Catholic Chaplains Won't Bury Married Gay Soldiers
"Participation in retirements, changes of command, and promotion
ceremonies is possible, as long as the priest is not required to
acknowledge or approve of a 'spouse' of the same gender.
"While the tradition of the Catholic Church always tries to find
reasons to bury the dead, a priest may not be placed in a situation
where his assistance at a funeral for a Catholic would give the
impression that the Church approves of same sex 'marital'
relationships."
-- Timothy P. Broglio, Roman Catholic Archbishop of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, issuing new rules last week that essentially forbid Catholic military chaplains from acknowledging or assisting same-sex couples in any way
unless such a refusal would violate federal law or jeopardize the
chaplain's military career. Broglio's guidelines also suggest that
Catholic chaplains would have to refuse to hold funeral services for
married gay soldiers, unless the soldier's spouse agrees to not have
their marriage acknowledged during the funeral.
The shame/scare quotes around the words "spouse" and "marriage" are
the archbishop's; he also repeatedly referred to loving same-sex
marriages as "evil."
These guidelines came just one day before Pope Francis scolded his church for its leaders' "obsessive" focus on attacking marriage equality.
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