Dean Skelos (and/or other Republican leaders, since the Cardinal did not name Skelos) apparently promised the leader of the Catholic Church in America that gay marriage wouldn't pass--right before they put it up for a vote and passed it with the help of four turncoat Republicans. This is consistent with what we've seen over and over again: political leaders have no problem lying to bishops in order to keep the Catholic Church from gearing up for a fight.
Surprise surprise, politicians about to betray marriage have no problem lying to boot:
Cardinal Dolan has revealed for the first time that New York’s gay marriage vote caught the Catholic Church flat-footed — insisting it was “burned” by Senate Republicans who claimed the legislation didn’t have a prayer.
“We got burned last year when we were told the redefinition of marriage didn’t have much of a chance — and of course it did,” Dolan told the Daily News as he prepared for Monday’s annual Albany lobbying trip.
“Our Senate leaders, we highly appreciated them being with us all along,” he explained. “When they kind of assured us it didn’t have much of a chance — not that we let up, but we probably would have been much more vigorous and even more physically present if we knew there was a chance.” -- New York Daily News
13 Comments
The people of NY State elected representatives to pass laws and govern - not Cardinal Dolan and the Catholic Church. I say this as a Catholic.
@JR
He's still part of the constituency so he has just as much say as anyone else. The Catholic church shouldn't have a say in legislation but elected officials shouldn't turn their backs on the key people who voted them in either.
Yes this also goes for Obama who vetoed the Keystone Pipeline to satisfy his green base.
I do have to wonder about the self-proclaimed "Catholics" who look someone in the eye and lie to their face. And I also have to question the faith of those who approve of this behavior. Perhaps this is a new Catholic teaching of which I am unaware.
JR,how Catholic are you if you regard the Catholic teaching against homosexual activity as not applying to whoever wishes to violate it?
Zach:
"He's still part of the constituency so he has just as much say as anyone else"
That misstates the OP's argument. JR made no claim about what he should or should not say. The assertion pertains to what elective representatives should listen to.
As i've said, lying is the fundamental problem. IT was 'traditional' in much of the USA not to let lying go unpunished. But something being traditional doesn't have much weight anymore. Many don't ask themselves the question why something is 'traditional', and just because it is traditional is almost an invitation to rebel against it. They would, of course, substitute what is traditional with another new tradition which hasn't passed the test of time, thinking the consequences won't come. If we were to rebel against 'tradition' and change our laws accordingly, we could take it to the extreme: we could accept cannibalism, accept lying as simply part of life, accept the bribing of legislators, marriage is whatever we say it is, euthanasia, late abortion, etc. But we would not be rebelling against tradition. In fact, we would be adopting earlier, more primitive, 'traditions'. So, what's wrong with eating human meat, if murder not involved? What's wrong with selling human milk? It's just not traditional, because there would be associated abuses, and social consequences. The same-sex civil marriage issue just makes us stop and think why civilized society does things a certain way - because of precedence. Throwing out precedence is at the heart of much rebelliousness. And a nation of rebels is the most difficult to govern. It raises our cost of government sky-high.
What we are seeing here are two kinds of Catholics the ones who are Christian and the ones who are not.
I see many Catholics who are not Christian. But I see many who most certainly are Christian and do a tremendous amount of good in the world.
The past is prelude.
The SSM capaign has a pattern that varies very little from place to place.
First deny and then rely on that which was denied. The when challenged on that deceipt lie yet again.
Deny. Rely. Lie. Repeat expediently with the corrosive motto: Let us do evil so good can be done.
Of course no good end can be done theough such means and so thegoodness of the end is mere illusion. Hence the pattern entrenched by the SSM campaign.
Yes, this corrodes the pulic discourse and SSMers consider that a smallprice to pay. Society has been forewarned by the behavior of the SSM campaign. They mean it so believe it.
JR,
Catholicism is rooted in the belief that Jesus was Christ; Catholicism and Christianity are synonymous with one another. Claiming to be a non-Christian Catholic is akin to claiming to be a meat eating vegetarian.
The religious bigotry of the marriage corruption movement is rooted in ignorance; much like their self professed belief in the immutability of their proclivity.
Should we really be taking advice from pro-war, pro-death penalty, pedophile enabling Dolan?
GZeus, from whence do you claim the authority to redefine marriage? Why should we listen to you?
The battle against gay marriage for New York State was not lost because Dean Skelos lied to a gullible Catholic Cardinal. It was not lost because of a few turn coat Republicans. It was lost, because the media blocked all the good arguments against gay marriage from being heard, and because organizations like N.O.M. didn't find a way to take the message to the people. N.O.M. thought all they had to do was keep the new law bottled up in committee, or lobby the legislature.