Here's the opening paragraph (emphasis mine):
The most valuable demographic to the marketing mavens of Madison Avenue is the 18-35 group of Gen. X-ers and Millennials. Now, the leadership of the church is targeting these generations with a marketing blitz to win them to the cause of discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people.Now there's an opening to lay the foundation for common ground and conversation.
Except such folks don't want conversation. They want to treat folks who disagree with them in the exact same fashion they have been treated - with shame, scorn and bigotry. Not so "pro-love".
They seek to trade sin for sin - because let's face it, there have been Catholics and Christians who have been and are prejudiced and bigoted against homosexuals. Since, like, as long as there have been Catholics (and plenty of non-Catholics have been and continue to be discriminatory against homosexuals, too). I'm not making any excuses for anyone's sins against their fellow man, gay or straight. Since we belong to the mystical body of Christ, since we are all members of one Body, one person's sin afflicts the entire body. That's a metaphysical theological truth. And another truth, one that has been taught since the beginning, is that homosexual acts are immoral, and depending on the individual's disposition, they are mortal sins. The Church, in upholding that teaching, is not being discriminatory or prejudiced. It is an act of love to teach the truth - not an act of bigotry. The Church is acting like a loving parent, maintaining safe boundaries for all Her wayward children.
And, of course, not everyone sees it that way. There are plenty who see the boundaries as unfair and unjust.
The pro-gay crowd believes they are seeking justice, but given the rhetoric on display from coast to coast, and in articles such as this, what they really seek is reparation. It would not surprise me if some privately agree with the SLPC's recent list of anti-gay groups, and want to have them identified as 'hate groups'. It would not surprise me if the more militant members among them desire an eye for an eye - maybe even two eyes, an ear and a few fingers for an eye. Again - not so "pro-love".
So they enlist focus groups and polls in order to make their case, and they use the data to (hopefully) wear down the bishops and win support for their cause. They might win support, but as for the Church changing Her teaching? Not gonna happen. Marriage will be taught as one man + one woman, and homosexual acts will still be intrinsically evil. That's just the way it will be.
When faith is reduced to politics and marketing, you end up with ideology and preferences. You end up with consensus. But you rarely, if ever, end up with Truth. And you ultimately end up with zero faith.
Such folks are unwilling to rise out of the muck and mire of sin - rather, they want everyone else down there with them. But Christ came to save us from our sin, not tell us it was okay to wallow there in misery. And that's the ironic thing - even if they get their way on the issue of so-called gay marriage, they'll still be in misery.
And so will everyone else.
