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Claiming same-sex marriage is compatible with Catholic belief
Dr. Daniel Maguire, professor of theology at Marquette University, A Jesuit university in Milwaukee, is at it again. The frequent defender of legalized abortion and euthanasia is now lobbying Congress, claiming that same-sex marriage is compatible with Catholic teaching. As part of a project of the Brico Fund, Maguire has authored a pamphlet called “A Catholic Defense of Same-Sex Marriage,“ which has been sent to every Congressman’s office on Capitol Hill. The cover letter says, “There are two views on [same-sex marriage] in traditional Catholic theology, one in favor, one opposed. Both have equal standing.“ Yes, he really claims that.
See, in Maguire’s theological view, there is no such thing as Sacred Tradition nor there is a teaching authority known as the Magisterium of the Church. What really counts is that theologians, like himself, can come up with inane theories based on tortured readings of Scripture, historical texts, and completely made-up histories. In the pamphlet, Maguire advances completely discredited notions like the claim that the Church used to have “liturgies to celebrate same-sex unions” and that the Church once recognized that “different sexual orientations are clearly part of God’s plan for creation.“ He says that “prejudice” against homosexual persons is a sin called “heterosexism.“
I am my own magisterium
Technorati Tags:Catholic, college, dissent, doctrine, homosexuality, politics, same-sex marriage, theology
bk_keywords:Catholic, sacrament, marriage, Catechism of the Catholic Church.
He then lists common objections, such as “The Bible says all homosexual activity is evil and sinful” and “The Catholic hierarchy condemns all homosexual sex,“ with responses that boil down to “ignore these authorities and accept my interpretation of the facts.“ It would be easy to dismiss Maguire as a heterodox crank, but the reality is that those looking for a reason to declare their dissent from solid Catholic teaching is not, but is in reality adherence to the real teaching will find it here. Ted Kennedy and John Kerry and their like on the Hill will lap it up. And when this trickles down to the Catholic voters, it will only spread more scandal and confusion about what the Church really teaches.
And yet Maguire still teaches at a Catholic university. Wasn’t there a requirement a few years ago that all Catholic theologians must receive a mandatum? Gee, I wonder if Maguire got his. Gee, if not, I wonder why he’s still a Catholic theologian.
Incidentally, who else receives funds from the Milwaukee-based Brico Fund? How about the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network; ACLU of Wisconsin; NARAL Pro-Choice America; Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin; among others. Nice company that Maguire keeps.
Update: I’ve uploaded a PDF of the pamphlet.
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COMMENTS
No Dom, Maguire did not get a Mandatum. He refused to ask for one and sent a letter to the Archbishop basically saying the Ab. - and by extension, bishops in general - wasn’t theologically competent enough to judge his theological competency. From which you can gather that for Maguire - and many ‘theologians’ like him - humility is not his strong suit.
The Archbishop…? Rembert Weakland!
Recently Ab. Dolan sent a letter to all priests in the archdiocese on some ‘housekeeping matters’. One item was a warning against inviting dissident Catholics to speak in parishes. He mentioned Maguire by name as persona non grata and said he should not be invited to apeak in any parish in the diocese. Apparently, he had spoken in some parochial settings in the past.
We have still not recovered from the Weakland era in this archdiocese. There are many Weaklandista priests in these parts, unfortunately. I had hoped for stronger action by Dolan, but very little of that so far…
Posted by
on 06/23/06 at 11:53 PM The PDF link doesn’t work, Dom.
The link is fixed.
Thanks for the fix, Dom. Now part of my first post on the topic.
I think even the Jesuits are waiting for this man to pass from the scene.
Posted by
on 06/25/06 at 05:04 AM Maguire’s opus is written at about the level of a polished 11th-grader’s work. Either he’s ‘writing down’ to his audience, or he had assigned the drafting to an undergrad student.
Citing Mary Hunt, Dombrowski, and Deltert—and predicting that B-16 will ‘change his mind’ on the rubbers/AIDS/marriage controversy—
The WORST part, in my opinion, is that the paper is entitled “A Catholic Defense of Same-Sex Marriage.“
One hopes that Abp. Dolan writes a letter to Congress stating firmly that Maguire does not have the authority to state that this is “Catholic.“
“Heterosexism”—is that the eighth cardinal sin?
Posted by
on 06/25/06 at 07:02 AM Having just gone through a week and a half of following the live blogging from the Episcopal general convention (My husband is an Episcopalian and we associate with some reasserter-read, small o orthodox-clergg) I am particularly distressed to find that the same thing has infiltrated OUR church. We Catholics keep saying, Get away from all this stuff, dissociate yourself from it, Come home to Rome, where we have a magisterium.
I don’t think it is doing this man any favor to let him go along this course. Maybe if he were told to renounce these errors or he will no longer be a Catholic (ie, excommunication) it will get to him in some root place in which he still believes it is important to be in the Church. It might save his soul. And those of many whom he may still have many years to lead in the wrong direction.
2-4-6-8 Time to excommunicate!
If there is a deeper wisdom in just letting these things slide, I don’t see it. It is also a scandal to those Christians outside the church. I know for a fact that it is one factor losing us converts to the Orthodox.
Susan Peterson
Posted by
on 06/26/06 at 09:14 AM Commenting is not available in this weblog entry.
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