by Kirsten Andersen
NAPA, Calif., September 17, 2013 (LifeSiteNews) – Minneapolis Archbishop John Nienstedt has again angered pro-abortion and homosexual activists with remarks he made at a Catholic conference in California last month in which he referred to pornography, homosexual acts, contraception and abortion as “evil forces” used by Satan to destroy natural family relationships and destabilize civilization.
“Today, many evil forces have set their sights on the dissolution of marriage and the debasing of family life,” Niendstedt told his Catholic audience. “Sodomy, abortion, contraception, pornography, the redefinition of marriage, and the denial of objective truth are just some of the forces threatening the stability of our civilization.
“The source of these machinations is none other than the Father of Lies. Satan knows all too well the value that the family contributes to the fabric of a good solid society, as well as the future of God’s work on Earth.”
The liberal blogosphere reacted with sarcasm and anger to the archbishop’s statements after they were published in Legatus Magazine’s September issue.
“The Catholic Archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis, John C. Niendstedt, believes that satan [sic] invented birth control, condoms and gay marriage,” wrote Salon’s Katie McDonough. “Hail satan [sic], I guess?”
Blogger Bridgette LaVictoire of the gay website Lez Get Real called Nienstedt “a hardline theocrat” and accused him of “interfering in temporal politics” and “demonizing and destroying” homosexuals with his comments.
But blogger Jesse Marx at the liberal Minneapolis City Pages, which recently bestowed upon Nienstedt the title “Best Villain of the Twin Cities” for his stalwart opposition to redefining marriage, said no one should have been taken off guard by the archbishop’s statements, since it’s the same thing he’s been saying all along.
“No surprise here. Nienstedt has been saying these things for years,” wrote Marx. “Throughout the [gay marriage] debate, he used his position to bully proponents and demonize fellow Catholics who disagreed with him. He donated more than $650,000 of church money to the anti-gay-marriage cause.”
David Badash of gay website The New Civil Rights Movement claimed that because Minnesotans voted just a few months later to allow homosexuals to ‘marry’ – “just as God intended,” Badash asserted – the money the archbishop spent fighting marriage redefinition was wasted.
Criticizing Nienstedt’s remarks as an “ugly anti-gay attack,” Badash added, “If the 30 Catholic Archbishops in the United States were ranked by degree of anti-gay activism and homophobia … John Nienstedt … would certainly be near the top.” He lamented that the archbishop is apparently “unrepentant” for his activism during Minnesota’s gay marriage vote.
Archbishop Nienstedt’s remarks, which were originally made before a private Catholic audience, were part of a larger speech drawing parallels between the family and society, in which the archbishop argued that attacks on the traditional family consisting of a married mother and father and their children would ultimately lead to the collapse of society at large.
“Since the beginning of man’s life on Earth,” Nienstedt said, “the family has served as the cornerstone of society. The integrity of the family set the standard for society from the beginning of time as the underpinning of our civilization, reflecting the beneficial differences between men and women and the complementarity of their hearts, minds, and bodies. Aristotle argued that the natural progression of human beings flowed from the family via small communities out to the polis. The state itself, then, as a natural extension of the family, mirrors this critical institution.”
The archbishop told his audience that just as attacks on the family inevitably wind up damaging the culture, positive cultural change can only come from families living authentically Catholic lives.
“Politics cannot solve the cultural problems that the family faces today,” said Nienstedt. “Clearly, the fundamental causes of the decline of the family are rooted in an erosion of spiritual development. Those who have been baptized and confirmed in the Catholic faith share in the Church’s mission of salvation and are called to make the Church present and active as salt and light to the world. We cannot stand by and allow false ideologies to crumble the moral foundations of our civilization and the vital institution of the family.”
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