Photo ~ Cardinal Francis George answers questions from the press before visiting the pediatric intensive care unit at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago on Dec. 25, 2011. (Nancy Stone, Chicago Tribune)

The Cardinal's Apology

Let's say a bishop or priest gives an interview to a newspaper or television/radio station and says something that can be construed as inflammatory. He then has to issue a "clarification" followed a few days later by an apology.

That scenario has played out here in the Archdiocese of Chicago in recent days, starting with an interview Cardinal Francis George gave to a local television station in which he said, "You know, you don't want the gay liberation movement to morph into something like the Ku Klux Klan, demonstrating in the streets against Catholicism."

Needless to say, the homosexual activists and their sympathizers weren't too pleased with the cardinal's remarks. A "clarification" was issued on Dec. 27 and was posted on the archdiocese's website.

As for the cardinal's apology, Laurie Higgins, cultural analyst for the Illinois Family Institute, writes:

'What I wish Cardinal George had said was that homosexual acts are soul-destroying acts that are 'detestable' in God's eyes and that the parade is a tragic, offensive event that shouldn't take place on any day in any neighborhood. It is not an act of love to affirm or appear to affirm that which God condemns.

'(Cardinal George should not use the terms 'gay' and 'lesbian.' Those terms do not merely denote same-sex attraction and volitional acts. They connote biological determinism, immutability, and an inherent morality. What other groups would Cardinal George choose to identify by their disordered inclinations and freely chosen sinful acts? Rhetoric matters.)'

Read the complete article at Renew America