Archbishop of New York Timothy Michael
Dolan says gay and lesbian unions are “beautiful and noble,” but
not good enough for marriage.
Dolan, who was elected president of the
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in November, made his comments on
the CBS newsmagazine 60 Minutes.
“I have a strong desire to play
shortstop for the Yankees,” Dolan told Morley Safer. “I don't
have a right to, 'cause I don't have what it takes.”
“And that would be what the church
would say about marriage.”
“We would say, marriage by nature,
marriage by definition, is between man and woman, for life, giving
children. Don't tamper with the definition.”
“It is a right for those who can live
up to those expectations that are just encoded in the definition.
It's not a right to those who can't.”
When Safer stated that gay marriage
doesn't attack heterosexual marriage but “just alters, only
slightly, the definition of marriage,” Dolan disagreed.
“Where would then the tampering
stop?” he rhetorically asked.
“I mean I love my mom. I don't have
the right to marry her. OK, so there are certain rights and
attractions in life that are very beautiful and noble, but don't
entitle you to marriage.” (The video is embedded in the right
panel of this page.)
A
survey released Wednesday found a larger majority of Catholics
support civil marriage for gay couples.