San Francisco: Not the company line*

For the longest time Tuesday morning, Brother Richard Jonathan, a member of the Society of Saint Francis, was the only one carrying a sign outside San Francisco City Hall as cameras whirred and gay men and lesbians filed in to be legally hitched.

Anyone who has paid attention to the Roman Catholic hierarchy’s official disappointment over the state Supreme Court's same-sex marriage ruling a month ago could be forgiven for looking twice at Jonathan’s placard. “Franciscans for Same-Sex Marriage,” it read.

Standing with his big bright sign and his long brown robe, all alone in his demonstration, Jonathan acknowledged that the slogan wasn’t  quite the company line voiced by Cardinal Roger M. Mahony and six Southern California Roman Catholic bishops. In a statement Tuesday, these clerics said that marriage “has a unique place in God’s creation, joining a man and a woman in a committed relationship."

* [This post should have noted that Jonathan belongs to an Episcopal, not Roman Catholic, order. Also, an earlier version of the post said seven bishops joined Mahony in issuing the statement on marriage. Actually, along with Mahony, six other bishops serve the L.A. diocese.]

But so what? Jonathan suggested.

St. Francis, the patron saint of this wide-open city, “starts with the belief that God is love,” Jonathan said. He “embraced the leper. He embraced the poor. He embraced the marginalized.”

As a result, he continued, Franciscans “see God’s presence in all persons. That’s where I start. Where there is God, there is love. I do this as a Franciscan with a long tradition of embracing all persons.”

-- Maria L. La Ganga   

Comments

[Hirotomi Takemitsu]

I wonder how long it will be before this Franciscan brother is asked to leave his Order....or at least be quiet.
The allowance for "gay marriage" is a grave sin, and this Catholic religious brother committed likewise by standing in favor of perversion.
I am ashamed of liberals like this in my Catholic Church.

[Jeremy]

If I am correct, the Society of St. Francis is ANGLICAN (EPISCOPAL), not Catholic.

The Anglican Church began as a result of sexual sin and continues to support it.

[John Corcoran]

Ms. La Ganga might want to check her facts. A Google search shows that the "Society of Saint Francis" is an order in the Episcopal community, not the Catholic Church.

Episcopalians are not known for doctrinal "rigidity", so its a non-news story.

[Cornelius]

When you find yourself in the wrong, change the subject. This is what our poor, muddle-headed Franciscan does by stating what every Christian already knows: that God loves everyone. But He does not love, and does not "embrace", wicked behavior nor the blasphemy of same-sex "marriage" (which is "marriage" only by mockery of the real thing).

[John Paul II Generation]

Ahh yes. I would bet this particular community of Franciscans has close to no new vocations.

"Cafeteria" Catholicism, where you pick and choose which teachings to follow and disregard, will soon dry up.

[James]

Good grief! Someone please call this lady's editor. Why must The Catholic Church be the big bad guy? As was already pointed out... he's not Catholic. This story makes no more sense than a Muslim protesting outside a city hall and a reference to a leading Jewish Rabbi. Oh wait, it's not PC to portray either of those religions as mean....