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Published: November 24, 2009
“The pope, Catholic bishops, and Bishop Cordileone need to know”
‘Catholics for Marriage Equality’ stage protest outside Oakland cathedral
 A dissident group that calls itself ‘Catholics for Marriage Equality’ held a protest outside Oakland’s Cathedral of Christ the Light on Saturday, Nov. 7, the Bay Area Reporter reports.
At least two members of the group prayed the Rosary during the protest, said the Reporter in its Nov. 12 edition. The weekly describes itself as “San Francisco's oldest and largest local newspaper of record serving the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities.”
Students from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley and members of New Spirit Community Church joined Catholics for Marriage Equality in the small protest, the newspaper said. A photo accompanying the article showed about 10 people participating.
“The protest was held in the aftermath of the vote in Maine that overturned that state's marriage equality law,” said the Reporter. Eugene McMullan, identified in the story as a member of Catholics for Marriage Equality, told the newspaper that “the pope, Catholic bishops, and new Oakland Bishop Salvatore Cordileone need to know that their anti-gay activism harms families inside and outside the church.”
But while calling itself ‘Catholics for Marriage Equality,’ the group’s own website concedes it is not really ‘Catholic.’ In a question-and-answer section on the organization’s website, the question is posed: ”Isn’t the Catholic Church against Gay Marriage?”, with the response, “We do not represent a particular church. We are a group of Catholic individuals who share a common belief that legal marriage should not be denied based on sexual orientation.”
The group’s ‘Statement of Belief’ says, “The members of Catholics for Marriage Equality come from many different Catholic traditions, including Roman Catholic, Independent Catholic, Old Catholic, Episcopal, and Orthodox Catholic.”
The group is based in Sacramento, but conducts activities across California. When Bishop Cordileone visited Berkeley’s Jesuit School of Theology at the Graduate Theological Union on Sept. 22, approximately 20 protesters greeted him. The protesters were seminarians and faculty from the theological union’s schools. The bishop was there to commemorate the merging of the Jesuit school with Santa Clara University. The protesters were there to oppose Bishop Cordileone for his defense of natural marriage. ?
According to the QueerToday.com, protesters included Rev. Dr. Rebecca Parker, president of the Starr King (Unitarian Universalist) School of Ministry; Rev. Roland Stringfellow, the organizer of the GTU’s Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies; Rev. Sanna Reinholtzen, a Lutheran minister; and graduate student Eugene McMullan, apparently a Catholic. According to the Bay Area Reporter, McMullan founded ‘Catholics for Marriage Equality.’
Posted Tuesday, November 24, 2009 12:07 AM By Central Valley
“The pope, Catholic bishops, and Bishop Cordileone need to know”.......The sodomites and the heretics must be exposed to the Truth. Pray for Bp. Cordileone. He is a strong man but needs our prayers. Will the rest of the California bishops come to his aid?
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Posted Tuesday, November 24, 2009 12:08 AM By Charles O'Connell
They've got themselves so auto-brainwashed, they themselves don't know that their ultimate aim is to destroy marriage, family and all of society. This is the cost, ultimately, of contraception, which makes all who practice it, and the society that has been assimilated by it, honorary sodomites, in the words of Charles Rice.
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Posted Tuesday, November 24, 2009 12:20 AM By dan
Praying the rosary usually signifies fidellity to the Magesterium. One wonders if these who prayed the rosary were using it to increase their fidelity to the Magesterium in reparation for the rest who obviously care little for what the Church teaches, or else to pass themselves off as dedicated Catholics while at the same time rejecting the heart of her teaching. St. Paul had strong words for these types in II Timothy 3. Somewhere along the line they forgot their catechism, or cast is aside.
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Posted Tuesday, November 24, 2009 5:49 AM By truth
Sodomy corrupts everything it touches: the body, the emotions, politics, religion, the mind. Pray for those in the clutches of corruption.
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Posted Tuesday, November 24, 2009 6:08 AM By dee
So sad, I pray for these confused people. I only wish they would not misrepresent the Catholic Church or any other Church for that matter.
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Posted Tuesday, November 24, 2009 6:10 AM By San Jose Catholic
Based on the cover story of the Silicon Valley Metro they are probably parishioners of St. Julie Billiart in San Jose.
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Posted Tuesday, November 24, 2009 8:16 AM By Diane
This could well be an example of the type of people and groups that Sacramento Bishop Jaime Soto wants his parishioners to join with in his efforts to organize social and economic justice committees in his parishes. Groups like PICO infest social and economic justice type activities. Thanks to Bishop cordileone for resisting this temptation.
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Posted Tuesday, November 24, 2009 8:40 AM By Robert Lockwood
It is pretty obvious the real worry here is the faculty of the schools - still pumping out students indoctrinated with anti-Catholic teaching. This the same thing we get at St. Mary's college in Moraga where we have professors supporting abortion. Catholics can today no longer be passive in support of their faith, we need to be openly active or we soon will overwhelmed by this perverted thinking.
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Posted Tuesday, November 24, 2009 8:50 AM By Abeca Christian
Monsters in disguise. No trap here baby!
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Posted Tuesday, November 24, 2009 9:02 AM By Kathy
Ridiculous people.
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Posted Tuesday, November 24, 2009 9:34 AM By Willi H
All good Catholics from around the nation should contact his Excellency Bishop Cordileone and express their support of orthodoxy in the face of the coming homosexual political onslaught! These folks have an ally in the White House and will be emboldened. Stand up with the Bishop of Oakland!
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Posted Tuesday, November 24, 2009 10:28 AM By John F. Maguire
From within the horizon of the civil definition of marriage,
"marriage equalization" is a euphemism for a proposed gender-neutralization of that definition.
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Posted Tuesday, November 24, 2009 2:48 PM By Life Lady
Please everyone, remember that these people suffer, terribly, with a crippling disorder of same-sex attraction. They are acting out that disorder by doing things as described in the article. I have heard the good bishop Cordeleone speak, and he is ever striving to uphold the dignity of the person. He is a man of great compassion, so, whatever we all do in response, we must recall his example of compassion, and respond from that place, and not from any anger or resentment we may initially have for them in their confused state of mind. We must pray and fast, in order to drive out their personal demons, and continue to pray for these poor unfortunate persons.
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Posted Tuesday, November 24, 2009 2:50 PM By Bruce
God's Truth rings loud and clear in the most accurate Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Romans (Roman Catholic Douay-Rheims Bible) Chapter 1: "24 Wherefore, God gave them up to the desires of their heart, unto uncleanness: to dishonour their own bodies among themselves. 25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. 26 For this cause, God delivered them up to shameful affections. For their women have changed the natural use into that use which is against nature. 27 And, in like manner, the men also leaving the natual use of the women, have burned in their lusts, one towards another: men with men, working that which is filthy and receiving in themselves the recompense which was due to their error. 28 And as they liked not to have God in their knowledge, God delivered them up to a reprobate sense, to do those things which are not convenient. 29 Being filled with all iniquity, malice, fornication, avarice, wickedness: full of envy, murder, contention, deceit, malignity: whisperers. 30 Detractors, hateful to God, contumelious, proud, haughty, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents. 31 Foolish, dissolute: without affection, without fidelity, without mercy. 32 Who, having known the justice of God, did not understand that they who do such things, are worthy of death: and not only they that do them, but they also that consent to them that do them." St. Paul wrote this Epistle at Corinth, when he was preparing to go to Jerusalem . . . Which was about 24 years after our Lord's Ascension. The devil has a strong grip, though those holding steadfast to homosexuality may continue to refute this Catholic Truth, let's pray the homosexual sympathizers awaken to their plight and turn to following Our Lord's message. Pray the rosary daily and humbly for the conversion of souls. Earth is but a short while, Heaven or Hell is forever.
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Posted Tuesday, November 24, 2009 6:43 PM By RR
Bruce: Amen.
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Posted Tuesday, November 24, 2009 6:43 PM By 1abqdad
The "Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley" is NOT a Catholic institution! (Just another pseudo/formerly Catholic University!) In fact, it is the prefect example of ALL that is WRONG with Catholic education in the US!!! (And the lack of guts on the part of the leadership in the US and at the Vatican!) God is definitive about moral issues! God says "White", and they say "black"...and the Vatican accepts gray! WRONG! These ignorant students have given into the phony, "justification" theology of their heretic professors that formed the basis for Luther's heresy/blasphemy! (The same academic arrogance!) They are liberal humanists, NOT Catholics! As per the decrees regarding the Vatican's authority over ALL "Catholic" educational institutions, the Vatican is charged to disassociate the church with ALL heretic schools; like this one! They do NOT reflect Catholic values/morals, doctrine, or dogma. Yes, they are free to believe as they chose, and the church is free to expose their heresy and disassociate from them...AS THEY MUST TO PROTECT THE CREDIBILITY OF THE CHURCH IN THE USA!
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Posted Tuesday, November 24, 2009 8:15 PM By Patrtick
The gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction
and those who enter it are many. (Mat. 7:13). As for those who
persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear. {Tim. 5:20)
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Posted Tuesday, November 24, 2009 10:14 PM By Ken Spreitzer
Bruce, you omitted the verse immediately before that, which gives the scenario of the people being described: Romans 1:23: "And they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of the image of a corruptible man, and of birds, and of fourfooted beasts, and of creeping things." The fact is I was raised with a traditional Catholic upbringing. I never worshipped a man, a bird, a four-footed beast, or a creeping thing. And yet I turned out gay. Romans 1 is not relevant to my homosexuality. Please don't condemn me by it.
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Posted Tuesday, November 24, 2009 10:43 PM By Jeff
It would be better said that, “the protestors of Bishop Salvatore Cordileone need to know that their anti-traditional marriage activism harms families inside and outside the church.”
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Posted Wednesday, November 25, 2009 9:30 AM By JLS
Ken S., you're disagreeing with Holy Scripture, with the Apostles to the gentiles, with the Magisterium, with God, with common sense, and with science. You choose to live gayly. You said you did not worship idols, but you did not say that you worshiped God. Perhaps you do not see that the descriptions of these idols are categories, and many subtle forms exist. We today live in an extremely idol worshiping society. If you worshiped God, then you would not be gay; you might be afflicted with same sex attraction, but if you worship God, then you will not act sinfully, either by actions or by thoughts or words or images. Some people are born without limbs ... but we identify them as people and not as something else. Why do you sodomites have to identify yourselves by your disorder instead of as who you are?
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Posted Friday, November 27, 2009 10:58 AM By Mark from PA
I feel bad for these people. Perhaps it would be better for them to just stay out of the bishop's way. He has made clear the disdain that he has for gay people. By doing this they probably just make him dislike them all the more so it is may be counterproductive.
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Posted Saturday, November 28, 2009 7:45 AM By MarkF
Now JLS, words like "sodomite" and "disorder" are not called for here. They guy was wrong, way wrong, but using those words is not going to help him much. In fact it's going to hurt him more likely. Yeah I know that the Bible uses the word sodomite and the Church calls SSA disordered in pastoral documents but come on, using them is just going to add fuel to the fire. But I do think that sins of the flesh can be a form of idolatry. They can also be a mere slip up, but sure, long term commitment to anything outside of God is idolatry. What's so odd is that many secular people take this verse to mean that St. Paul only condemned temple prostitution when in fact he's making a much wider point as usual.
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Posted Saturday, November 28, 2009 8:17 AM By Grisha
.Mark PA: Actually, I think the Bishops like Bishop Cordileone need to spend more time dialoging with their flock. NOT just the conservative traditionalists who agree with them. When a man follows that kind of a career path, his a world becomes that chancellery, budgets, Rome etc. and further away from the parish and parishioners issues. These are exactly the type of people Bishop Cordileone should invite in for coffee.
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Posted Saturday, November 28, 2009 9:51 AM By JLS
MarkF, from the excellent points you're clarifying, what is becoming an issue is the nature of what a post addresses. Does a post address an individual, or does it address a group, or does it deal primarily with an idea? My posts are biased more towards defending doctrine than in aiding individual bloggers. I can view a blog as either intentional or unintentional confusion or error. The motives of bloggers are not always clear. Are they, in some cases, pretending ignorance while attempting to deceive? Or are they ignorant and seeking truth? It seems to me that a seeker is willing to take blows on the nose if the blows are truthful and leading somewhere good. All the hard blows of truth that hit me when I was confused and wallowing in sin never set me back, but always gave me a little bit of light to see a better path to take. I do not know why it would be otherwise, although perhaps it is for many. I found it easy to avoid the small quiet voice of God, but then ran into the loud jarring inescapable voice of God. It was the latter which enabled me to revisit the former; however, looking back now perhaps it was the former which prepared me to accept the latter. So, MarkF, as you can see, perhaps it is not mine to introduce people to truth. Maybe I'll give it the silent treatment for a while and see what happens.
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Posted Saturday, November 28, 2009 9:55 AM By JLS
Grisha, the problem with your recommendation that Bishop Cordileone invite dissidents and hostiles into his parlor is like bringing a trojan horse into the living room. Jesus did not bring unfaithful people into His house, nor does He now. But instead, Jesus visited them in their houses.
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Posted Saturday, November 28, 2009 10:19 AM By Anne T.
Ken, fornication and sodomy of any kind is idolotry. It is the making of an idol of Venus, Jupiter, Zeus, Bast, Baal, Isis, Astoroth, Astarte and other gods and goddesses who do and approve such things even though the person does not or refuses to realize it. That is one reason why so many people who do such things. habitually and unrepentantly, end up in the "New Age" and pagan movements.They know the true God does not approve such things, so they refuse to repent and change and eventually end up worshipping other gods and goddesses. That is why such cults are flourishing now. Colossians 3: 5-6 says: "Put to death whatever in your nature is rooted in earth; fornication (heterosexual or homosexual), uncleanness, passion, evil desires, and that lust which is idolatry. These are the sins which provoke God's wrath." Nothing could be clearer.
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Posted Saturday, November 28, 2009 11:37 AM By Mark from PA
Grisha, I don't think Bishop Cordileone is interested in what people like this have to say. When a person attains a certain position they expect to be treated with deference. I wonder if his position is to just ignore them and hope that they go away.
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Posted Saturday, November 28, 2009 1:48 PM By Ken Spreitzer
Hi, Anne. I don't see how "fornication" is "idolotry." It seems like we are using different definitions of the word. I think of an idol as something that someone feels is actually a god (eg, Bast, Baal, Isis, etc), but you (and many others) seem to use it to mean anything that someone places too much emphasis upon (eg, money). I certainly understand the argument that fornication is a sin, but I think it can be a sin without it also needing to be an idol. I mean, that doesn't even make sense. I don't think that "fornication" is an actual god, that created the universe, will judge us, etc. (For what it's worth, I also don't know anyone -- straight or gay -- in a cult worshipping a different god; instead, I think more people -- straight and gay -- are becoming athiest.) I guess I'm not making much of a point here, just kind of commenting on the use of the word "idol." Thanks.
(BTW I also had an earlier reply to JLS but it wasn't posted, although I'm not sure why.)
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Posted Saturday, November 28, 2009 2:03 PM By Anne T.
And Ken, the Bible is not talking about the orientation or temptation to sin, but engaging in the acts themselves. That is what people are discussing here most of the time -- the acts, not the temptations. We ALL have temptations to do wrong, every single day of our lives and no matter how old we are.
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Posted Sunday, November 29, 2009 1:44 PM By MarkF
Grisha, I like your idea about dialog with dissidents such as these. The spirit is probably working on them and through them but in ways that are not completed yet. In other words, just like the rest of us. I think that Pope Benedict is asking us to do the same too. He is asking is to speak the truth though, and I don't know how well that will go over with a group like this. There is also the problem that by meeting with a group like this, it makes it seem like approval. I do sometimes wonder what exactly our bishop does. I don't see or hear of him trying to evangelize much. Maybe I just don't know what he does.
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Posted Sunday, November 29, 2009 2:53 PM By Grisha
Too bad: I've had a chance to have conversations with Bishop John Quinn, Bishop Frank Quinn (Who introduced himself as "The other Bishop Quinn") Bishops John Cummins, John Wester and Bill Justice. All of them came across like regular guys, no different that a regular pastor.
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Posted Sunday, November 29, 2009 10:53 PM By JLS
Ken S, you can always re-post your blog. Sometimes there are more submissions than people to screen them. As for the question about adultry and idolatry, the answer is found by reading what Scripture says about it. The Prophets discuss it at length, but it takes a while to read it. These things are not one liners; God raised the Torah and Prophets people for well over a millenium, and what He means can be found with study. The sins that offend God most are idolatry and adultry. One good story on this is that of David and Bathsheba, which involves coveting, adultry, murder and why? Because David chose to ignore God ... an act of idolatry, placing himself first instead of God.
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Posted Monday, November 30, 2009 6:14 PM By AvoicefromtheDesert
Ken Spreitzer, You are attempting to deceive and dissuade the innocent ones by your twisting of the truth. St Paul spelled it out loud and clear. In fact one can place verse 23 after verse 24 only to show examples of the corruption of many gays and lesbians blaspheming against Almighty God by their definace and deception. Bruce is not condemning you Ken. You are condemning yourself! I will pray for you and other gays and lesbians out of charity, not hatred, to see God's Light and turn away from the devil's firm grasp around your soul. My prayers won't be enough, you must take the initiative as well to confront your sin, turn against it, seek a holy priest, go to confession, confess your sins with a sorrowful and contrite heart, serve the penance the priest assigns, and then go and sin no more just as Christ has directed all of us sinners. Hate the sin, but love the sinner. Pray many rosaries fervently and daily for Blessed Mother's assistance. She will not turn away anyone whom seeks her intercession.
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