Cardinal Timothy Dolan: gay people only ‘entitled to friendship’

NEW YORK – In an interview on ABC’s “This Week” on Easter morning, the United States’ most prominent Catholic, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, said the Catholic church needs to "do better" to ensure its "defense of marriage is not reduced to an attack on gay people.”

But the archbishop of New York insisted that gay people are only “entitled to friendship” with each other.

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"God loves you,” Dolan said, addressing gay Catholics in his interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos. “We want your happiness. And you’re entitled to friendship. But we also know that God has told us that the way to happiness, that – especially when it comes to sexual love – that is intended only for a man and woman in marriage, where children can come about naturally."

Stephanopoulos mentioned that a recent ABC poll had found that 60 percent of American Catholics think the church is out of touch with their concerns.

Dolan admitted that is a challenge for the institution.

“Sometimes by nature, the Church has got to be out of touch with concerns, because we're always supposed to be thinking of the beyond, the eternal, the changeless, okay?” he said. “Our major challenge is to continue in a credible way to present the eternal concerns to people in a timeless attractive way. And sometimes there is a disconnect – between what they're going through and what Jesus and his Church is teaching.”