Dear Cardinal George,
My family and I will not be attending Mass this weekend, and our kids will not be attending Religious Ed. I realize that a) you're probably not reading this and b) that our attendance can be rather spotty. But this time, I'm not attending because of you.
Your letter to Catholics that you declared MUST be published in all parish bulletins in the Archdiocese of Chicago has way over stepped your bounds. You, Cardinal George, do not get to tell me how to vote. You, Cardinal George, do not get to dictate which citizens in the state of Illinois enjoy the civil benefits and responsibilities of marriage. You get to refuse people the sacrament of marriage, but not the civil right to it. Kindly respect the separation of Church and State.
I will not allow you to tell me that my dearest friend, who has had and held, in sickness and health, for richer or poorer, and cherished, forsaking all others the amazing partner that God sent him, does not have a "natural" love.
I will not allow you to tell my son that his friends, the most darling 7 year old twin girls, do not have a "natural" family because they have two loving moms.
I will not allow you to tell any of my friends who are still seeking their match that if God sends them someone of the same gender, it is not a "natural" love.
I will not allow a man, who has chosen a life without adult, romantic love and companionship, to define a marriage only as consummated by vaginal intercourse.
I will not allow you to place more legitimacy on Kim Kardashian's 72 hour sham marriage than any gay couple who have been patiently waiting for a lifetime for their relationship to be recognized.
I will not allow you, Cardinal George, to define God as one who denies anyone the great love that He sends them. Your statements fly in the face of every teaching I have ever received from my Catholic education; that God is good, and loving and that His plan for us is a mystery and the love and people he sends us are the gifts that we are to receive graciously. That God does not exclude or deny us good things.
Should the citizens of Illinois vote to recognize committed, loving homosexual relationships as the marriages they are, there is no statute requiring a religious organization to perform the marriage ceremony or recognize it as the sacrament of marriage. It would simply confer the same rights I enjoy as a married person (tax benefits, inheritance privileges, recognizing a legal relationship) and responsibilities (alimony and child support in cases of divorce). These laws are outside of your jurisdiction, Cardinal.
So my family will not be joining you this Sunday at Mass. We will, however, keep you in our prayers that you realize the error of your statement. We will pray that God sends you some sign that God has made us all different in His infinite Wisdom and that God, not a priest, bishop, cardinal or pope, creates a marriage.
"For whenever two or more of you are gathered in My Name, there is love"-- The Wedding Song (There is Love), Paul Stookey
Equal treatment of "all persons" under the law is also a promise of our founding doucments as well as a requirement of our constitution. There is no valid legal justification for refusing to treat others as you would yourself under the law.
The difference with pre-marital sex is, they have a choice not allowed for gay people. They can get married, while equal treatment for gay people is denied. The only choice they allow for gay people is to live a life of denial of their humanity, including denial of what for many is the most important relationship a person can have with another human. This refusal to treat others as you would yourself under the law, says gay people are not worthy of equal treatment. This is stigmatizing and dehumanizing. It results in harm in a wide variety of ways, including needless suffering and death.
“Gay marriage would be a victory for the worthy ideas of tolerance and inclusion. It would likely decrease the number of those in society who tend to be viewed warily as ‘other’ and increase the number who are accepted as part of ‘us.’ In that respect, gay marriage would be a victory for, and another key expansion of, the American idea.” (Conservative, anti-marriage equality director of the Institute for American Values, David Blankenhorn, testimony in support of Prop 8.)
Like you I went through 18+ years of Catholic schooling. My education includes Phds in Physics and Biomedical Engineering. Currently I am working on my law degree and hope to one day serve our country and our society as a Federal Judge. After reading your your post, I re-read Jennifer's letter and do not understand how you came to the conclusion that she did not disrespect the Cardinal. Her language is clearly condescending and aggressive in nature.
As someone who hopes to be a judge, would you use your religious beliefs to deny equal treatment as promised in our founding documents and required by the constitution, or would you uphold the spirit of equal treatment for "all persons" as required by the 5th and 14th amendments of the constitution?
The only excuse for prejudice and discrimination remains in a few questionable religious texts, which have been misinterpreted and mistranslated over time, and which are contradicted by other verses including the most important one according to Jesus, namely that you love God and love others the same. Accepting alternate interpretations of those few verses that seem to condemn same sex love does not require abandoning your religious beliefs, only expanding them to include the idea that God created all things, including gay people, and He wants you to love them as you love Him, not judge and harm them.