Cardinal Keith O'Brien Calls Scotland to Defend the Truth about Marriage

By Deacon Keith Fournier
8/29/2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

Get ready. Pray. Prepare. Persevere. The battle is engaged. Our Cardinals and Bishops are our teachers. We are the ones enlisted on the front lines of this historic struggle for the very future of the West. This is our hour.

Do not misunderstand the teaching of the Catholic Church concerning the true nature of marriage and the family and society founded upon it. This is objective truth, revealed in the Natural Law and thus knowable and binding on all men and women in every Nation. We must resist the lies and the lure of those who seek to keep us behind our Church doors in our defense of this truth. Yes, the Church, through Scripture and Tradition, opens up the depth of this truth concerning the nature and ends of marriage for those who believe. However, the objective nature of marriage is not simply a matter of our "religious position" as Christians.

Courageous Cardinal Keith O'Brien of Scotland

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GLASKOW, Scotland, UK (Catholic Online) - Keith Patrick Cardinal O'Brien is one of many heroic Catholic Bishops who have taken their place on the front line of the battle of our age to defend true marriage and the family and society founded upon it. When the history is written of this monumental struggle for the soul of western civilization, he will be included in the ranks of a growing number of courageous Catholic Church leaders who took their stand and would not be moved.

Make no mistake, this is a battle. St. Paul reminded the early Christians in Ephesus, "our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens. Therefore, put on the armor of God - that you may be able to resist on the evil day and, having done everything, to hold your ground." (Eph. 6:12, 13)

We are facing an intense spiritual war against the very idea of the existence of objective truths in a contemporary age which has been besieged by the false propaganda of what Pope Benedict XVI properly called a "Dictatorship of Relativism." Relativism is an ideology which maintains the there are no truths upon which to ground and inform daily life. That "your truth" is equal to "my truth" - in short, there is not truth. We serve Jesus Christ, the One who proclaims to the world waiting to be born, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life". (John 14:6)

We who are baptized into Christ now live our lives as members of His Body, which St. Paul reminded his disciple Timothy, is "the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of truth." The truths which this Church proclaims and defends in the social order, such as the truth about marriage and the family and society founded upon it, are revealed in the Natural Law. They are the very foundation for every truly human and just social order. They are not simply "religious matters" to be kept to oursleves, locked up, figuratively or literally, behind our Church doors.

To be able to stand and fight in this battle, It will also help to remember these words which the Apostle addressed to the Christians in Ephesus, "stand fast with your loins girded in truth, clothed with righteousness as a breastplate, and your feet shod in readiness for the gospel of peace. In all circumstances, hold faith as a shield, to quench all [the] flaming arrows of the evil one.And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. With all prayer and supplication, pray at every opportunity in the Spirit".(Eph 6: 14-19a)

In a March 3, 2012 editorial opinion in the secular newspaper the London Telegraph entitled "We cannot afford to indulge this madness", Cardinal O'Brien spoke boldly to the broader society of the United kingdom concerning the effort to - by secular fiat- compel a moral and legal equivalency be given between homosexual partnerships and truth marriage:

"The Government is this month launching a consultation on same-sex marriage, asking the public whether it should be introduced in England and Wales. I hope many respond and consider signing the petition in support of traditional marriage organised by a new organization, the Coalition for Marriage. On the surface, the question of same-sex marriage may seem to be an innocuous one. Civil partnerships have been in place for several years now, allowing same-sex couples to register their relationship and enjoy a variety of legal protections.

"When these arrangements were introduced, supporters were at pains to point out that they didn't want marriage, accepting that marriage had only ever meant the legal union of a man and a woman. Those of us, who were not in favor of civil partnership, believing that such relationships are harmful to the physical, mental and spiritual wellbeing of those involved, warned that in time marriage would be demanded too. We were accused of scaremongering then, yet exactly such demands are upon us now.

"Since all the legal rights of marriage are already available to homosexual couples, it is clear that this proposal is not about rights, but rather is an attempt to redefine marriage for the whole of society at the behest of a small minority of activists. Redefining marriage will have huge implications for what is taught in our schools, and for wider society. It will redefine society since the institution of marriage is one of the fundamental building blocks of society. The repercussions of enacting same-sex marriage into law will be immense.

"But can we simply redefine terms at a whim? Can a word whose meaning has been clearly understood in every society throughout history suddenly be changed to ...

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1 - 8 of 8 Comments

Judy Claar
9 months ago
elaine, Yes, a lot of us feel that way...However, we must keep up the peaceful fight of Christ.
Prayers...
elaine
9 months ago
This is rediculous. You need to face that the world and society is moving ahead and forward and you are being left behind.
maria
9 months ago
Thank you courageous Cardinal of the Church -- Cardinal O'Brien--
you are truly an outstanding prelate that this generation will always remember.

You are not swayed by the attacks, oftentimes from spin doctored media organizations whose agenda has nothing to do with truth but everything to do with political gain!

Please keep leading the Church in Scotland Cardinal O'Brien - we are with you even though mainstream media lies and deliberately 'shows' another story..
but we Scots must remember this story ...

A totalatarian anti-Christ methodology has been carefully planned esp. at the level of the UN... -- the attack from the most aggressive anti family, anti life groups is coming from there. they are well heeled and spreading errors all over the world!!!

The Catholics must rise up and demand their rights and take them back from governments who try to play little gods .........................

God bless a free Scotland!
michael
9 months ago
Deacon Keith...you are a good man...always seeking to rally the troops...but the battle, at least at this hour, is lost. The western world is a contracepting world that has disconnected sexuality from reproduction. Homosexuality, therefore, is just another "evolution" in the sexual revolution, for if sex isn't about babies, well then, it doesn't have to be about a man and a woman. And as for our bishops, well, Cardinal Dolan was NOT even in New York fighting the good fight when Albany made licit the abomination of sodomy. Cardinal Sean O'Malley of Boston, comes to find out, employs an Obama man and major fundraiser for the President in the Archdiocesan offices as the chief financial officer. For months we have been told that WE WILL NOT COMPLY and that we are being tested by fire...yet we have been retreating for decades having a bite to eat with various antichrists. We are saying that we have to be civil, but how can there be true civility in an uncivilized nation that murders its own children and embraces the sin of Sodom? I do certainly respect the good Cardinal from Scotland for his efforts. But if society is going to change, it will only be through the blood of martyrs willing to suffer for the truth.
John Bryson
9 months ago
As a Scottish catholic I fully endorse the Cardinal's words. The Scottish government carried out a survey recently on this very subject.

More than 65% of those who responded stated their opposition same sex marriage but the government has chosen to ignore them and push ahead with the legislation.

In Scotland less than Catholics form only 20% of the population. The establishment church in Scotland is the protestant Church of Scotland. Their leaders are known to also oppose this legislation but until now have stood back and allowed our Church to take all the criticism from the press and media for opposing it.
Kasoy
9 months ago
The battle has spilt over the political arena. Catholics must be very discerning in voting into public office only morally upright people (from local officials up to the president). Parents must raise their children with the true Catholic values so we will have more options to choose from in future elections. Maybe it is time for lay Catholics and other religious conservatives to form a sub-party within the GOP (that conforms with the Catholic Social Doctrine) just like the Tea Party?
JeanCatherine
9 months ago
Let the Peaceful Fight begin.
abey
9 months ago
The Truth that is revealed in, is the truth being proclaimed out, to the world wherein are the untruths, to be removed. For the Truth Discerns untruths, whereas untruths cannot discern the truth, as the Light pierces the darkness & the darkness comprehended it not, that truth is Life which is in Him, that which Scotland & London to England desperately needs, for their own have let them down, to darkness, even being cut off from understanding the basic structure of the natural order to the family, unto the First Family in God.

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