Abuse of power
The Catholic Church is facing a dark time, with abandonment of the church or the faith by untold millions, ranking of celibate male patriarchy over availability of the Eucharist and pastoral services to hundreds of millions, and the loss of many millions to evangelical sects.
Maine church officials' empty, deceitful, abusive and bullying campaign against the Marriage Equality Act has made this the darkest hour for the Church in Maine — worse than the 1851 tarring and feathering of Fr. John Bapst on order of the Ellsworth Town Council.
The state properly provided same-sex couples the legal rights of heterosexual couples which only marriage assures. Heretofore, Catholic officials have never supported providing those rights, otherwise. So their only honest argument was that marriage has always been heterosexual.
The projection that the law leads to "teaching same-sex marriage" was a blatant appeal to homophobia. The claim that the Church required opposition to same-sex marriage was baseless; the Second Vatican Council affords primacy to informed conscience.
Command petition circulation, eight bulletin inserts, sermons, and a collection have abused and misused authority, angering and alienating those who resent introduction of bigotry into Sunday liturgies, coercion of freedom of conscience, and misuse of church funds.
Banning Pamella Starbird Beliveau as lector and Eucharistic minister for her conscientious exercise of her rights — as Catholic and citizen — was bullying and an abuse of power. (Not one bishop guilty of moving child abusers around banned himself from Mass roles.) It is intolerable.
William H. Slavick, Portland
devoutmainecatholic says
There is nothing quite so predictable as Catholic Church haters. Throughout the long history of the church, the attacks always follow the same pattern. Take half -truths, mix them up with a healthy dose of urban myths, impugn bad intention to every action, bake with vitriol, and serve to anyone who has a bone to pick with the Church's teachings - usually someone with a bad conscience.
This site is full of such people - "the pope is a former hitler youth who hates jews" "the church burned joan of arc" "the church protected pedophophiles" blah blah blah. All based on a misunderstanding of the what the Catholic Church is. All bunk. But anything will do if it justifies their opposition to the Catholic Church's teachings on sexuality and marriage!
The teachings of the Catholic Church on faith or morals has never changed and will never change. People are free to accept the Church's teachings or reject them. Those who knowingly and willfully reject them automatically excommunicate themselves. Is that such a surprise to anyone? To complain when public dissidents are removed from a position that no one has a right to is ridiculous. Faithful Catholics all over the state cheered when beliveau was removed. That needs to happen more. Such a person has no business receiving communion, much less assisting at the distribution of communion. To accuse the Church of acting in this regard out of a political concern is quite ridiculous. As are all the other charges leveled by this clearly ignorant and bitter, writer. Anyone who is privy to the effort the diocese has made over the years to placate the gay activists knows that all too well. It's just that with their assault on marriage, they finally pushed too far.