GENUINE LOVE – VALUABLE FAMILIES

An Open Letter to Archbishop Raymond Burke

Most Reverend Archbishop,

           In the summer of 2003, the Vatican issued a document called “Considerations Regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions Between Homosexual Persons” through the office of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.  We are a small organization of homosexual and heterosexual Catholic men and women who, we believe, quietly represent the beliefs and frustrations of a much wider group of local Catholics and non-Catholics alike.

           We have come to realize that committed same-sex unions are life-giving and loving, not “intrinsically disordered” nor “a serious depravity”. They should be recognized for the sacraments they are, not banned.  While there is much other content in this document with which we intensely disagree, we cannot sit silently by and let pass the assertion put forth telling us and the world that allowing committed gay or lesbian couples to adopt children means doing violence to these children.  With all due respect, we find this assertion to be totally unfounded in our experience, and completely unsupported by authoritative research.  Our experience is that committed gay and lesbian parents are as capable and successful at parenting as their heterosexual counterparts.  The Vatican “Considerations”, on the other hand, offers no documentation to the contrary. 

           Archbishop Burke, we urge you to get to know a few committed same-sex couples.  Share meals with them.  Get down onto the floor and play with their children.  After this experience has convinced you of the presence of genuine love in these valuable families, we ask that you use all the weight of your office to convince your fellow Bishops, our Cardinals, and even our Pope, that there is no place in our Church for hatefulness and bigotry.

                      Yours in Christ,