There was a big flap over the weekend because it was revealed a Kentucky priest, with the blessings of the Diocese of Lexington, baptized the four children adopted by a gay couple. Now we read that Baptist minister Fred “hate the sin and the sinner” Phelps will protest in front of the diocese’s cathedral. (Phelps and his church are famous for traveling about the country trumpeting that “God hates fags” and applauding the deaths of homosexuals from disease or violence. Nice people.)
More qualified people than I have pointed out that the priest had a duty to baptize the children under the Church’s law. The primary requirement is that there be a reasonable expectation that the children will be raised in the Church. I would guess that a simple assertion by the two men raising them is enough.
But the priest went beyond a simple baptism and offered a blessing to the two “fathers,” I suspect in the place of a blessing for the mother and father. That I think may have been too much. The question is whether the priest, through his words or actions, condoned homosexuality, gay adoption, surrogate motherhood, or any of the other things which were contrary to Church teaching. I don’t know, so I can’t offer an opinion.
I do know that Phelps and his hate-everyone-else philosophy is tiresome. Let’s all resolve to pray for him and his congregation to find the light and love of Christ.
