Scots Archbishop Steps Up Anti-Gay Attacks

The Roman Catholic Church continues o be plagued by sex abuse lawsuits and bombshell stories of cover ups by the Church hierarchy break weekly if not more often. But what does Mario Conti Archbishop of Glasgow obsess about? Gay marriage, of course. The rape and sexual abuse of children and youths - not to mention cover ups tracing to the Vatican - apparently doesn't offend the Archbishop's sensibilities. It's symptomatic, in view, of the utter moral bankruptcy that now permeates the Church hierarchy with very few exceptions (the Archbishop of Dublin ins one such rare example). Conti has declared that the Catholic Church will actively fight against the previously “unthinkable” issue" of government recognized same sex marriage. In my view, if the Catholic Church wants to meddle in the civil laws, then revoke its tax-exempt status. Hit the bastards where it counts. Thankfully, an Episcopal prelate called out the bigoted Catholic bishops. Here are highlights from The Herald:

Mario Conti said the Catholic Church will actively fight against the previously “unthinkable” issue which was being considered in a “largely post-Christian society”.

He also claimed the Scottish Government does not have a mandate to “reconstruct society on ideological grounds”. The Government is holding a consultation on whether same-sex marriage should be introduced. A similar debate is taking place south of the border.

The archbishop made the comments yesterday in a statement being sent to Scotland’s 500 Catholic parishes to encourage parishioners to complete a declaration in defence of marriage. . . . The archbishop’s comments echo those of the Bishop of Paisley, Philip Tartaglia, who last week argued that a same-sex union was not marriage.

Bishop Tartaglia said: “Marriage is uniquely the union of a man and a woman, which, by its very nature, is designed for the mutual good of the spouses and to give the children who may be born of that union a father and a mother. “A same-sex union cannot do that. A same-sex union should not therefore be called marriage.”

However, the Provost of St Mary’s Cathedral in Glasgow, the Very Rev Kelvin Holdsworth, branded the men’s comments embarrassing. In his sermon yesterday, the Scottish Episcopal Church clergyman said: “The behaviour of our brothers, the Roman Catholic bishops, in recent days has been so unpleasant and so ill-judged that it risks harming the good influence of the whole Christian community.“To behave as though bishops carry some kind of block vote to Holyrood, to threaten politicians and to decry those who want access to the dignity of marriage as unnatural … to say these things seems to me to go too far.”

Archbishop Conti’s comments come at the time of a serious downturn in relations between the Government and the Catholic Church . . .