The following comes from a July 28 entry on Cardinal Roger Mahony Blogs L.A.– “the official blog of the Archbishop Emeritus of Los Angeles, Cardinal Roger M. Mahony.
In the past several months the Catholic Church has been alerting everyone in the nation to the great new dangers affecting religious freedom: The government determining what constitutes a Church, who belongs, and what services they may or may not offer, and to whom.
The end of June leading to the 4th of July we Catholics celebrated a “Fortnight for Freedom” to highlight the present dangers to our constitutional religious freedoms, and to point out how the federal government increasingly attempts to restrict those freedoms, as well as to regulate how Churches live out their freedoms.
The latest visible and glaring example of people in government punishing people for holding differing beliefs from government leaders focuses on a chicken sandwich.
Chick-fil-A is a national restaurant chain which specializes in chicken sandwiches, other chicken foods, as well as various sides, drinks, and desserts.
Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy has consistently backed “the biblical definition of a family,” and his foundation has contributed to groups working to maintain the traditional definition of a marriage — one man and one woman. He later added, “I think we are inviting God’s judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at him and say, ‘We know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage’.”
Sounds to me like speech from a son of God and speech guaranteed by the First Amendment to our Constitution.
But three liberal Mayors not only attacked Cathy’s beliefs and words, but they threatened to block any Chick-fil-A restaurants from being opened in their cities. Those threats were not veiled.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel of Chicago stated “Chick-fil-A values are not Chicago values,” and threatened to make it impossible for Cathy to open any more stores in Chicago. He’s probably too late. There are 19 stores across Illinois, and several are on or near college and university campuses.
Mayor Thomas Menino of Boston offered this: “There is no place for discrimination on Boston’s Freedom Trail and no place for your company alongside it.” Massachusetts has two stores, and I suspect that this outrageous comment will prompt new ones to open. How a Mayor could so violate the true meaning of the historical basis of the Freedom Trail is staggering. The Freedom Trail takes visitors past the many important places in the development of our freedoms as Americans. Can one walk along such locations as the Shaw Memorial or the Park Street Church in Boston and not realize that such places stand for the very freedoms Mr. Cathy is expressing?
Mayor Edwin Lee of San Francisco tweeted: “Closest Chick-fil-A to San Francisco is 40 miles away and I strongly recommend that they not try to come any closer.” California has 59 stores, Mayor Lee, and more are in the works.
Mayor Richard Bloomberg of New York brought some constitutional sense to these outrageous remarks mocking the faith beliefs of Mr. Cathy. He said: “…trampling on the freedom to marry whoever you want is exactly the same as trampling on your freedom to open a store.” Although he favors gay marriage, nonetheless, he realizes that basic freedoms are at stake.
New York lawyer Richard Socarides, a former Clinton White House adviser on gay rights, said Bloomberg is right. “Consumers can disagree with a company’s corporate political position and decide not to spend money there, but the city cannot regulate speech by denying someone a permit to operate their business just because you disagree with their political beliefs.”
Amen. But there is more to the issue than political beliefs. These are deeply held faith beliefs, and those beliefs have various values underpinning them.
Regarding marriage, the question is rather simple: Is marriage of God’s origin? Or, is marriage of government origin? We Catholics and many others of similar belief shout loudly that marriage is of God’s origin, and we will never stop our efforts to maintain that understanding and practice of marriage in our broader society.
All Catholics, but especially Catholic business leaders, should be in the forefront of efforts to protect all religious liberties and freedoms across our nation. Because as we have just seen, lots of folks out there are eager to punish us for clinging to and expressing our faith beliefs, values, and practices. If government can “punish” a store owner for his faith beliefs and threaten to close his store because of those beliefs, then we are all in big trouble.
We as Catholics need to stand tall, know our faith beliefs, and proclaim those to the whole world in the name of Jesus Christ!
And after good people of various faiths support the Catholic Church for freedom of religion – the President of the USCCB, Cardinal Dolon invites President Obama to the Al Smith dinner for a public night of socializing and photo-ops.
This is all done in the name of Catholic Charities to help poor children within the NY Diocese, with no consideration for the 1 Million murdered children in the USA within one year.
SCANDAL !
Thank you Oscar for courageously expressing the sentiments of many Catholics.
Archbishop Dolan has even stated that the Obama White House is “strangling” the Catholic Church. Photo ops at banquet dinners are often misconstrued as endorsements for votes. This IS scandal.
It is good to hear Cardinal Mahony come to the defense of the Chic-fil-A. CEO. and religious freedom. These same words, “Sounds to me like a speech from a son of God and a speech guaranteed by our First Amendment to our Constitution” that Cardinal Mahony used about the CEO of Chick-fil-A, could be said about Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore’s powerful words.
Lifesite News, Anaheim Calif. July 9, 2012 ” Archbishop William E. Lori, the US Bishops lead man in the fight for religious liberty says, “Catholics CANNOT VOTE for any candidate who supports intrinsic evil, in a clear reference to President’s Obama’s HHS mandate.”
“For Catholics taking to the polls in November, the prelate said, “The question to ask is this: “Are any of the candidates of either party, or independents, standing for something that is intrinsically evil, evil no matter what the circumstances. If thats the case, a Catholic regardless of his party affiliation, shouldn’t be voting for such a person, he added.”
Thank you Oscar
I am not a fan of this chicken and I don’t agree with these folks political belief, HOWEVER, they have the right to set up shop wherever they want, even here in SAN FRANCISCO!! The sole intent of this company is to force their concept of marriage on everyone even those that don’t eat their FOWL meals!!
Chick-fil-A does not discriminate against anyone in their services. How would they even know you are a sodomite unless you made it so obvious that you would be distracting their other good customers. Being effeminate does not correlate to being a sodomite!
May God have mercy on your poor soul, Cor 1:24-27
Kenneth M. Fisher (I am in the Anaheim, CA phone book under that name)
Go Ken!
Cardinal Mahony of late has been engaging the culture wars. Wish he had done more of that during his bishopric of Los Angeles.
Agreed.
A very mild, but nonetheless,welcome endorsement of Dan Cathy and Chick-fil-A in the battle to retain marriage as a sacred act between a man and a woman.
Is this a sign that Cardinal Mahony is finally coming to realize that the Left, primarily Democrat and hard core anti-Catholic, has been merely using/abusing the Church for the last fifty years?
The Left has bought the Bishops with federal funding for “social justice” programs, and in return, the Bishops have trivialized abortion and homosex as almost non-issues. Otherwise, the Bishops would be falling all over themselves to heap praise on Romney for selecting Paul Ryan as Vice presidential pick. Contrast Ryan with Biden—Ryan is Irish Catholic with strongly held moral beliefs upholding the right to life and marriage. Biden is a Catholic in name only who champions baby killing and homosex.
Only silence—thus far—from the Bishops.
Where is the BIG OUTRAGE from the media to demanding these three intolerant bigots to be removed from office and why hasn’t there been a demand to boycott these cities until these mayors are removed? Once again, a double-standard. I sent two e-mails demanding the mayor of Boston to remove himself from office and of course, no reply. Sadly we don’t have a Chick-Fil-A near us, so I can’t try their food, but, we do have Wendy’s and of course, I will boycott them, along with eating anymore Cheerios, Betty Crocker products, Oreos, shopping at Home Depot and throwing Kermit and his misguided friends out of my house. My daughter was down in Atlanta, Georgia last month before this great event happened and she said that the food was very good. +JMJ+
Jon Stewart of The Daily Show jumped on it the same day and condemned the mayors’ actions. Of course there were a lot of rude jokes about getting the special sauce on one’s face, and he didn’t call the meat “chicken” but something else. It would be hard to find anybody more overtly liberal than Stewart.
The Daily Show has more viewers than Fox News, fewer than “The O’Reilly Factor”. If you want to criticize “the liberal media” this is Ground Zero.
This attack on a restaurant chain was an attack on all who believe in Marriage-not same-sex sham Caesar sanctioned so-called “marriage” which is a Satanic caricature of a Sacrament.
maybe the hot dog joint DER WIENERSCHNITZZEL will be next, although the symbolism would be…peculair…
The symbolism of that post isn’t peculiar at all, especially when considering the sum of you’re often peculiar posts.
Drop your grudge. Be a Christian.
haha now that one is funny, grudge? What grudge? but drop your comments and be a real Christian….do as Jesus did to the money changers in the temple..
May the Lord bless and keep Cardinal Mahony! Just as pro-abortion counter-demonstrators I have observed try to cover up the photographs of massacred unborn babies that pro-life people carry, homosexual marriage proponents and their liberal supporters seek to suppress expression of the truth of authentic marriage any way they can. Same-sex marriage is just the latest assault on God’s holy institution, which in recent years has suffered greatly through skyrocketing incidences of cohabitation, divorce, use of artificial birth control, separation, and, of course, the fallout upon the innocent: uncounted numbers of broken families and fatherless children.
Things like the controversy over this restaurant company and the HHS mandates that will force Catholic business owners to pay for abortions and artificial contraception through mandated insurance constitute the opening salvo in what amounts to persecution by the government. The Cardinal is right (unusual, in my view) that every such effort be opposed vigorously. The government is starting to be more and more aggressive in its attempts to control every aspect of our lives. The Constitution – in the government’s view – is what THEY say it is. I foresee some huge struggles coming.
The first day of every month should be “Chick-fil-A Day”
I never thought I’d hear myself say this, but, “yeah, Cardinal Mahony!”
While cardinals speaking out on chicken sandwiches may sound absurd, that the Catholic Church will defend the rights of all individuals and organizations (and not just our own) not to be forced to recognize evil by state fiat is good and necessary. Thank you, Your Eminence,
Spoken like a true shepherd of God’s people. It may be late in the game, but it is good to see Cardinal Mahony speaking truthfully about our faith and defending the teachings of Jesus Christ. God Love You.
Nice to hear this from the Cardinal…as Catholics we would never argue the point that marriage is of God’s origin. For those who do not believe, we of course, pray, but can add; marriage between one man and one woman is also supported by natural law…something that they can’t deny.
I am pleasantly surprised, and at the same time I am hoping that Catholic leaders will start to suspect that their remarkably naive alliance with Democrats over the last many years was not such a good idea.
Chick Fil A is not forcing their beliefs on anyone…….Unless of course you consider that they are forcing you to eat chicken instead of beef. A business owner has the right to his or her personal beliefs and has the right to incorporate those into their corporate policy as a matter of practice. Chick Fil A does not refuse to serve anyone their chicken sandwiches. If one doesn’t agree with the owner’s personal beliefs, you have the right to not spend your money at any of his stores.
Cardinal Mahony is evolving in a welcome direction these days. Wonder if now we can persuade him to call for and lead baby-saving prayer vigils outside the many abortion mills that prey upon his flock so devastatingly?
the chicks have come home to roost!
Catherine you got to admit max can be creative though….whew….would it be wrong if I laughed?
Catherine now looking back at his comments to you, I guess laughing would not be appropriate….my apologies…I shouldn’t encourage such behavior, his disrespect towards ladies isn’t too handsome or pretty should I say.
Thank you, Cardinal Mahoney, for your most excellent article.
What about the Catholic Christian Book & Gift Stores who have been on the front lines supporting there churches and community in the fight for religious freedom,. Most close on Sundays “The Lord’s Day”. All distribute free religious information and support our church doctrines.
Awesome AL…yes we already support them too but CHick fil a made news because Mayor’s of other states have boycotted…that is why it stands out..
Thank you Cardinal Mahoney for defending the faith!
1928 quote by G.K. Chesterton:
“These are the days when the Christian is expected to praise every creed except his own.”
–
G.K. Chesterton in the Illustrated London News, August 11, 1928
Steveo, another great Chesterton quote (in re:Chicago’s bigoted mayor)
On his first trip to America, he(Chesterton) announced he would not travel farther west than Chicago, because having seen it, after having seen Jerusalem, he had seen the two extremes of civilization. (from Crisis of Saints, Fr Rutler) I haven’t been to Jerusalem, but having been to Chicago a few times, I certainly know I’ve seen something extreme and do not care to repeat the experience. From what I’ve read and seen about all the rules and regulations and high taxation and license fees of that city, I can’t imagine any business wanting to open there.
This came as a complete surprise! Cdl Maloney is not exactly known as a political right-winger. His past statements and associations place him solidly on the left. I am nevertheless pleased that he is taking a stand in support of traditional marriage.
A gay Chick-Fil-A employee told of how the people she worked with went on about how it was wrong not just for gays to marry, but to exist. One said, “I hope the gays go hungry.” But honestly, a lot of people do wish that gays didn’t exist and would be happy to see them disappear. A lot of them are getting the message.
Well, Mark from PA, I think many do wish that the decadent behavior in same LGBT parades would just disappear, and rightly so, and that they would stop yelling about “rights” to which they are not entitled, such as “marriage” between two people of the same sex..
MarkfromPA,
Mark, Did you make up that story just to try and make Chick-fil-A look bad? Where did you read or hear this? What specific store location did this story take place?
So are you going stop eating at Chick-fil-A because the owner of the company thinks that homosexual acts and same sex unions are wrong?
Tell me Mark, are homosexual activists going to stop buying gasoline because the owners of OPEC put homosexuals to death?
Great points! Catherine.
I read a news story on another site, Catherine. I have never actually been to a Chick-fil-A. They don’t have them where I live.
PA try flying out to one…you may like it. Taste religious freedom
Abeca Christian, if I were to fly somewhere it would be to San Francisco to attend the Latin Mass at the Church of the Most Holy Redeemer. That would be a real example of religious freedom in action.
PA and if you do fly out there for Mass, you may want to pass out the flyers that help protect the true definition of marriage, help spread the good news of the teachings of the church!
God made two cities of gays disappear in one big flash, back in the day.
no we need a drive for heterosexual hamburgers, too…
and tridentine tofu-burgers…
Just more evidence of the very bad formation that has been allowed in certain seminaries. One moment sounding very faithful for Apostolic visits, or posts on Catholic websites. The next moment, the real allegiance comes out.
Excellent Catherine! You were more kind, my last post was not so kind to max, well in the eye’s of the editor…..in my book max deserved that not permitted post!
i know, CATHERINE, i’m just an enigma.
but you sure know how to keep me on my toes!
do you really think i have a vocation? if so, i can apply to your local seminary, and maybe one day we’ll work together on your parish liturgy committee – won’t that be fun?
i think you have a vocation, too – i picture you as a mitered abbess of old, holding croizier and keeping your nuns in line. like st. brigid. or hildegard of bingen.
and the editor let that max comment go through? men must stick together but I can say is that it was a stupid comment!
The first time I heard Dan Cathy speak on biblical beliefs, I wanted to get up and applaud the man, which I eventually did. Why can’t all of our Bishops speak out in that same tone? Most of the time I hear Catholics say politically correct comments in defense of Marriage, but it is sometimes not directly at getting to the point but sometimes gives a confused impression. We had another Archbishop back up what Dan Cathy said in defense of marriage but it was hardly reported. Cardinal Mahogany may have done a great deed here but aren’t we seeing the fruit of what he has left behind from the past when he was in charge? I mean look how cancer spreads and now California has and continues to defy God in the voting booths.
Dan Cathy is not Catholic but holds truths that come from Christ, and he apparently display that he fears the Lord and would defend marriage. Honoring God meant more to him than possibly losing business. I often ponder at the idea that God has allowed other Christian sects to come alive and growing because our Church has neglected to feed His sheep…. and we are seeing what they reap for not doing what Christ has commanded them to do. Would Dan Cathy hold such strong biblical convictions in Christ had he been raised Catholic at a Modern day church or liberal city/state? CATHOLICS NEED TO GO BACK TO READING THEIR BIBLES, Build strong convictions in BIBLICAL TRUTHS, we hold the power and answer to the wholeness of the truth that our protestant brothers and sisters lack, imagine how much more power we hold when we do not take for granted what our Lord has handed down to us for a happier life here on earth!
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is prudence. ~~Proverbs 9:10
and
The Fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom. Fools despise wisdom and instruction. ~Proverbs 1; 7 from Douay Rheims bible.
That is why it’s important that not only do we study, learn the faith using the CCC, Bible and writings of the saints etc….for with these done in humility, praying for fear of the Lord to grow in our hearts, to understand that God does exist but also to live our lives knowing that very truth! Remove from thine hearts all the great evils that lead one to take God for granted and all of His truths that lead us to live a happy and contrite heart! For happiness leads to great joy when we leave earth to meet with our Lord!
Correction ….Remove from thine hearts all the great evils that lead one to take God for granted and WELCOME all of His truths that lead us to live a happy and contrite heart! For happiness leads to great joy when we leave earth to meet with our Lord!
Retirement has produced a kinder, gentler Cardinal Mahony. Had this epiphany occurred earlier perhaps we could have secured one every-Sunday Traditional Latin Mass in Westside or Downtown Los Angeles. I wrote His Eminence stacks of letters following all procedures listed in Summorum Pontificum but the Cardinal’s heart was still in the stone period wnen he was in power. Glad to learn it has softened up for “Gay” marriage. We still have no TLM in Downtown or Westside Los Angeles, an Archdiocese with 5 million baptized Catholics. Not a single FSSP personal parish came from Archbishop Gomez despite over a thousand (unanswered) requests from Una Voce. The time is right for all of us to join forces as get on with the new Evangelization requested by our Holy Father for October.
SSPX in Arcadia and San Pedro.
I do not disagree with his statement , but considering his history , the scandals ,his actions , responsibility and response to them .I can’t help but think he is trying to rehabilitate his legacy and image .
Strange that the good Cardinal has pitched in on this issue after allowing gay activists to gain a foothold within the Diocese during his reign.