Washington D.C., Jan 14, 2016 / 06:08 am
Church workers have to lead people toward Catholic teaching in their public lives, not away from it, the Archbishop of Washington has said. His comments follow the firing of a part-time church cantor after his D.C.-area parish learned he was in a same-sex marriage.
"When a person involved in ministerial activity offers a counter-witness to Catholic teaching by words or public conduct, however earnest they may be, experience shows that it can lead people away from the truth and otherwise have an adverse effect on our mission," Cardinal Donald Wuerl said in a Dec. 31 blog post. "The Church not only must be free to then take corrective steps, it has an obligation in charity and truth to do so."
He added: "no one can claim a right simultaneously to work for the Church and to work against her belief."
"The Catholic faithful, and the other people that our ministries serve, have a right to the Gospel and to receive authentic Church teaching," the cardinal continued. People are denied that right "either through explicit dissent, mis-catechesis or personal conduct that tends to draw people away from the communion of the Church."