The US bishops’ point man on marriage, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, will not attend the March for Marriage in Washington, DC, Saturday, opting instead to stay in the archdiocese to deal with continued fallout from area Catholics unhappy with his leadership.
Cordileone posted his decision on Twitter on Wednesday:
After much consideration, I won’t attend March for Marriage this year. Will be there in spirit, but priority is dialogue w teachers in SF.
— Salvatore Cordileone (@ABCordileone) April 22, 2015
A statement released by the archdiocese said Cordileone will “remain home and attend to the pastoral needs of the Church here at this time.”
Cordileone, one of the Catholic Church’s most vocal opponents of same-sex marriage, is mired in controversy in San Francisco after announcing that teachers in the archdiocesan schools would be required to sign so-called morality clauses. Critics contend that the language unfairly targets gays and lesbians, though supporters note that the archbishop is simply promoting Church teaching.
Last week, a group of prominent Catholics in the archdiocese signed a full-page advertisement in the San Francisco Chronicle asking Pope Francis to replace the archbishop, citing the contract as well as other issues they say have “deeply wounded” local Catholics. (See the advertisement here.)
Cordileone attended the march last year and led a prayer service outside the Supreme Court.
Earlier this month, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops endorsed the event, according to a statement on the event’s website.
“The March will be an opportunity to stand for the good of marriage in our nation, to pray for our Supreme Court justices, and to demonstrate our commitment to the well-being of children,” the statement read. “The March is an important witness to a movement dedicated to building a culture of marriage and the family, and it serves to remind all people that a Supreme Court ruling will not decide the issue of marriage any more than Roe decided the issue of abortion.”
Meanwhile, four US bishops — including Cordileone and the president of the Conference, Louisville Archbishop Joseph Kurtz — signed an open letter published today warning of “serious consequences” should the Supreme Court rule in favor of same-sex marriage this term. Arguments are slated to begin Tuesday.
“Marriage as the union of a man and a woman is the only institution that encourages and safeguards the connection between children and their mother and father,” it reads.
The letter, also signed by Bishop Richard J. Malone of Buffalo, head of the USCCB Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth, and Baltimore Archbishop William Lori, calls on public officials to support religious liberty laws such as the one recently passed in Indiana that sparked a national controversy.
“Government should protect the rights of those with differing views of marriage to express their beliefs and convictions without fear of intimidation, marginalization or unwarranted charges that their values imply hostility, animosity, or hatred of others,” it reads.
Lori, who heads the bishops’ effort on religious liberty, is expected to join Kurtz at the March for Marriage.
