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Clergy Take Sides on Equal Marriage in Maineby Kilian MelloyMonday Nov 17, 2008 The Roman Catholic Bishop for the state of Maine responded to calls for marriage equality in that state by telling parishioners at mass that marriage is meant by God to exist only between one man and one woman.
Bishop Richard Malone also said that the purpose of marriage was procreation, according to a Nov. 17 article in the Sun Journal.
Malone’s comments were addressed to the state’s 200,000 Catholics, a number equal to about 15 percent of the Maine’s population, and disseminated in the form of a letter read during prayer services over the weekend.
According to the letter, once a man and a woman are wed, they "are then given the responsibility to procreate the human race, and to nurture, educate, and pass on shared values and mores to their offspring."
The letter, the article said, continued with, "To strip marriage of this essential component is to render marriage meaningless and open it up to endless revision and redefinition."
The article did not say whether the Bishop’s letter addressed the topic of heterosexual couples who marry despite knowing that, by choice, due to medical issues, or for other reasons, they would remain childless.
Other prominent religious figures in Maine had orchestrated press conferences in which the creation of a new faith-based coalition was announced.
The Religious Coalition for the Freedom to Marry in Maine comprises over 120 clergy and other leaders of the faith community, drawn from more than a dozen faith traditions, who have banded together to uphold the ideal of equality under the law for all families.
Malone rejected the call of those 120 leaders of faith, writing that, "Marriage, as we know it, has been preserved, rewarded, and recognized by the state in numerous ways because the state has long recognized the foundational nature of traditional marriage to the good of the nation and entire civilizations," the article reported.
The article quoted Msgr. Marc Caron, from Lewiston’s Prince of Peace Catholic Community, who explained that within the Catholic tradition, there has always been only one view of marriage: a sacred vow between two people of opposite genders.
"For us, marriage doesn’t belong to the state."
But Catholic leaders are not content to allow that view of marriage to remain within the faith. Caron added, "The state doesn’t have the authority to transform it any other way."
However, the Bishop’s letter--as Caron pointed out--offered gay and lesbian families some gestures of support, noting that the Catholic tradition has upheld certain domestic-partnership-type rights for same-sex families, "the interest," Malone’s letter read, "of preserving basic human rights for every person."
Wrote Malone, "Naturally, we will continue to speak out on issues which threaten the basic dignity and human rights of all individuals, regardless of their age, race, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation."
Continued the letter, "However, we can never do so at the cost of compromising those eternal, fundamental truths as handed on to us in our faith tradition as well as the natural law."
Religious leaders are not the only ones in Maine sizing up the possibilities for marriage equality in that state. As reported at ABC affiliate WMTW, Equality Maine was out in force at the polls, doing outreach with voters across the state.
According to Betsy Smith of Equality Maine, the group had spoken with and garnered information from more than 30,000 Maine voters, the story said.
Kilian Melloy reviews media, conducts interviews, and writes commentary for EDGEBoston, where he also serves as Assistant Arts Editor.
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