Ad Dominum

As most of us are now surely aware, voters in the state of Maine defeated a piece of legislation on Tuesday that would have provided for civil marriage for gay and lesbian people. The issue passed by a very narrow majority.

I have written previously on these pages about the massive amount of money that flowed from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland (Maine) to the political action committee (“Stand for Marriage Maine”) that spearheaded the ballot issue that was passed. The diocese also loaned a diocesan staffer to work on the campaign while the diocese continued to pay his salary.

This is significant; this will not, and should not, be overlooked. The diocese intentionally and purposely inserted itself into a hotly-contested political campaign. Therefore, the diocese, and the Church at large, should not be surprised that the diocese’s involvement is being talked about, questioned, and criticized. That’s just the way of politics in these United States.

Now, it seems, our more conservative brothers and sisters are crying foul over the criticism of the action taken by Bishop Malone and the Diocese of Portland. Widely-read conservative blogger Thomas Peters (of the American Principles Project) posted yesterday about this criticism, saying:

Now, like what happened to the Mormons in the wake of Prop 8, some gays are calling for a systematic attack on the Catholic Church and her freedoms in retaliation for Maine.

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…Nor is such out-in-the-open hatred of the Catholic Church confined to isolated individuals….

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Nonetheless, in the coming days and weeks, we need to be vigilant for anti-Catholic rhetoric and attacks. Don’t be surprised if a lot of damning stories about the Church are published in the short term. Even if the issue of gay marriage isn’t mentioned, you can bet reporters who have something against the Church are dusting off their old file folders right now.

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Nonetheless, whenever the Church is attacked, we must defend ourselves and the Church we love, continuing to articulate the truths of the human person which reason reveal and faith confirms.

This might seem like just a collage of snipped quotes, but it points to a larger idea: Peters, and others, are attempting to turn (justifiable) criticism and questioning of the diocese’s actions into an attack on the Church itself. This is simply not the case. It is not hate speech to criticize the actions of the Diocese of Portland. (After all, surely Bp. Malone knew what he was doing when he insterted the local church into the political process.) It is not “anti-Catholic bias” to call out exactly what happened during the campaign.

If the Diocese of Portland had been standing by, perhaps even praying and preaching the Church’s position, and these actions were criticized, charges of bigotry and bias against the Church might be justified. However, Bishop Malone and the diocese went well beyond that sort of action.

Everything that we do and say in this life has consequences. For every action there is a reaction. The diocese knew what it was doing when it threw its hat in the ring. The diocese acted. Now the diocese will face a reaction. The diocese is now being held accountable for its contributions to this campaign. We should not be surprised by this. It is fantastically wrong to immediately cry “bigotry!” and “anti-Catholic bias!” because people are criticizing the actions of the diocese. This is a perfectly natural reaction.

People of integrity step up and face the consequences of their actions whether they be positive or negative. Spinning criticism that was fairly earned into some sort of conspiracy against the Church is not only intellectually dishonest and repulsive, it lacks even a shred of integrity.

Pax et bonum.