Posted on January 19th, 2010 by Anne Underwood
Catholics for Marriage Equality [C4ME] encompasses faithful Roman Catholics throughout the United States who support civil marriage for same-sex couples. Our commitment arises from our Catholic social justice tradition based in Hebrew and Christian scriptures. Our calling is to include the marginalized in the riches of society. C4ME's particular justice focus is same-sex marriage equality.
C4ME can denote any Catholic individual or group that affirms the C4ME purpose: (1) to give hope to those who are hurt and angry by our bishops' determination to block civil marriage for same-sex couples and (2) to disseminate truthful information respectfully stating why civil marriage equality is a matter of civil rights and social justice that Catholics can support as a matter of informed conscience and political opinion.
This web site is registered to Charles G. Martel, LICSW of Boston, Massachusetts and Anne Underwood, Esq, of Topsham, Maine. The centerpiece is the Declaration of Conscience adapted from similar documents used to wide acclaim in Massachusetts and Maine. Our goal is to obtain on this site signatures of Catholics throughout the country. Whenever a bishop denounces same-sex marriage and seeks to sway public officials against marriage equality, this Declaration will demonstrate that not all Catholics agree with that bishop's political opinion.*
From our experiences leading C4ME efforts in our respective states, we believe a web site that Catholics in any venue can consult for ideas, articles, press release examples, bumper stickers, buttons and banners, etc. will contribute to our shared goal of civil marriage equality. We hope our ideas will be adapted to fit particular demographic and political requirements; we expect that they will be used with respect and, where names are given, with attribution to the author/photographer. Our prayer is that each of you will share with us and others through this site your experiences, perspectives, frustrations and joys so that all of us can be enriched, informed, inspired and increasingly effective.
As has been the credo of the Catholics for Marriage Equality folks in Massachusetts and Maine, we continue to affirm that our justice work is born from our experience that God is Love and all who love, live in God.
Please join with us in advocating as faithful Catholics for same-sex civil marriage as an affirmation of God's love. We look forward to hearing from you and working with you in this our common effort.
Welcome!
Charles and Anne
* Full name, city and state are required and will be displayed on the Declaration signatures pages. Email address and/or phone numbers are strongly encouraged and will not be displayed. Organizers of Catholic efforts for same-sex marriage in particular venues may request the private information from the site's owners. This information will not be released directly. The site's owners will send email notice to each person in the requested venue notifying them that organizing efforts are underway, their voice is needed, and provide to the signer their area organizer's contact information for the signer to respond or not. Depending on demand, there may be a small service charge to the organizer (not the signer) for providing this email notification. [policy subject to modification]
