Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the Archbishop emeritus of Washington, sat down in an interview with Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital with Al Hunt.” Here is an excerpt:
HUNT: The majority of Catholics according to polls now favor same-sex marriage. The bishops filed a brief this week opposing both the California and -- and any national same-sex marriage, supporting a ban on it. I guess my question to you is if two gays or two lesbians came to you for counsel, what would you tell them?
MCCARRICK: Well, I would tell them to try to be as good as they can, to try to be as -- as faithful as they can. They can be good friends. The difficulty is we believe that the sacrament of marriage is made for a man and a woman.
HUNT: Do you have any problems with civil unions?
MCCARRICK: Well, I prefer -- no. I have no problem if this is the situation that -- I certainly would prefer that to -- to a -- what I would call a marriage in quotes.
I get shocked by very little. Since, I have heard numerous horror stories from gay men about how they humbly went to a Catholic priest for advice - and was told to try and be monogamous. McCarrick, a prince of the Church, is saying much the same thing. Coming from a Cardinal, I am really astonished. He is eviscerating and vacillating – all at the same time. And then he digs the hole even deeper, by stating that he approves of civil unions. While I am never in the habit of criticizing those in the Church, I must speak out. What McCarrick is doing: he is essentially telling gays that it's OK to damn yourself to hell. He tells them to “try” and be good, instead of pressing for chastity; to be as “faithful” as they can, instead of appealing to orthodoxy. In essence, he sees gay men as weak and completely lust-driven, when he should be realizing the great call of suffering that God makes upon all those with same-sex desire. It's sad. I've heard about the “dumbing-down” of America; this is the dumbing-down of morality.