+ Rarely have Catholics been given an opportunity to shine the peaceful light of Truth, the peaceful light of Christ, the peaceful light of Charity as, you, the faithful members of the Catholic Diocese of Portland are being called upon to do in two-days' time. You will have the opportunity to make a real, significant and Christ-centered impact on the outcome of a ballot referendum question that directly involves the "first institution," that God gifted to his newly created and established male – female union, and essentially related offspring: the institution of marriage and family life.
Voting YES on QUESTION ONE, for you, will be a stand for God, a stand for marriage, a stand for family life - as he gave them and intended them to be lived "in the beginning." Voting "no" would simply further confuse and distort an already emotionally overcharged topic. A YES vote is a vote for "God-speaking his will and intent for marriage" (which he has every right to do); it is not a vote against the dignity and respect for gay persons, at all – who, in the heat of debate, can find themselves largely at odds with God!
In point of fact, the Church of Portland wishes to make abundantly clear two important facts: it has had a long, nearly twenty year, history of working with the gay community to sponsor and defend civil rights legislation on the state government level. It fully supported a "gay rights bill" in the early 1990's. The Church and the gay community stood together on this legislation. This bill was signed by the governor but overturned in referendum the following year despite the support of the diocese. The Church is not against the gay community it itself, but in this particular case, it must stand against it to keep the definition of marriage as between one man and one woman because it is God Himself who first spoke it into existence in the beginning. This is one wheel that ought not to be reinvented.
Secondly, the diocese does and will continue to enthusiastically and wholeheartedly make welcome all gay Catholics who are already in our very midst – whether they are active members of our parishes or not yet; and then make it known that those who have left our membership due to valid and real feelings of frustration and alienation, have a true and rightful place with us, who are attempting to live the same life of the Beatitudes as they are! It is the same flesh and blood life that all Christians and all the Saints have lived throughout the ages of the Church! It is a life transformed by the redemptive death of Jesus Christ, Lord and Friend! Because of it, death can now be transformed for us into life; darkness into light; hatred, anger, hostility and resentment into love, compassion, mercy, forgiveness and caring for those who accept these realities in faith, with hope, in order to translate them into a life of self-sacrificial service (love) for others.
Along with this, the Church of Portland recognizes and commits itself to its pastoral duty of catechizing (teaching) about the magnificent reality of marriage as it is given by God, and about the nature of sexual attraction in its varieties of manifestations, and subsequent Gospel-oriented, civil-rights-based solutions to gut level delimnas faced by all of those who do not fit into neat and tidy concepts of conventional sexual attraction.
With all that is going on in our country on so many levels at this time in our history – this is just not the proper time to be conducting a potentially unpredictable and hazardous sociological experiment such as the one proposed on the ballot! The ramifications involved are truly deeper and farther reaching than any of us can possibly imagine. It would be a launch into totally deep and uncharted waters and the project can count on numerous inevitable shipwrecks, with varying degrees of damage from slight to nigh-on catastrophic - in time, down the road!
Remember that freedom is only freedom for doing what is right and good and just! Freedom does not mean simply "doing what feels right." It may feel right to rob a bank, but more than likely the arresting officer will not care too much how you "feel." If Maine truly is the Vacationland where an adventuresome spirit of freedom abounds, it would seem that this means that all kinds of right, good, just and useful things are happening here not because they simply feel right, but because after thinking about them, consulting with God about them, and then feeling the movement of the Spirit of God, they are then done! In other words, with freedom comes responsibility!
And of course, the imaginary logic that two essentially different things are now equal simply because they are defined as equal by popular opinion is an example of classic fallacy, and could be the source of great difficulties if systems which affect people's lives are built on it. For example if the red colored light on a traffic signal now equals the green one by popular vote, then untold damage can be expected at all major intersections that have traffic lights! Applying this to marriage: if red colored marriages are now equal in every way to green colored ones: then there will be an assortment of collisions wherever marriage intersects with real life – because red does not equal green! The "yellow light" analogy also works here: when you see a "yellow light" in the context of a moral decision, especially this one, at this time – "proceed with caution" – and "when in doubt, go with the Church!" until you can more surely satisfy your own intellectual curiosity.
We are celebrating today the great Solemnity of All Saints. The saints in heaven are those who above all else "kept their sights pure and simple"- on the lights of God - and focused on His Will; the Cross of Christ; and the wisdom, grace and strength of the Holy Spirit. Nothing could deter them from staying the course, especially, when the going got rough! Jesus invited them and he invites us to live the life of the Beatitudes: embrace being poor in spirit, mourn for the times you fail God, hunger and thirst for the formula for right living, be merciful to everyone, be clean of heart, be peacemakers – and when you are persecuted, be very happy about it because then you are sharing in my Passion, and you are also sharing in my Resurrection. This goes for all of you – all people everywhere – of every race, nation, religion, political party and sexual orientation. You are all invited to HOLINESS OF LIFE, TO FRIENDSHIP WITH ME AND MY FATHER, AND TO COMMUNION WITH OUR HOLY SPIRIT. Each of you, do the very best you can to help one another out and to act like the brothers and sisters that you are, the brothers and sisters that I made you "in the beginning!"
It is important, my dear friends, to encourage as many as you can, with you, to vote the faith, to vote in defense of what God had to say about marriage when he established it, not simply because the Church says so, but because you really believe it. A YES Vote on Question 1 - for the right reason, above all, for the glory of God and obedience to his Will, – would be greatly appreciated for the ultimate good of us all, but most especially our beloved gay brothers and sisters in the faith to whom we pledge our support and our willingness to help find alternate solutions to their heart-felt needs for equivalent security, legitimate civil rights, a family-like living arrangement, and Gospel-oriented ways in which to spend their creative desire to love and be loved.
There is a strong possibility that people might end up voting the opposite of what they truly want to vote "on a technicality." Don't let that technicality be either, "the church is behind the times" or "the church does not care!" Neither of these are true! The Church is very much on target with its opposition in this case; and it certainly does care, it cares very much about the very ones who are opposing them. Open minds on both sides of this ballot issue will allow appropriate votes to be cast for the right reasons: votes cast with heart, mind and soul combined – and not any one of these by themselves.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ of the Diocese of Portland – let the peaceful light of Truth, the peaceful light of Christ, the peaceful light of Charity shine brightly all over Maine in two-days' time – on this election day – by endorsing and celebrating our life in God and his care for all his children – by voting YES ON QUESTION 1.
The Church cares!
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