Catholic Governors Scold Church on Gay Marriage Position in D.C.

by Michael Jones · 2009-11-25 03:00:00 UTC
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CatholicTwo Catholic governors are talking same-sex marriage and Catholicism, and calling out the Catholic Church for threatening to suspend or eliminate social service programs for the poor in Washington, D.C. if the District's City Council moves to recognize marriage equality for gays and lesbians.

The governors -- Maryland's Gov. Martin O'Malley and Virginia's outgoing Gov. Tim Kaine -- said on WTOP radio that the Church's nuclear threat, which would end social services to upwards of 68,000 needy residents in D.C., is not in line with the theological history of the Church.

"It's really not who the church has been. If you look at the church through history, the church will stand in tough situations and continue to do good," said Gov. Kaine, who himself served as a Catholic missionary in Honduras several decades ago. "I would be very, very disappointed here or anywhere else if the Catholic Church decides 'Gosh, we don't like something that's happening in civil society, so we're going to retreat into our shell.'"

Kudos to Tim Kaine for calling out the Catholic Church's D.C. threat for what it is: playground politics that does a disservice to the social justice tents of the faith.

For his part, Gov. O'Malley was equally as disappointed in church leadership for threatening to kill social services simply to oppose gay marriage.

"I have a hard time believing that the nuns and priests who taught me about the Corporal Works of Mercy would agree that this is an appropriate response for the church," said Gov. O'Malley.

Damn! Now that's a progressive Catholic response. O'Malley's right -- it's hard to believe that after reading the Sermon on the Mount or the history of Catholic Social Teaching, one would all of a sudden decide to make banning gay marriage their life's work.

The Catholic Church has every right to oppose same-sex marriage, if that's what its leadership decides it wants to do. But it's shallow and morbid for them to threaten to pull the rug out from underneath the poor just to make their point. That's practically blackmail.

And that's why the Church is getting a "Grow the hell up" message from two leading Catholic governors.

(Photo courtesy of ahisgett's photostream on Flickr.)

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
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