Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz of Lincoln, Nebraska on the need for clear teaching.

This is good...
.
Priests should not use concerns over “prudence” as an excuse to avoid speaking boldly on the immorality of homosexual acts, says Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz of Lincoln, Nebraska.

.
“Caution and prudence are important, but I don’t think they should be excuses for not properly speaking when speaking is necessary or extremely important pastorally,” the bishop told LifeSiteNews this week.
.
He said priests may be reluctant to address homosexuality because “there’s a lot of intimidation in various places,” but he stressed that the wide promotion of openness to homosexuality in our culture demands that they present the Catholic Church’s teachings clearly. “In a culture in which this kind of activity is broadcast all over, I think it’s important that the teaching of the Church be clear and precise,” he said.
.
“Homosexual acts are intrinsically evil, and if one does them with full knowledge and consent, they’re mortal sins and place one’s eternal salvation in the gravest of jeopardy,” he added.
.
Those who experience same-sex attractions must “resist that inclination,” he said. “People who have such an inclination, however they obtained it, must maintain what God wants us to do in regard to the way human sexual activity and human reproductive activity takes place.”

.
Bishop Bruskewitz lamented that “in recent times things that were unspoken, or basically unspeakable, are now broadcast all over the media.” “We have a proliferation of every sort of pornography on the internet, and there’s a general cultural deterioration in that direction,” he said.
.
While there’s a need to present the Church’s sexual teachings clearly, the bishop also stressed that priests must make a “pastoral judgment” in determining the appropriate context for these discussions. “I think there’s a time and place to do these things. Sometimes there’s a certain delicacy, I think, and modesty in speaking and referring to sexual matters that has to observed,” he explained. - Source
.
Unfortunately, because there is a proliferation of every sort of pornography in media - more like an inundation - Church teaching needs to be reiterated again and again.

Bishop Tobin regards homosexual persons with "respect, compassion, and sensitivity."

Faithful and charitable.
.
Bishop Tobin may have surprised some when in an interview with a local news site he conceded, “People deserve human rights whether or not they’re gay.”  Although some people may disagree, especially those who would like to see homosexual persons exterminated from the face of the earth, there is nothing unusual or extraordinary in the Bishop's statements.  As to be expected, they accord perfectly with the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

2358 The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God's will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.

.
2359 Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection. - CCC
.
Bishop Tobin:  "The state should not be sanctioning behavior the Church regards as immoral."
.
"In an exclusive interview, Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas Tobin said the Church is not opposed to granting some benefits and rights to gay couples—as long as the term marriage is not used.

.
His statement—which was couched in caveats—nonetheless indicates a flexibility in the Church’s position that has previously been overlooked in the polarizing debate over gay marriage in Rhode Island.
.
“The legislation we would support is what is often called ‘reciprocal benefits,’” Tobin told GoLocalProv. “It does not use marriage as a reference point. It would grant some legal benefits [and] some legal rights to two people who have some kind of established relationship without any particular reference to marriage. So it could be someone and their grandfather. Could be two cousins. Could be two elderly sisters.”
.
Tobin declined to elaborate on exactly which legal benefits and rights he thought unmarried couples should have—saying that’s a question for legal experts. “People deserve human rights whether or not they’re gay,” Tobin said. “Now the reciprocal benefits [bill] recognizes some rights and some privileges irrespective of their orientation and that’s the key I think.”

.
Tobin said he would not go as far as supporting civil unions, saying the church is as steadfastly opposed to civil unions as it is to gay marriage.
.
“We would oppose what is commonly called civil unions because it’s really just another name for what would be same-sex marriage,” Tobin said. “We’ve found invariably whenever civil unions are introduced in a state that is quickly followed by full-fledged gay marriage.”
.
“We think it is an ill-advised attempt to redefine the very basic parameters of marriage as they’ve existed from the very beginning of mankind—as the union of one man and one woman designed to create new life and to encourage the love of the spouses,” Tobin said.

.
He also said the state should not be sanctioning behavior the Church regards as immoral and expressed concern that that a gay-marriage law could limit religious freedom. Even though the bill does not mandate that any church or other religious community perform gay marriages, Tobin said it could still force religious groups to grant benefits to gay couples.
.
“The question whether or not some people are made that way—I think that’s still an open question. I’m not quite ready to cede that. But even if that is the case, that someone has that disposition, they still have the ability as human beings to control their behavior—otherwise there’s anarchy and chaos,” Tobin said.

.
“The fact that a person is made a certain way is not immoral—again that’s the difference between orientation and activity,” Tobin said. “Having a homosexual orientation is no more or less immoral than having a heterosexual orientation. But, in both cases, whether it’s heterosexual or homosexual, we have to be able to control our behavior.” - Source

.
Truth in charity.
.
Photo credit:  Bishop Tobin

Sheehan speaks out on cohabiting couples.

Good stuff too!
.
Read more here and here.
.
What?

Bishop Aquila: Sound teaching.

Don't go to strangers...
.
Avoid self-appointed prophets and visionaries.  At last the Church in the U.S. is getting  courageous and outspoken bishops defending the Truth of Catholic doctrine.  From Bishop Aquila:
.
"Bishops and priests should not apologize or make excuses for the teachings of Christ and the Church, Bishop Aquila exhorted. Rather, they should teach with “charity and unhesitating truth.”

.
The exercise of Church authority faces challenges because secular culture “makes man into god” and undermines any authority attributed to God. Bishops and priests should turn to Jesus Christ to learn how to exercise their authority in governing the Church, the Fargo bishop said.
.
Jesus was “direct” in calling people to conversion and to change their way of acting and thinking, he pointed out.
.
“This directness makes many of us uncomfortable today.
.
“We should follow his example and language, even if we do not use his precise words. His language is good to contemplate and definitely should challenge us to look at how we correct the faithful, including priests and bishops, and speak the truth especially with those who say they are with Christ and the Church but do not accept the teaching of Jesus and the Church.”
.
Jesus’ “forceful” language towards the Pharisees and Scribes “would never be tolerated today” but the Gospel writers did not hesitate to pass down his words, Bishop Aquila said.
.
“In love Jesus makes these direct statements to open the eyes of those whose hearts and minds are hardened. His straight talk, given in love for the person, desires the conversion and holiness of the person to the ways of God,” the bishop explained.
.
“(T)oo many people understand correction or punishment as not loving the other or as dominion over the other, and this is the work of ‘the father of lies.’ A reluctance or hesitancy to correct and properly punish does not invite the other into the truth that frees and ultimately fails in true charity.
.
“As servants of truth, of Christ, we will correct those who sin for their own good and for the love of the other, even if it leads to our own persecution and rejection,” Bishop Aquila said. - CNA

"Don’t get trapped by partisan politics." - Archbishop Chaput

Feb. 25, 2011 (Fargo, ND) - Archbishop Chaput addressed laypeople of the Diocese of Fargo, with a presentation titled “Building a Culture of Life.” Archbishop offers a few “dos” and “don’ts” for building a culture of life, based on what he has seen in the American prolife experience throughout the past 38 years.

.
...[T]he fast pace of party politics, and the illusion that politics rules the “commanding heights” of our society and can satisfy our Christian social obligations, makes political life very addictive. And this illusion gets dangerous when defending the unborn child is too closely identified with any particular political leader or, even worse, one specific party. The more prolifers tie themselves to a single political party, the less they can speak to society at large. Here in the United States, Catholics -- both on the left and the right -- have too often made the mistake of becoming cheerleaders for a specific candidate. - Archbishop Chaput, Building a Culture of Life
.
.
.
"Here in the United States, Catholics -- both on the left and the right -- have too often made the mistake of becoming cheerleaders for a specific candidate."  Ain't that the truth.