Regrettable analogy

July 10, 2015
John McCord
San Francisco

After the Supreme Court decision regarding marriage last week, Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, the president of the USCCB, wrote a statement lamenting the decision.

His argument associating the court’s abortion decision to its marriage decision was regrettable. Regardless of acceptability or the degree of immorality, comparing two adults begging to manifest their love, loyalty and commitment in full witness before God to the murder of an unborn child inflames the exhausting animosity we need to release.

The archbishop then claimed a child does better where there is a father and a mother, demonstrating a utopian notion of what makes preferable parenting. Certainly hetero and single parenthood have had spectacular successes and withering failures. Same-sex parenting is a new phenomenon in its earliest stages and hasn’t weathered the passage of time that would reveal its benefits or detriments. Children are vulnerable, not because of parental gender but because of the treatment they receive from the adults responsible.

I hope to see the archbishop reveal a sense of compassion even in his disappointment and formulate more persuasive arguments on this matter.

Editor’s note: Archbishop Kurtz’s statement on the Obergefell v. Hodges decision may be read at www.usccb.org/news/2015/15-103.cfm.

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