The US bishops’ conference is distributing a bulletin insert in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to legalise same-sex marriage nationwide. “The Supreme Court has tragically declared that states must issue marriage licenses to two persons of the same sex and recognise same-sex ‘marriages’ that were contracted in another state,” the notice begins. “This broad, adverse ruling redefines marriage in the law throughout the entire country, changing thousands of laws regarding marriage, family and children and threatening religious freedom in numerous ways.
“Regardless of what a narrow majority of the Supreme Court may declare at this moment in history, the nature of the human person and marriage remains unchanged and unchangeable.”
The notice is signed by Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, President of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Critics noted that the insert did not mention the teaching of the Catechism, that gays and lesbians are to be treated with respect. “Nowhere in the statement do we see the love of humanity joined with respect for the individual that we see coming from Pope Francis,” said Fred Rotondaro, chairman of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, a progressive Catholic advocacy group. “Nowhere do we see concern for doctrine tempered with a nuanced understanding of individual needs that were present in statements by Cardinal [Donald] Wuerl and Archbishop [Blase] Cupich. The bishops’ conference, as always, echoes doctrine without even attempting to understand the dignity and often the anguish of the struggling soul.”
Meanwhile the bishops of Iowa, the first caucus in the presidential nominating process, have interjected Pope Francis’ environmental encyclical Laudato si’ into presidential politics. Bishop Richard Pates of Des Moines, Iowa, said at an event for the Catholic Climate Covenant in Iowa: “We have a unique opportunity to keep the issue of climate change on the front burner.” Bishop Martin Amos of Davenport began the press conference with a prayer taken from Laudato si’.
Lonnie Ellis, who organized the event, told the Tablet, “We need to change the political conversation because our inaction has moral consequences. While the science on climate change has moved toward more and more clarity over the past several years, US politics on climate has moved in the opposite direction.”
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