Commentary by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Here we go again. A same-sex couple in the Archdiocese of Louisville is accusing the Catholic Church of discriminating against them because they will not be permitted to erect a headstone in a Catholic cemetery that celebrates same-sex marriage.
WDRB is reporting on the latest inane attack on faith by gay activists who are upset about a decision made by the Church not to allow Greg Bourke and Michael De Leon to erect a headstone in a Catholic cemetery that blatantly celebrates same-sex marriage.
Bourke and De Leon, who were among the Kentucky couples whose case was part of the Supreme Court ruling that legalized gay marriage in the U.S., are both Catholic and purchased a joint burial plot in St. Michael Cemetery in Louisville.
But instead of just making these arrangements quietly and respectfully like everyone else, they have chosen to politicize the purchase by trying to erect a headstone that is more like a monument to same-sex marriage which is more appropriate to a public park rather than in a Catholic cemetery.
“At the top of the headstone is the name of the two homosexuals, Bourke and De Leon, and in between is an inscription of wedding rings,” describes Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League. “Below is an image of the Supreme Court. At the bottom is their first name and initial—one on each side—with their date of birth below; in the middle is a cross.”
Of course, the Archdiocese of Louisville refused to allow the monument in their cemetery.
“We can approve your shared stone with both your names and dates of birth and of course the religious symbol of the cross,” wrote Javier Fajardo, Executive Director of Catholic Cemeteries for the Archdiocese of Louisville. “However, we cannot approve the depiction of the Supreme Court building and the use of wedding rings.”
He goes on to explain the obvious: “Inscriptions on grave markers are permitted so long as they do not conflict with any teachings of the Church. Your proposal is not in keeping with this requirement.”
Rather than just accepting the fact that they live in a pluralistic society where not everyone will agree with them, they are planning to launch a “freedom to bury” press conference today in order to make the Church look bad for being what it is – a Christian institution that has the right to practice what it preaches.
“These men are not interested in tolerance—they want to impose their secular views on the Catholic Church,” Donohue correctly concludes.
“Hopefully, this contrived exercise in victimhood will open the eyes of those Americans who fail to distinguish between ordinary gays and militant gay activists. It is the latter, along with their heterosexual allies, who are seeking to sexually engineer our society—not even bathrooms and showers are off-limits—practicing intolerance in the name of ‘rights’.”
As he reminds, “the First Amendment ensures the free exercise of religion, and if that means anything, it means the right of religious institutions to determine their own strictures. That would include the right to deny those who seek to politicize Catholic graveyards.”
© All Rights Reserved, Living His Life Abundantly®/Women of Grace® http://www.womenofgrace.com
