Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Finally. Some consistency.

Special thanks to Brian at the Primordial Blog.

I'm going to go against the grain on this one. I support the church's position here, not because it's reasonable, but because at least it's internally consistent.

It's an interesting story about a Catholic priest refusing to marry a couple because there is no hope of conception. Here's the story in its entirety (it's short):

Impotent paraplegic told: no church wedding

June 9, 2008 - 3:52PM

An Italian bishop has reportedly told a young paraplegic he cannot have a church wedding because he is impotent, despite his fiancee being aware of the problem.

Salvatore de Ciuco, spokesman for Bishop Lorenzo Chiarinelli of Viterbo in central Italy, told SkyTG24 television: "No bishop, no priest can celebrate a wedding when he knows of admitted impotence as it is a motive for annulment" of the marriage.

The 26-year-old groom, who took part in a civil marriage ceremony on Saturday in Viterbo, has been paraplegic since he was involved in a car accident.

The curate of the parish who was banned from marrying the couple was present at the ceremony.

The favourite defense, by Catholics I know, of the church's stance on gay marriage is that the purpose of marriage is to procreate. "We're not bigots," say the faithful, "It's God's plan!" (I used a capital "G" because they would.) In other words, god's the bigot.

I point out that clearly that is not the case, as people who can't have children get married all the time. My mother-in-law got remarried, and she's not likely to have kids (menopause), so there you go.

And so finally, some bishop says what I've been saying all along. This guy, at least, is allowed to keep his homophobia.

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