Bishop asks Notre Dame to affirm fidelity to Catholic teaching on marriage
October 17, 2014
Following the overturning of Indiana’s marriage law and the consequent legalization of same-sex marriage, the University of Notre Dame extended marriage benefits to those in a same-sex marriage-- prompting the local bishop to call upon the university to affirm its fidelity to Catholic teaching on marriage.
Bishop Kevin Rhoades of Fort Wayne – South Bend wrote:
In announcing its decision to extend benefits to “same-sex spouses,” I am glad that Notre Dame affirmed that as a Catholic university, it “endorses a Catholic view of marriage,” though I would say that Catholic teaching on the heterosexual nature of marriage is more than “a view.” The heterosexual nature of marriage is an objective truth known by (right) reason and revelation.
As a Catholic university, it is important that Notre Dame continues to affirm its fidelity to Catholic teaching on the true nature of marriage as a union of one man and one woman. I have communicated to Notre Dame my conviction that this affirmation should also include efforts to defend the religious liberty of our religious institutions that is threatened in potentially numerous ways by the legal redefinition of marriage, including the government forcing our Catholic institutions to extend any special benefits we afford to actual marriage to same-sex “marriage” as well. I have asked the Notre Dame administration to work together with the Indiana Catholic Conference on these efforts.
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Further information:
- Same-Sex Marriage, Religious Liberty, And Notre Dame (Today’s Catholic)
- Notre Dame same-sex benefits rile bishop (Fort Wayne Journal Gazette)
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Posted by: jeremiahjj -
Oct. 17, 2014 6:45 PM ET USA
If the university refuses to not just comply, but endorse Catholic teaching, it is no longer faithful nor Catholic. Notre Dame will have chosen which path to follow and it is not God's. The Church should sever its ties and let the university go down that path to perdition. Other Catholic colleges and universities will take its place and, over time, go on to even greater things.
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Posted by: Lucius49 -
Oct. 17, 2014 1:54 PM ET USA
ND to work with the Indiana Catholic Conference? How long will that take? Is ND even in accord with Ex Corde Ecclesiae as to Catholic identity? In my view the bishops are avoiding the obvious ND like so many others is no longer Catholic in any meaningful sense of the word. Any catholicity is purely sociological qua institution.
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Posted by: Randal Mandock -
Oct. 17, 2014 5:38 AM ET USA
Obama good for Catholicism? Never imagined I would think so, short of martyrdom seen as a spiritual good. However, the winnowing effect of immoral legislation is already forcing CINO institutions to put up or shut up. Visualize a church characterized by a readiness to suffer or even die for the faith. Is it Pope Francis or Obama who will make headroads in returning Catholicism to its persecuted roots? Militant atheism is steadily transforming the U.S. into an unjust land. What do Muslims think?
