House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi urged Archbishop Salvatore Joseph Cordileone last month to forego the Annual March for Marriage sponsored by the National Organization for Marriage (NOM).
Pelosi argued that the march was “venom masquerading as virtue,” as reported at SFGate. She went on to say that the participants show “disdain and hate towards LGBT persons.”
Nancy Pelosi was not the only one pressuring Archbishop Cordileone. In a letter dated June 10, many powerful politicians and representatives from Christian groups like the National Coalition of American Nuns wrote in part that “the actions and rhetoric of NOM, and those of the event’s speakers and co-sponsors, fundamentally contradict Christian belief in the fundamental human dignity of all people.”
Furthermore, an online petition by Faithful America demanded that the archbishop cancel his appearance.
Faithful America was created in 2004 by the left-wing National Council of Churches of Christ to serve as a “religious version of MoveOn.org,” as revealed at Discover the Networks. Not surprisingly, the group receives funding by George Soros, as reported at the Daily Caller.
Archbishop Salvatore Joseph Cordileone, however, was not deterred. He responded to those who wanted to silence him by saying in part,
“When all is said and done, then, there is only one thing that I would ask of you more than anything else: before you judge us, get to know us.”
While his speech was not highly publicized, it was very powerful.
On traditional marriage, the Archbishop said in part,
“Let us, then, take our cue from the best our predecessors in faith have inspired, and not humanity’s frequent failings and sins. Like them, we now in our own time need to proclaim and live the truth with charity and compassion as it applies to us today: the truth of a united family based on the union of the children’s father and mother in marriage as the foundational good of society. Every child comes from a man and a woman, and has a right, a natural human right, to know and be known by, to love and be loved by, their own mother and father. This is the great public good that marriage is oriented towards and protects. The question is then: does society need an institution that unites children to the mothers and fathers who bring them into the world, or doesn’t it? If it does, that institution is marriage – nothing else provides this basic good to children.”
On detractors, he said in part,
“And let us not forget: we must also proclaim this truth especially with love for those who disagree with us on this issue, and most of all, for those who are hostile toward us. We must be careful, though, not to paint our opponents on this issue with broad strokes. There is a tendency in our culture to do this to groups of people the powerful don’t know and think they don’t like. We must not do that. We must recognize that there are people on the other side of this debate who are of good will and are sincerely trying to promote what they think is right and fair. It is misdirected good will. But even those from whom we suffer retribution – and I know some of you have suffered in very serious ways because of your stand for marriage – still, we must love them. That is what our ancestors in faith did, and we must, too. Yes, it is easy to become resentful when you are relentlessly and unfairly painted as a bigot and are punished for publicly standing by the basic truth of marriage as a foundational societal good; it is tempting to respond in kind. Don’t. For those of us who are Catholic, we just heard our Master command us in the gospel proclaimed at Mass the day before yesterday: ‘love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you’ (Mt 5:44). We must not allow the angry rhetoric to co-opt us into a culture of hate.”
The full transcript of Archbishop Salvatore Joseph Cordileone’s speech is here. Listen to it here.
