backed by the Family Research Council. Critics have called the organizers "hate groups" that are targeting gays and lesbians.

Last week, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee and Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, along with a host of Bay Area religious leaders, sent a joint letter to Cordileone protesting his plans to attend the march.

Cordileone has nevertheless become a national leader in the religious movement against gay marriage. He heads the Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage for the politically powerful U.S. Conference of Bishops and was instrumental in raising $1.5 million to get Prop. 8, which banned same-sex marriage, on the California ballot in 2008.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "March for Marriage isn't antigay, Archbishop Cordileone says" San Francisco Chronicle Staff Report 6/16/14

San Francisco's Roman Catholic archbishop told critics who have assailed his decision to speak Thursday at the March for Marriage in Washington, D.C., that the event is not an attack on gays and lesbians.

Cordileone addressed [his rebuttal] letter to Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee and several other politicians and gay rights groups. They called on Cordileone last week not to attend the march, noting that its sponsors include the National Organization for Marriage and the Family Research Council, which they said were among "the national's most virulently anti-LGBT organizations."

March organizers hope to draw thousands of supporters of heterosexual-only marriage to the capital. Cordileone and former GOP presidential candidates Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum are billed as the star speakers.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Archbishop Cordileone March for Marriage Letter" by the Most Reverend Salvatore Cordileone 6/16/14

[The principle of] the intrinsic human dignity of all people, irrespective of their stage and condition in life . . . requires us to respect and protect each and every member of the human family, from the precious child in the womb to the frail elderly person nearing death.  It also requires me, as a bishop, to proclaim the truth—the whole truth—about the human person and God’s will for our flourishing.  I must do that in season and out of season, even when truths that it is my duty to uphold and teach are unpopular, including especially the truth about marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife.  That is what will be doing on June 19th.

The March for Marriage is not “anti-LGBT” (as some have described it); it is not anti-anyone or anti-anything.  Rather, it is a pro-marriage March.  The latter does not imply the former. Rather, it affirms the great good of bringing the two halves of humanity together so that a man and a woman may bond with each other and with any children who come from their union.  This is precisely the vision promoted by Pope Francis, who recently said, “We must reaffirm the right of children to grow up in a family with a father and mother.” Rest assured that if the point of this event were to single out a group of individuals and target them for hatred, I most certainly would not be there.

While I cannot go into all of the details here of your allegations against the sponsors of this event and scheduled speakers, I do know that at least some of what you say is based on misinterpretation or is simply factually incorrect. . . . many conclusions are being drawn about those involved in the March for Marriage based on false impressions.

. . . there is plenty of offensive rhetoric . . . for those who support the conjugal understanding of marriage, [but] the attacks have not stopped at rhetoric.  Simply for taking a stand for marriage as it has been understood in every human society for millennia, people have lost their jobs, lost their livelihoods, and have suffered other types of retribution, including physical violence. . . . such as, most notably, the attempted gunning down of those who work in the offices of the Family Research Council . . .

. . . When all is said and done, then, there is only one thing that I would ask of you more than anything else: before you judge us, get to know us.

To read the entire letter from the Archbishop, CLICK HERE.

Also read how activist judges across America are forbidding voters the right to define marriage as between one man and one woman.

And read 'Gay Marriage' Not Favored in Polls, Only in Court