UK Minister: churches should ‘keep up’ with same-sex marriage.

Justine Greening, Equalities Minister and Education Secretary, has explicitly articulated the social engineering project being pushed out in the UK at the moment.

In an interview with Sky News' Sophie Ridge, Greening said that major faiths should follow public opinion on the subject of same-sex "marriage".

Greening, who "came out" herself last year, gave a surprisingly aggressive interview with Sky News' Sophie Ridge which demonstrated just how far the government are willing to go to push this agenda in society.

"Should churches allow same-sex couples to marry inside them?" - @JustineGreening answers @SophyRidgeSky #Ridge pic.twitter.com/ECmzTPVj3U

— SophyRidge On Sunday (@RidgeOnSunday) July 23, 2017

“It is important that the church, in a way, keeps up and is part of a modern country,”

she said.

It seems to me that this attack takes place in a vacuum of teaching from the "major faiths" as to why they should not keep up with this direction. In fact, it seems the Catholic Church is signalling that it agrees with Greening, as demonstrated by the recent CES scandal and now we have a new document from the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales: "Learning to Love - An Introduction to Catholic Relationship and Sex Education (RSE) For Catholic Educators". This document states:

"This exalted form of love exists just as powerfully in relationships between people of the same sex as it does in heterosexual relationships". 

This is directly contrary to the teaching of the Church. Homosexuality cannot be equated to heterosexual relationships. The Church has consistently taught this. So is Catholic teaching being completely abandoned now? Can I ask why? Does anyone care?

A really generous reading of the CBEW document could be that the author(s) don't equate homosexual and heterosexual relationships per se, but are instead suggesting that there is a "type" (?) of love that is common to the two: Appreciative Love.

But is the idea of separating love into four different types in this way, or the idea that "Appreciative Love" is something that can be recognised by itself convincing? (I'm not convinced)... but this is a separate question.

If one proposes a "type" of love that is somehow totally cut off from physical reality or expression, and yet still validly "love", then one is proposing something that could exist in any relationship, between *any* people, right? The Bishops seem to admit this as well (although they do choose to highlight homosexual relationships, which is definitely problematic).

Although I am concerned of falling into the same trap as some other Christian groups who have allowed the word "homosexual" to become an emotive trigger-word, and end up ostracising our SSA-struggling brothers and sisters who might be trying to live a chaste life (cf. CCC 2358) surely if we have the chance to understand their position a bit better (beyond repeating CCC 2357 ad infinitum), perhaps we can be of greater assistance to them? Could the Bishops be aiming for this? (Perhaps unsuccessfully?). Ultimately their document causes more confusion (in my opinion) than shedding much light on the issue, even if we can except it may be well intentioned.

In The Catholic Herald report, the only two voices who are speaking out about Justine Greening among our Bishops are - yup, you've guessed it +Egan and +Davies.

This is exactly the sort of issue where bishops need to speak out clearly and teach the people, fill the void. Instead they offer confusion through silence or piece-meal responses.

Most people are more informed by the modern secular culture than by Church teaching and have no idea why the Church seems to be "against homosexuals". In reality, the Church is not against homosexuals, but it is against all acts that violate the natural law such as fornication, adultery, abortion and homosexual acts. All these things close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. The Church, based on divine revelation from Scripture and Tradition teaches that in "no circumstances can they be approved” (CCC 2357).

In a society that has broadly accepted contraception as normative and reasonable, it is no wonder the Church struggles to communicate the importance of responsibility and openness to life as part of our sexuality.

The Vatican warns of the dangers of giving an overly benign interpretation to Church teaching on homosexuality which emphasises that living out of this orientation in homosexual activity is not a morally acceptable option.

How are our bishops teaching this in England and Wales today?

The CDF clearly condemns the direction the CBEW are taking in "Learning to Love - An Introduction to Catholic Relationship and Sex Education (RSE) For Catholic Educators".

There is an effort in some countries to manipulate the Church by gaining the often well-intentioned support of her pastors with a view to changing civil-statutes and laws. This is done in order to conform to these pressure groups' concept that homosexuality is at least a completely harmless, if not an entirely good, thing. Even when the practice of homosexuality may seriously threaten the lives and well-being of a large number of people, its advocates remain undeterred and refuse to consider the magnitude of the risks involved.

The Church can never be so callous. It is true that her clear position cannot be revised by pressure from civil legislation or the trend of the moment. But she is really concerned about the many who are not represented by the pro-homosexual movement and about those who may have been tempted to believe its deceitful propaganda. She is also aware that the view that homosexual activity is equivalent to, or as acceptable as, the sexual expression of conjugal love has a direct impact on society's understanding of the nature and rights of the family and puts them in jeopardy.

Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons, No.9

What do we do when our bishops stop reflecting the authentic teaching of the Church?

All we can do is to stop supporting them, stop supporting the direction they are travelling in, stop supporting their failing initiatives that fail to properly catechise the faithful, stop giving them money to mislead and confuse, abandon the liars and false prophets and support those who teach the truth.

The question that desperately needs addressing is how can Catholics sensitively give witness on this issue in a way which engages (and thus evangelises), rather than just rejects, modern secular culture? Answers on a postcard please, to:

Catholic Bishops of England and Wales
39 Eccleston Square, 

Pimlico, 

London SW1V 1BX