Expert: George A. Card,sfo, M.I - 10/28/2004

Question
Dear Sir,
        I'm a Catholic wanting to know about issues of abortion and gay marriage more in depth. Does the Church allow abortion in extreme cases where the mother's life is in danger and the like? I don't support gay marriage, but seeing civil unions as nothing more than a legal arrangment I would like to know the Church's stance on civil unions and why?
                  Respectfully yours,
                  Pablo Callejas

Answer
                         Peace

Dear Pablo Callejas
   Please call me George or as friends do: Rav.
   
  The Church condenms all abortion as a grave and serious crime and sin against the child and humanity. With that said, read the next part carefully. If the mother's life is in danger she can have medical treatment so long as that treatment is truly treatment and is not indented to kill the child. If it might kill and the aim is not to kill the child, the treatment may be done. If the treatment is treatment and child dies, generally no guilty is present.

People have rights because they are People. Below is short Q&A I wrote to help a friend understand some basic. After that I list a good site might have more detail that can help you.
  A Catholic Response to the Top Five Statements for Same Sex Marriages

1.   “We're equal in the eyes of the law, so we're getting married!”
Catholic Response:
a.   It is true that everyone is equal in the eyes of the law. This equality, however, is juridical, not biological. It does not and indeed cannot eliminate the anatomical and psychological differences between the sexes. It is these very differences that create the conditions for marriage and constitute its natural foundation.
b.   Regarding marriage, juridical equality means that all those with the natural capacity to marry have the right to do so. This juridical equality doesn't create the conditions required by nature for marriage.
c.   Now the conjugal act is intrinsically related to marriage, and nature requires two individuals from opposite sexes for its performance. This natural requirement is totally lacking in two people of the same sex who wish to marry, so the principle of equality under the law does not apply.

2.   “We can do whatever we want as long as we don't infringe on other people's rights!”
Catholic Response:
a.   This concept is false. Human liberty grants man the possibility to act as he wishes, but not necessarily the right to do so. Man's actions must conform to right reason and natural law. Nothing more foolish can be uttered or conceived than the notion that, because man is free by nature, he is therefore exempt from natural law.

3.   Are you saying we have no rights because we are gay?
Catholic Response:
a.   It is not true that homosexuals have no rights. Every human male or female has the rights that flow from his/her rational human nature. For examples, the right to birth, to work and to own property.
   
     4. “Same-sex ‘marriage' is a civil rights issue. It has nothing to do with morals!”
      Catholic Response
a.   This is tantamount to affirming that civil rights have nothing to do with morality, which is not true. While many today disassociate the expression “civil rights” from morality, the fact is that there can be no “civil rights” without a moral foundation.

    5. “To forbid homosexuals to marry is discrimination!”
Catholic Response:
a.   It is not discrimination. “The denial of the social and legal status of marriage to forms of cohabitation that are not and cannot be marital is not opposed to justice; on the contrary, justice requires it.”1


Footnotes_________________________________________
1-Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Considerations Regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions Between Homosexual Persons,  no. 8.



The site:
  
http://couragerc.net/


                        your servant but His first
                                george or Rav