Marquette again

Another "moral theologian" at Marquette University home of Daniel C. Maguire.

..Father Bryan Massingale, an associate professor of moral theology at Marquette University, wrote a lengthy essay in which he struggled with the idea that "the amendment, read in its entirety, poses a dilemma for many faithful people."

I am too cynical to believe that anytime the word struggled is used with regards to moral theology to think it was much of a fight – especially since you know it is always dissent that wins out. When I hear struggle in these cases I think of Mike Tyson versus Pooh Bear.

"The amendment upholds certain beliefs about the uniqueness of marriage," he wrote in the Sept. 21 issue. "But it does so at a cost, namely, potentially damaging impacts upon the welfare of individuals and their children."

He also dealt with the issue of homosexuality.

"Too often, discussions of this issue treat ‘those’ people – specifically, gays and lesbians – as if they were an alien species," he wrote. "They are not. They are our sons and daughters; our sisters and brothers; our aunts, uncles, and cousins; our friends, neighbors, students and co-workers; our priests, ministers and parishioners. ‘They’ are us!"

Massingale concluded that "voting ‘no’ on the marriage amendment, in my judgment, is the best way to respect all of our Catholic beliefs and values."

A reprint of Massingale’s opinion piece was distributed in bulletins at several local churches.

…Massingale said he believes he retains the archbishop’s respect.

"If he had any concerns about anything I’ve written he would have expressed them to me directly and not done anything through any intermediary," he said. "In fact, he just spoke to me this afternoon (Thursday) and was talking about me speaking at some other engagements here in the archdiocese."

I wouldn’t trust Fr. Massingale in reference to Archbishop’s Dolan. But the following does not look good.

Milwaukee Archdiocese spokeswoman Kathleen Hohl said Massingale is free to speak out on the issues and to share his views at local parishes.

…The Milwaukee Archdiocese Priests Alliance, a grass-roots organization of 140 members, issued a statement this month in which it concurred with Massingale’s analysis, although the organization fell short of calling on voters to reject the amendment.

…In an Oct. 19 letter to the Catholic Herald, Massingale responded to some critics and concluded that "one can believe in what is called ‘traditional’ marriage – and even ‘defend’ it – without supporting this amendment. Indeed, we must not reinforce the institution of marriage through a measure which carries the risk of endangering human well-being."

As Kevin Miller said:

I think that Archbishop Dolan needs to do something major. This is very bad.