The Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland has announced the closure of five parish churches in Maine. The closures, reported last week in the Bangor Daily News, are the result of ongoing financial problems and the declining number of Catholics in the Pine Tree State:
PORTLAND, Maine — Maine’s Catholic diocese is closing five more churches because of tight finances and changing demographics.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland says Notre Dame de Lourdes church in Saco and St. Mary of the Assumption church in neighboring Biddeford will close at the end of the year. St. Andre church in Biddeford will close at the end of 2010.
In Lewiston, St. Joseph and St. Patrick Catholic churches will close sometime in October.
So it, of course, makes perfect sense that the Roman Catholic Diocese would announce the addition of a second collection of contributions at each Mass to cover the costs of keeping diocesan churches and schools open. Only the decision to pass the plate twice has nothing to do with keeping churches open and everything to do with the Catholic church’s efforts to eliminate marriage equality in Maine. According to a report in the Boston Herald on Sunday:
PORTLAND, Maine — The Catholic church in Maine is stepping up its effort to defeat a gay marriage law in November.
The WBLZ News Center reports that the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland is asking its parishes to take a special second collection next weekend to help pay for a campaign to use a statewide referendum to reverse a gay marriage law passed by the state Legislature.
Money raised in the effort will go to Stand for Marriage Maine, which is leading the effort to repeal the law allowing same-sex marriage.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, Maine has some rather curious priorities. Perhaps their good friends over at the National Organization for Marriage could hold a bake sale or pancake breakfast to help keep the churches and schools open. O wait! NOM doesn’t do bake sales. NOM’s money magically appears like manna from who knows where?
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I am a supporter of Marriage Equality, because it beneficial for eveyone. Everyone wins, win – win situation.
First, it must be remember that the importance and meaning of marriage is more than procreation. Two people pledging their love to each other is not just for themselves, because that is not marriage. By being in love, two become one and they are better equip to be the best for everyone in world their families, friends, co-workers and beyond. In this way all marriages are contributing to the procreation of children by their enriching the social environment that children will be born into. I think that love; true love like energy is never lost, a bit like Einstein, maybe.
Second, I wrote a comment to a news article in the Bangor Daily News 9/28/09 about Maine’s Catholic Bishop Malone’s antigay statement, in support of Marriage Equality and challenging the his ignorance about human sexuality and the bible.
People against Marriage Equality do not base their public statements on facts either from science or the bible. It is a repeat of the time the Vatican was condemning Galileo, because they insisted that Galileo was going against the bible that it is the sun that revolves around the earth.
With all due respect, it is without a question that Bishop Malone of Maine would not be able to pass graduate course exams on human sexuality, sexual orientation, and gender identity or biblical studies. Prove me wrong!!!
I think Marriage Equality is bringing the LGBT population to a healthy state mind and well-being, where it belongs. I think in truth and soon more significantly by research we are going to find that the general population is more LGBT as a whole, than not.
Researchers show us that components of human sexuality are on continuums. This means that nearly everyone is a mixture of LGBT components to some degree. And the harsh ignorant antiLGBTI social and religious norms just keeps us separated from one another because of what we cannot accept in our themselves.
Educating people about the complexities that make up human sexuality that each person is a unique mixture of components of LGBTI, it will, for one, increase the human potential in the world by leaps and bounds, finding cures of all kinds of diseases and much more.
The best thing to do for the well-being and safety of all children would be if people against Marriage Equality spent their money to academically study human sexuality, sexual orientation, gender identity and the bible. This is what children need the truth. People speaking out on such life and death issues should not speak out of ignorance and fear, thus spreading hatred and violence that indiscriminately is severely harmful to all children.
The truth will set you free – not ignorance and fear.
With all best wishes,
Fr. Marty Kurylowicz