In terms of the pressure being put on the Church as mentioned in that CDF* document, I think is really what we are seeing happening very forcefully right now. Because the push for gay rights has always been incremental steps. It started for example with domestic partnerships. Even the terminology domestic partnerships and the argument: we just need that so I can visit my gay partner who is in the hospital, we need legal rights, domestic partnerships that was the first thing. Then it moved to civil unions and then it was ratcheted up to same-sex marriage. Well, they’ve achieved all that, in civil law, so the target for so long has been to get recognition in civil law, and now that’s been achieved. So in our country, civil law has recognized same-sex marriage. What they don’t have is moral approval. And the only place that can give them the approval is the Church. So I think that’s the next target here. In terms of putting pressure on the Church in order to give that kind of moral approval to say what you’re doing is morally acceptable. – Bishop Thomas Paprocki
* …this Congregation wishes to ask the Bishops to be especially cautious of any programmes which may seek to pressure the Church to change her teaching, even while claiming not to do so. A careful examination of their public statements and the activities they promote reveals a studied ambiguity by which they attempt to mislead the pastors and the faithful. For example, they may present the teaching of the Magisterium, but only as if it were an optional source for the formation of one’s conscience. Its specific authority is not recognized. Some of these groups will use the word “Catholic” to describe either the organization or its intended members, yet they do not defend and promote the teaching of the Magisterium; indeed, they even openly attack it. While their members may claim a desire to conform their lives to the teaching of Jesus, in fact they abandon the teaching of his Church. – Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons
