While Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio lashed out against the passage of the marriage equality act, other vocal opponents declined to allow the subject of civil rights and equal protection under the law to bleed into their sermons. Archbishop Timothy Dolan was among them, as his Homily on Sunday had no mention of the historic law. Speaking to reporters after the service, Dolan said, "I sort of needed a good dose of the Lord's grace and mercy because I've been down a little lately as you can imagine." Know what would have cured that summertime blues? The scene last Friday night in front of the Stonewall! It was impossible to be sad there.
Dolan went on to say that he was down because the law is "not good for the common good. I think society and culture is at its peril." Another pastor, Dr. Ronald Ferguson, who preaches in Harlem and Brooklyn, also left the topic out of his sermon and told the Daily News afterwards, "You know about phobias, right? I don't want to say anything else," which is the closest we've heard any of these opponents come to saying they're homophobic. At least Ferguson's taking this "do not bear false witness" thing seriously!
Over at Riverside Church in Morningside Heights, the Rev. Stephen Phelps led his nondenominational congregation in celebrating marriage equality. "Where love is genuine between two people, there is no sin," he said. One churchgoer, a 72-year-old gay man whose friends had died of AIDS, noted, "This new chapter in my life, I hope, is one with more weddings than funerals."
