Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento Defends LDS Role in California Ballot

Last update: 9:26 p.m. EST Nov. 7, 2008

SACRAMENTO, Calif., Nov 07, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- The following statement was released today by Bishop William Weigand, head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento and former Bishop of Salt Lake City, in response to attacks on the Mormon Church for supporting California's Proposition 8, defending the traditional definition of marriage: 

"Catholics stand in solidarity with our Mormon brothers and sisters in support of traditional marriage--the union of one man and one woman--that has been the major building block of Western Civilization for millennia. 

"The ProtectMarriage coalition, which led the successful campaign to pass Proposition 8, was an historic alliance of people from every faith and ethnicity. LDS were included--but so were Catholics and Jews, Evangelicals and Orthodox, African-Americans and Latinos, Asians and Anglos. 

"Bigoted attacks on Mormons for the part they played in our coalition are shameful and ignore the reality that Mormon voters were only a small part of the groundswell that supported Proposition 8. 

"As the former bishop of the Diocese of Salt Lake City, I can attest to the fact that followers of the Mormon faith are a good and generous people with a long history of commitment to family and giving to community causes. 

"I personally decry the bigotry recently exhibited towards the members of the Church of the Latter Day Saints--coming from the opponents of Proposition 8, who ironically, have called those of us supporting traditional marriage intolerant. 

"I call upon the supporters of same-sex marriage to live by their own words--and to refrain from discrimination against religion and to exercise tolerance for those who differ from them. I call upon them to accept the will of the people of California in the passage of Proposition 8." 

SOURCE: Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento 

Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento 
Kevin Eckery, 916-443-2528 
keckery@eckery.com

I am just so sad...

...that people think that Mormons, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, are the only people who supported the passing of Proposition 8 here in California. Why is it that we are singled out when it has been well advertised that the Catholics and several other Christian denominations supported this proposition as well?

There are about 700,000 members that live in California and you are telling me that we are the only ones who supported this when there were 5,417,748 people who voted in favor of this Proposition. Might I add that the money donated was from personal accounts of Mormons, Catholics, and members of many other Christian churches. So the riots that are taking place in front of our temples with the accusations that the church is at fault are really silly. Individual members donated money not The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Again, why is the hate only targeted at this church?

There was an article in the Sacramento Bee on October 13th that has been generating a lot of comments online. This is an except of one of those comments:

"Thank you mormons, and all others, who took a stand against the politically correct in hopes of defending the traditional meaning of marriage. A great person once said, "By thier fruits...". What do you think would have happened if Prop 8 failed? Would Mormons be rioting and protesting in the streets? Would mormons be mocking patrons of gay bars with hate and mocking? Would the blogs be full of hateful words? No one will ever be for sure, but I suspect the defeat would be more gracefully received." - deepaul wrote on 11/06/2008 08:44:10 PM

This issue has made me realize, even more than ever, that we are in the last days, that the world will get more wicked and we will have to stand ever so strong in our faith, even when it is unpopular! I was sent an email with this video attached. May we all seek to be our very best, to be tolerant of differences of beliefs and opinions, and to seek to do all we can to please our Father in Heaven!

Make your voice heard!

Now I don't consider myself to be a politically active person. I mean, I vote at each election and I have my feelings about the major issues and even the minor issues, but I have not been one to really rally around a particular candidate or issue. I have always been involved in student government from Elementary School all the way through College. I have served as a student representative on my home towns School Board. I have been involved, just not walking the precients, making phone calls, attending fundraisers, etc... Well this year is different. I was asked to help with a pretty hot topic proposition here in CA and Ryan and I have a dear friend who is running for school board and he has asked me to be his campaign/event scheduler.

My post today is really meant to introduce my friend, Lance Christensen, who is running for San Juan Unified School District School Board.

I appreciate his desires to really make change and that he is passionate about making our public education system a place that will be a benefit to those who learn there, teach there, and volunteer there.I fully endorse him as a trustworthy and knowledgeable candidate and I hope that you will take a few minutes to check out his website at www.lancechristensen.com