Local priest disturbed by gay marriage ruling

By: RAYMOND PARTSCH III
Managing Editor

Father Mitchell Guidry did not mince words during Friday mass.
The Our Lady Queen of All Saints Catholic Church priest was more than disappointed with the Supreme Court’s decision on gay marriage on Friday. The high court, in a 5-4 decision, declared that same-sex couples have the right to marry anywhere in the United States.
“First of all I will be very honest,” Guidry said. “I am not surprised but I am disappointed and I can even say that I am disgusted. I now know how priests felt in January 1973 when the court also made abortion legal.”
Guidry, an ordained priest for 18 years, firmly believes that the court’s landmark decision will have a harmful and sweeping impact on the United States and beyond.
“We just kind of killed the soul of America,” Guidry said. “The whole purpose of marriage is to unite a husband and wife and for that union to bring upon new life. Family is the building block of society. Without marriage, without marriage being what God had attended, you have destroyed civilization.”
Guidry believes that many men of the cloth from across the state and country will refuse to officiate marriages, including himself. Guidry believes that a line has been drawn in the sand and that fight over same-sex couples marrying is far from over.
“People can only take so much,” Guidry said. “Once they have had enough people are going to rebel against this. You are going to find ministers and priests that won’t perform these marriages.”