Vote Your Moral Conscience

Priests bring up the marriage amendment with varying approaches. Some are frighteningly heavy-handed, last spring, Father Izen of St. Raphael's gave me my first dose of this bitter brew. He threw oh-so-casually into his homily the "fact" the children must be raised by their biological parents,  that adoption means one or both biological parents doesn't love them enough to stick around. After Mass, I sat in the car for a good ten minutes sobbing ~ not a discrete little sniffle, we're talking full bawling with fluids pouring out of every facial orifice. Never, ever, was I made to feel like a second-class citizen until that sermon. And Father Izen, I sincerely hope that on your first day of purgatory you can feel the pain you caused adoptees & their families and gays & those who love them, during that sermon, because Jesus talked a lot about love, and he seemed pretty darned fond of children, and I cannot believe that he'd like hatred spewing from the altar in his name.

Today, Father Don (St. Hedwig Church's greatest asset) brought up the election. He doesn't do well with the mean approach. At the Prayers of the Faithful, he reminded us of the upcoming election and prayed that everyone would pray and, "Vote your moral conscience." What a beautiful way to put it. Isn't that what priests should tell their parishioners, "Vote your moral conscience"? I seem to recall my seventh grade religion teacher telling us we shouldn't follow anyone, even bishops, blindly, lest we be led astray by false prophets.

If you pray on the subject, and open your heart, and listen for God's answer, won't you vote properly? I've prayed and prayed. The answer that keeps coming is "Love one another." As a Catholic, chapter & versing doesn't come naturally, I had to actually look up the verse I wanted. It's Matthew 22:39, "Love your neighbor as yourself" That's a quote, from Jesus; he's kind of a bigshot with us. I love myself enough to marry the person I truly love. Jesus keeps whispering "love" in my ear. So, I have to vote "NO!" because that is clearly the more loving choice. I don't presume to know God's mind (unlike Mr Nienstedt). What I do know, is that if I'm wrong, and I could be, it will be a lot easier to face the Final Judgement having wrongly supported love than wrongly supported bigotry.

I think I should be able to marry whomever I chose (and I did, woo hoo!) without the state saying I picked the wrong gender of person. It's a slippery slope we're on. First, the big push to decide which gender one can marry, next they'll decide which race is appropriate. Pretty soon, the government will decide which religion your prospective spouse must be.

There is a great song that everyone pondering voting yes should listen to. The first time I heard it, I felt the Holy Spirit and it wasn't saying anything bad about homosexuals, it was agreeing with the song.  You'll have to follow the link because I couldn't embed it. For all the children.
God bless and vote your moral conscience.

An Open Letter to John Nienstedt

He's getting quite a few of these open letters lately, hope he appreciates the sentiment behind them. I am Catholic (as in, I drag my butt out of bed to attend Mass every week because Jesus is more important than sleep) and I have no problem with homosexuality. I find myself increasingly embarrassed by Archbishop Nienstedt and actually wondering when he'll start demanding that homosexuals wear pink triangles so good people can avoid them.

The truth is, the church has NO business in this matter. No one is trying to make any church perform what it considers inappropriate weddings. To sue the government over Obamacare then argue that her stance on secular marriage must be enforced by law makes a hypocrite of the Church. That makes me sad. So, Mr Nienstedt, I'd like to share a few quotes with you. All Biblical quotes are NIV.

This one is frequently used in marriage Masses, even though it is Ruth speaking to Naomi ~ but, oh no! Wouldn't that be the evil same-sex marriage? Ruth 1:16 ~ Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.

We all need to practice this more. No mention of only loving heteroes. John 13:34-35 ~ “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” 

Matthew 7:1 ~ "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. "

You say homosexual marriage is immoral and should be banned but, and this might be my favorite, it's from the then Bishop of New Ulm, John Clayton Nienstedt, "We cannot legislate morality."