Even though it had sixteen months to file a friend-of-the-court brief in a gay marriage case before the Washington state Supreme Court, the Archdiocese of Seattle waited until the last minute and missed the deadline, getting it thrown out.
Now either the lobbyists and lawyers for the archdiocese are completely incompetent or they accomplished the subtle goal of appearing to appease both sides of the issue by making a token effort to sway the judges but ensuring that their effort would bear no fruit. Sound like a crazy conspiracy theory? Maybe it is. What does the archdiocese have to say for itself?
The archdiocese filed its brief only last week because recent developments in other states made clear the effect a pro-gay marriage ruling could have on the Catholic Church, said Seattle Archdiocese spokesman Greg Magnoni.
So, the Archdiocese wasn’t going to oppose gay marriage until it became clear that it would have a direct effect on the Church, and by that they must mean Church institutions. After all, since Catholics live in society and the undermining of marriage undermines the very foundations of society, it would affect every one of us.
This is just the kind of myopic, insular thought that has seen the Catholics’ rights curtailed again and again at the expense of increasing chaos in our culture. In California, Catholic authorities caved when they got an exception from certain laws requiring all employers to provide prescription contraceptive coverage in employee health plans. So dioceses won’t have to have direct material cooperation with a grave moral evil, but the Catholic business owner will.
I’m so glad that they’re looking out for well-being of society and not just themselves.
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