Archbishop Urges Civility on Both Sides of the Aisle
San Francisco’s archbishop has appealed to Catholics on both sides of the same-sex marriage issue to be civil to each other.
“We need to stop talking as if we are experts on the real motives of people with whom we have never even spoken. We need to stop hurling names like ‘bigot’ and ‘pervert’ at each other. And we need to stop it now,” he said. 
In a December 1, 2008 open letter that was posted on the Archdiocese of San Francisco’s website, http://sfarchdiocese.org, Archbishop George H. Niederauer said: “Tolerance, respect and trust are always two-way streets, and tolerance, respect and trust often do not include agreement or even approval. We need to be able to disagree without being disagreeable.”
He called on “churchgoers” to “speak and act out on the truth that all people are God’s children and are unconditionally loved by God.”
“Whoever they are, and whatever their circumstances, their spiritual and pastoral rights should be respected, together with their membership in the church,” he wrote. “In that spirit, with God’s grace and much prayer, perhaps we can all move forward together.”
Do “intrinsic moral evil” and “objective disorder” qualify as uncivil, hurtful and mean-spirited terms good Catholics should take pains to avoid?
December 15th, 2008 at 4:31 am
Indeed. It is my firm conviction that this notorious pronouncement by the Vatican is itself ‘profoundly disordered’.
December 15th, 2008 at 6:29 pm
This smack’s of Rodney King’s “Can’t we all just get along?” appeal.
Justice first, then moving on. But justice first!