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Maine bishop: Same-sex marriage a ‘dangerous experiment’

May 11, 2009

Bishop Richard Malone of Portland-- Maine’s sole diocese-- has denounced the legalization of same-sex marriage in the state.

http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=2880

       I am deeply disappointed in the Maine Legislature and the Governor for making same sex-marriage legal in our state. We believe that the vast majority of Maine’s people believe that marriage is the union of one man and one woman, and that calling same-sex relationships marriage doesn’t make them so. Marriage as we have known it for millennia has served as the cornerstone of society. The family, consisting of mother, father and children, has served throughout the ages as the natural place for the healthy development of children into well adjusted and productive citizens. Same-sex marriage is a dangerous sociological experiment that I believe will have negative consequences for society as a whole. Children will be taught in schools that same-sex marriage and traditional marriage are simply different expressions of the same thing, and that the logical and consistent understanding that marriage and reproduction are intrinsically linked is no longer valid. These are profound changes that will reverberate throughout society with tragic consequences."

4-16 US Catholic activists demand removal of "anti-Catholic" Obama adviserhttp://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=2911

      A coalition of American Catholic activists has asked President Barack Obama to remove Harry Knox from his post on the president's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, saying that public statements by Knox show him to be a "virulent anti-Catholic bigot." In a letter made public May 13, the Catholic activists cite numerous instances of "Knox's loathsome, and clearly bigoted rhetoric," and ask President Obama to "disassociate yourself from this militant anti-Catholicism." Knox, a gay-rights activists, has charged that Pope Benedict XVI is "hurting people in the name of Jesus," and the "Vatican is sending a message that violence and human-rights abuses" against homosexuals are justifiable; he said that Catholic teaching against same-sex marriage is "immoral and insulting to Jesus." . . .