CAN's Letter to Archbishop Burke

A week or so ago, I was hopeful that someone would be able to get a copy of a letter to Archbishop Burke that was posted at St. Cronan's with a signature list. It was my understanding that this letter was composed by the 'Holy Families' group at St. Cronan's. It appears that it may have been a joint effort, but nevertheless, the letter has been posted on Catholic Action Network's web site.

This letter was composed by a member of our new working group, Holy Families, and sent to Archbishop Burke in late April.

An Open Letter to Archbishop Raymond Burke

GENUINE LOVE – VALUABLE FAMILIES

Most Reverend Archbishop,

In the summer of 2003, the Vatican issued a document called “Considerations Regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions Between Homosexual Persons” through the office of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. We are a small organization of homosexual and heterosexual Catholic men and women who, we believe, quietly represent the beliefs and frustrations of a much wider group of local Catholics and non-Catholics alike.

We have come to realize that committed same-sex unions are life-giving and loving, not “intrinsically disordered” nor “a serious depravity”. They should be recognized for the sacraments they are, not banned. While there is much other content in this document with which we intensely disagree, we cannot sit silently by and let pass the assertion put forth telling us and the world that allowing committed gay or lesbian couples to adopt children means doing violence to these children. With all due respect, we find this assertion to be totally unfounded in our experience, and completely unsupported by authoritative research. Our experience is that committed gay and lesbian parents are as capable and successful at parenting as their heterosexual counterparts. The Vatican “Considerations”, on the other hand, offers no documentation to the contrary.

Archbishop Burke, we urge you to get to know a few committed same-sex couples. Share meals with them. Get down onto the floor and play with their children. After this experience has convinced you of the presence of genuine love in these valuable families, we ask that you use all the weight of your office to convince your fellow Bishops, our Cardinals, and even our Pope, that there is no place in our Church for hatefulness and bigotry.

Yours in Christ,

As I understand it, there is no place in heaven for those who persist in denying God or His conditions for living according to His will. It is impossible to have supernatural life while continuing to live one's life in darkness and grave sin. We are called to Christian charity and chastity. Homosexuality is the egocentric practice of mutual masturbation.

Every sin against chastity, is a sin against charity.

The unnatural sins against chastity (masturbation, contraception, and homosexuality) are opposed to the divinely ordained nature of sexual intercourse, which is ordered to procreation. Homosexual activity is gravely sinful and has been explicitly condemned in Sacred Scripture. The deliberate practice of homosexuality is a mortal sin which deprives those who die in this state, estranged from God, of the beatific vision of God - heaven.

Those who refuse to bend their minds in the humble worship of God do not receive the grace to keep their passions under rational control. They will continue to see light as darkness and darkness as light.

Pray that their pastor may help them to see the joy of participating in the life of Christ by conforming their will to His will.

Link to the "Open Letter" is here.