D.C. Archbishop Joins Marriage Debate

Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl has increased the Catholic Church's involvement in opposition to marriage equality in the nation's capital.

Wuerl addressed 300 Catholic priests in the area, reminding them in a letter about the church's stance on same-sex marriage. He also gave interviews to several news sources to further vocalize the church's view in the debate.

Wuerl has joined forces with Baptists, mainly African-American preachers, in pressuring D.C. officials to allow public voting on the legalization of same-sex marriage.

David A. Catania, the openly gay city council member who introduced the bill to legalize same-sex marriage in D.C. this fall, is undaunted by the Catholic Church's participation in the debate. "We have a long tradition in this city of evolving toward equality and a better, more expansive view of human rights, and in 2009 this includes marriage equality for same-sex couples," said Catania. "I respect the bishop for his view…but we live in a representative democracy where there is a separation of church and state. We do not live in a theocracy."

Wuerl's involvement in the debate began the same day that eight opponents of marriage equality approached the D.C. Board of Elections & Ethics to hold an initiative in 2010 defining marriage as being between a man and a woman. The initiative states that "only marriage between a man and a woman is valid and recognized in the District of Columbia."

Before the initiative request can be considered, the election board must first decide if the request is sound. In D.C., referendums cannot be held on matters that violate the city's Human Rights Act, which protects minority groups, including gays and lesbians, from discrimination.

"It is ironic that at the same time the city is asking for voting representation in the U.S. Congress, its leaders are denying residents the opportunity to participate in the democratic process for an issue with widespread implications for children and families," said Ronald Jackson, executive director of the D.C. Catholic Conference.

Wuerl became archbishop in 2006 and has not been outspoken on any other controversial issues affecting the region except marriage, which he says is "a path toward holiness…so as members of the church we are obliged to be all the more attentive to the challenges that weaken marriage."

D.C. currently recognizes same-sex marriages performed in other states, but some fear that Congress will intervene if the city attempts to allow same-sex marriages to be performed in the nation's capital.

Reader Comments

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Name: SteveMD2
Date posted: 2009-09-03 12:13 AM
Hometown: Baltimore

Comment:

Every catholic should close their pocketbook until the church becomes a real church. Guess who teamed with Roman emperors to murder tens of millions of Muslims during the crusades "in the name of God"? (no wonder they hate us) Guess who murdered 100 thousand during the inquistion, including good priests and Jews. Including burnings at the stake. Guess who gave the world the hatred of Jesus own people, the Jews. Guess the religion of Hitler, who leveraged that hatred to get elected. Guess who allowed their sex starved priests for decades to commit "prison rape" to establish the power structure between the priest and the choire boys. PS - there were no choir girls till recently. Guess who grew up in Nazi Germany and heads the church. No money, no church

Name: PePa
Date posted: 2009-09-02 9:31 PM
Hometown: Santa Ana, CA

Comment:

AFTER all the discomforting activities that have foreshadowed the Church why not join a noble cause and "protect marriage." This is in fact redemption that has been long over due for all the treachery and vile evilness that Rome has plagued the world. After all, who can forget the sheer bloodiness of the inquisitions where thousands were killed who did not follow doctrine and silenced intellectuals like Galileo whose discoveries now shape our modern thinking of the universe, who can forget the permission granted to Hitler by the Pope for the extermination of the Jews, who can forget the thousands of children whose childhood has been tarnished by evil perverts of the Church, who can forget the death squadrons of the douchebag Mother Teresa who sentenced many to die suffering from simple illness while at the same time raising millions worldwide for the church, or when the Pope said that condoms are worst than aids. These "pro-family" activists have already forgotten apparently.

Name: Scott
Date posted: 2009-09-02 7:19 PM
Hometown: Portland

Comment:

What are the "implications to children and family" that they are referring to? There is absolutley zero evidence that having same sex parents is in any way a disadvantage to a child. Unless of course you count being ridiculed by the church and possibly made to feel inferiora disadvantage. They really need to give up that argument because it's a lie and it is driving their own people away. It's scary because there are the religious "leaders" who are supposed to be teaching morality, but instead they lie and try to scare the public, not to mention they behave on the most unethical way. By that I mean making money tax free and using it to hurt people they don't like. I feel confident that the people of Dc won't let them prevail.

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