Blessings of same-sex couples in the Catholic Church

No maybe about it, rings are popular, they are not required. For clarity, are you arguing that Adam and Eve were not married, because the requirements of current UK wedding law are not met in Genesis?

 

Actually I'm arguing that marriage, just because it happened the first time with an opposite sex couple, would not necessarily dictate that that should legally always be the case. Just the preferable situation, (probably - in God's eyes), for many practical reasons. Marriage is a covenanting contract and as such is binding whether the participants to that contract are male/female, male/male or female/female, the contract would be essentially the same in all cases. Its just the practical details that would differ.
.

 

If marriage were just a civil contract, any two or more consenting adults of sound mind could enter marriage. But marriage is meant to be a sacred covenant before God, and God simply will not recognize same-sex "marriages" as valid. Therefore the Church should not recognize them, either.

In the beginning, God made Adam and Steve. And God said, be fruitful and... ah... oops! I'd better fix this... (just kidding!)

 

Of course though, the thread is about the RC issue of BLESSING same sex unions, not marriage. I rather doubt that the church of Jesus Christ, that is, anyone in it, can rightly declare, "Those whom God has joined together let no one put asunder", because as you say, the church does not have knowledge of God's will in the matter. - Nobody knows the mind of God, but God.
.

 

The Bible does make clear some things we can know regarding God's will. Or would you deny that we can know it's God's will that we avoid sin, it's God's will that all should come to repentance, and it's God's will for us to trust in Christ? I would suggest that we can know God's will in regard to same-sex intimacy: He neither blesses nor condones it.

1Co 2:16 “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

 

I think you are correct when you say that God want's us to avoid sin, particularly the kind of sin which harms others. The kind of sin which harms only ourselves might be condoned by God through grace, if necessary even for a lifetime. The fact is that through faith in Christ, God is graciously disposed to overlook our sin in the hope that we might accept the Holy Spirit's help in weaning us away from it. That's what we mean by the term 'sanctification'. By resisting The Holy Spirit's help in overcoming our predisposition to sin we are resisting 'sanctification'.

God's love and grace can overcome that obstacle though. (See my sign off "Love covers a multitude of sins"). I think that is also what Paul meant when he wrote, "But we have the mind of Christ", i.e. The Holy Spirit conveys to us the same understanding of what is good and what is evil, (if we would but listen to his voice), as Christ knows and showed and taught us when he was a human being here on earth. (Matt.24:35, Mk. 13:31, Lk.21:33). Each step along the way towards perfect sanctity in us, is seen by God The Holy Spirit, as a victory gained over sin. We are all of us at different places though, on the path to perfection, but all equally saved by God's grace. Few of us have the spiritual gumption to get there entirely on our own steam though. None of us are 'perfect' yet. We all need God's Grace in the mean-time.
.

 

Since God loves us all, and we know He wants us all to know Him, I do not see this distinction you make here. There is a reason why God wants us to avoid sin, it is because it harms humans, it is not He cares about others, but not "me".

 

I make the distinction because, for instance, God hates divorce, because of the harm it does 'His' children. But he has given us the freedom of choice so is less hateful of the harm we choose to do to ourselves, (such as over indulgence, gluttony, hedonistic greedy pleasure seeking, our own foolish ignorance which may carry injurious consequences). God just wishes we were more wise in our judgments, so as not to suffer the consequences of our own stupidity. God is much less condoning, (as is the law), of the harm we do to others by our foolishness, disobedience and deliberate ignorance.
.

 

I often think of this quote from Richard Hooker when I hear people speak with so much unearned confidence about what is God's will and what God thinks about a given topic:

Dangerous it were for the feeble brain of man to wade too far into the doings of the Most High; whom although to know be life, and joy to make mention of his name, yet our soundest knowledge is to know that we know him not as indeed he is, neither can know him; and our safest eloquence concerning him is our silence, when we confess without confession that his glory is inexplicable, his greatness above our capacity and reach. ~Richard Hooker​

I don't presume to believe I can speak for God nor do I think anyone else can. God's ways are not our ways and God does not see as man sees, at least, that's what I read somewhere once.

 

Hello my name is Richard, I love beautiful girls!

 

Only beautiful ones? What about pretty ones, clever ones, honest ones, obliging ones? And what meaning are you giving to 'love'.

Welcome Richard.
.

 

What if Pope Francis's declaration on same-sex couple blessings is just the beginning of a larger shift in Catholic doctrine? Could this pave the way for a radical rethinking of traditional values within the Church, and how might that impact the faith of conservative Catholics?