In 2009 the El Paso, Texas City Council voted to offer the same benefits available to married employees to those who were in “domestic partnerships,” including gay couples. The new law went into effect early in 2010 and the domestic partners of several gay employees were added to the list of those receiving city benefits. This action stirred up a grass-roots effort that was successful in placing a referendum on the November 2010 ballot. By a 55-45 margin the citizens of El Paso voted to limit benefits to city employees and their legal spouses, thus overturning the action of their City Council.
Recent votes taken by the City Council have been seen by some as an end-around maneuver designed to maintain benefits for the domestic partners added to the rolls in 2010, thus thwarting the clear will of the electorate. As a result, the mayor and two city councilmen are now facing recall elections in the next two weeks.
All of this is background to a series of 4 paid advertisements that recently ran in the El Paso Times. The author is Fr. Michael Rodriguez, a Diocese of El Paso parish priest, and the ads were placed and paid for by anonymous donors. The ads are reproduced below.
It is interesting to note that each of the ads bears a disclaimer put there by the newspaper:
The views expressed by this advertisement do not reflect the views of the El Paso Times or any of its affiliates.
Disclaimers of this sort usually read “do not necessarily reflect”, instead of “do not reflect”. Thus it appears that the Times wants to make it absolutely clear that it rejects Catholic teaching on homosexuality.
But what is really interesting is the reaction of a diocesan official. According to the Times,
While Rodriguez maintains the ads represent the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, officials of the Diocese of El Paso said they do not.
“These paid advertisements are the personal views and opinions of Father Michael Rodriguez,” said the Rev. Anthony C. Celino, the vicar general and moderator of the curia for the diocese.
“Personal views and opinions”? I hope I’m being charitable in saying that Fr. Celino’s grasp on authentic Catholic teaching seems a bit weak.
Tags: Orthodoxy at Work
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I have some problems with his idea that the Church does not know the causes of the gayness in a person and then says it is disordered. St Thomas Aquinas says that we must truly know the ultimate causes (ultimas causas) of a situation before we can fully understand it.
It also seems to me that the focus should also be on the heterosexual community which , by genetics, environment, nurturance or whatever , is producing so very many of these homosexual and intrinsically disordered men and women. It is like producing babies with special needs and then not having a program in place to help them. Does the DOR have such a program??
I am also concerned about so many homosexuals, some of them even known to the bishop, being in the priesthood without extra and appropriate supervision!!!
I am particularly concerned with priests who have openly condoned pedastery and pedophilia, and in some cases, excused the children of seduction. We have one priest here in Rochester who, when asked about pedophilia, answered that there was nothing in the Bible against it. He has been the pastor of a church on Monroe Avenue in Rochester and is now connected with all the churches in the Monroe-Clinton Cluster. His comments were never addressed by the Bishop, at least publically, and he continues to minister, as far as I know, unsupervised.
It’s quite sad that not only did the El Paso Diocese (Bishop) NOT proclaim the teachings that this priest did in his paid advertisements, but the diocese also took pains to distance itself from the teachings, which can only cause confusion among the faithful.
Where are the courageous leaders in our Church today? Why are bishops (and priests and deacons) often so reluctant to proclaim her teachings? Are the Church’s teachings not sorely needed in today’s world?