Zack Ford of ThinkProgress characterizes a Valentine’s Day message by Bishop Thomas Paprocki as such:
The Illinois Senate is planning to approve marriage equality legislation Thursday, and the Catholic Church continues to rail against the effort. In the latest bishop-penned screed in advance of the Valentine’s Day vote, Springfield Bishop Thomas John Paprocki turned his sights on the majority of Catholics who support marriage equality in spite of the Church hierarchy’s dictates, in the name of “love”
Of course a simple Valentine’s Day message is characterized as a “bishop-penned screed” that’s “railing against the effort” of “equality”. Who’s coming to the table with bias again?
Here’s the text of the “bishop-penned screed”:
This Valentine’s Day we would also do well to focus on a more authentic understanding of the word “love.”. Love never encourages sin or leads a person further into sin, but seeks instead to help others live a holy life. As St. Valentine demonstrated, love seeks to lead us further away from sin and closer to the truth.
The Church hopes all civil servants will serve the common good and avoid acting contrary to that common good, especially in regard to basic institutions that, like marriage, are fundamental to the well-being of the whole society and her members. In a special way, the Church expects this of Catholics who have been called to the dignity and responsibility of public service. Catholics who propose or promote the legal establishment of marriage as something other than the union of one man and one woman harm the common good of society, as known by reason, and set themselves against the settled teaching of the Church.
The Catholic Church has great love and compassion for those who experience same-sex attraction and offers pastoral help for people dealing with this condition to help them live a life of chastity. This is a separate issue, however, from the definition of marriage as a natural institution between a man and a woman committed to an exclusive and life-long relationship open to the potential to bring new life into the world.
Somehow, this kindly message about love, compassion, the common good, and Catholic teachings is interpreted by Ford as thus:
Catholics who support their LGBT friends and family are destroying society, and gay people have a “condition” that can be addressed by living a life of chastity. In other words, Catholics aren’t allowed to love gays and gays aren’t allowed to even experience love. Perhaps it’s not surprising that a man committed to a life of celibacy defines a “more authentic understanding” of love as no love at all.
Bishop Paprocki never said that Catholics “aren’t allowed to love gays” or that “gays aren’t allowed to even experience love”. In fact, he said the exact opposite.
Second, mocking the good bishop for his commitment to celibacy believing in “love as no love at all” is pretty low. This is a simple conflation of love and sex, which are two entirely different emotions that Ford seems blissfully unaware of.
You can probably guess by reading the title of the article about where things are gonna go: “Illinois Bishop: Catholics Who Support Equality ‘Harm The Common Good Of Society’”. It could be more accurately written as, “Illinois Bishop: Catholics Who Support Gay Marriage Go Against Church Teaching” or “Illinois Bishop: Catholics Should Show Love and Compassion to Homosexuals” or even “Illinois Bishop: Marriage Fundamental to the Well Being of Society”.
But when you have an anti-Catholic agenda like Zack Ford’s to push, you tend to twist words as he’s done above.
