While visiting friends in the Baltimore area, I saw Dan Rodricks’ column “A priest speaks up for same-sex marriage” (Nov. 4). As a Catholic priest myself, I am dismayed by Archbishop William E. Lori’s assertion that “preaching … requires subordination of personal views to the word of God” in response to the Rev. Richard T. Lawrence’s nuanced distinctions. It was precisely Jesus’ personal views that led him to freely and frequently dissent in interpreting Torah Law (word of God). This is what prompted the religious leaders of his day to accuse him of “stirring up the people,” according to Luke 23:5. It is the Reverend Lawrence, not Archbishop Lori, who is being faithful to the dissenting tradition of Jesus by distinguishing between marriage as a sacrament and as a social contract.

Emmett Coyne, Exeter, N.H.

(letters page,  baltimoresun.com)

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