German Catholic Clergy Will Hold a Crowd Blessing of Gay Marriages


In what appears to me to be a clever maneuver, a Bishop in Germany has announced some large events to bless gay married couples. The is in direct defiance of the Vatican's declaration of no marriage or blessing ceremonies for gay couples.  There are several events at different locations and the dates of the events have not been clearly declared. I assume the couples will not be named so there are fewer grounds to terminate priests and Bishops who make appearances.

There is an old technique used often to make things appear differently than they are. Some 20 years ago at my alma mater,  Iowa State University, a group of students wanted to rename the football stadium for a black player who was killed there by players from the Un. of Minnesota. His name was Jack Trice and it had happened in 1923. The administration at the time had other plans and refused the renaming. The students said the stadium would become "Jack Trice Stadium" if everyone used this term. Sure enough, in a couple of years the administration officially gave it that name which remains today. 

That's what is happening to Catholic gay marriage in Germany. The German Catholic Church has tons of money, it doesn't need the Vatican's money but the Vatican needs German's money. The German Church can create the impression gay marriage is blessed by its clergy without breaking the specific rules laid out in the legalistic Catholic Church. Over time, the belief will prevail the Vatican approves gay marriages even though it officially does not. 

Something similar happened in the Galileo case. In the 1600's Galileo built a telescope and watched the skies. He determined the earth moved around the sun and the sun did not move around the earth. This, like gay marriage, was a direct contradiction to Catholic dogma. Galileo was put under house arrest for decades. The official Catholic position remained for the next 500 years that the Pope, not Galileo, was right. As late as the 1980's the official position remained. By the 1990's the popular view the Pope in the 1600's was wrong became so powerful a recent Pope admitted the earth moves around the sun. It may take a long time but as gay marriage becomes more endorsed by the world-wide public and the Catholic position becomes viewed as cruel and/or laughable and indefensible some future Pope will bless gay marriages. 

The German Catholic Church is also conducting an in depth study of the denomination's theology on this issue. It appear inevitable there is a good argument the Bible and the church does not have an air tight case against gay marriage. 

We can look forward to a long period of squirming by the Vatican. It will deny and deny again followed by accommodate.   

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