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| Bishop Salvatore Cordileone |
Bishop Cordileone has been instrumental in the drawing of Proposition 8, which outlawed same-sex marriage (SSM) in California, a fact not lost on defenders of SSM, whose reactions range from consternation to outright anger and even hatred by supposedly Christian ministers. You may sample the reaction here.
According to the San Francisco Examiner,
Asked at a Friday news conference about his support for Proposition 8 in 2008, Cordileone stressed that the church remains open to LGBT individuals.
“We need to learn, continue to learn, how to be welcoming — let them know that we love them and we want to help them, and that our stand for marriage is not against anyone, but it’s because we believe this is foundational for the good of our society,” Cordileone said.As Archbishop of San Francisco, Bishop Cordileone will continue with his duty to proclaim by word and example to a mostly unreceptive audience the teaching of the Catholic Church regarding chastity and homosexuality, as explained in the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
2357 Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity,140 tradition has always declared that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered."141 They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.
2358 The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. They do not choose their homosexual condition; for most of them it is a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God's will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.
The world, the devil, and the flesh reject this simple message, calling "bigots" and "haters" those who uphold it. Therefore, let us pray for the success of Archbishop Cordileone's new mission in the Church, as well as for his physical and spiritual protection.2359 Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.