Interfaith relations In 2007, George asked Jewish theologians to reconsider descriptions of Jesus in the
Talmud as a "
bastard". In turn, Catholic theologians should examine a softening of traditional
Catholic prayers calling for the conversion of Jews to Christianity. In 2009, he condemned comments made by traditionalist Bishop
Richard Williamson denying the existence of the
Holocaust.
Religious freedom In February 2010, George spoke at
Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, about the need for Catholics and members of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) to protect religious freedom. George also praised the LDS for its efforts to combat poverty,
pornography and same-sex marriage. George further outlined in 2010 how he believed
religious freedoms in the United States and other Western societies were endangered. In a speech to a group of priests, he said, "I expect to die in bed, my successor will die in prison and his successor will die a martyr in the public square. His successor will pick up the shards of a ruined society and slowly help rebuild civilization, as the church has done so often in human history." The quote was originally published online without the second sentence. In a 2014 interview, George said:
LGBTQ rights When a new route was proposed for the 2012 annual
Chicago Pride Parade that would take it past a Catholic church, George told an interviewer: "you don't want the Gay Liberation Movement to morph into something like the
Ku Klux Klan, demonstrating in the streets against Catholicism." In response, LGBT advocates in Chicago called for George's resignation, but George said: "When the pastor's request for reconsideration of the plans was ignored, the organizers invited an obvious comparison to other groups who have historically attempted to stifle the religious freedom of the Catholic Church." Two weeks later, George apologized: "This has evidently wounded a good number of people. I have family members myself who are gay and lesbian, so it's part of our lives. So I'm sorry for the hurt." He said he was "speaking out of fear that I have for the church's liberty and I was reaching for an analogy which was very inappropriate ...Sometimes fear is a bad motivation." LGBT rights advocates accepted his apology. In a 2013
pastoral letter to the Archdiocese of Chicago, George stated that the passage of
same-sex marriage legislation in Illinois, which appeared imminent, would be "acting against the common good of society. This proposed legislation will have long-term consequences because laws teach; they tell us what is socially acceptable and what is not, and most people conform to the dictates of their respective society, at least in the short run". In September 2014, in his column in
The Catholic New World, George alleged that the US Government and society were now approving
sexual relationships so at odds with Catholic teaching that "the church's teaching on these issues is now evidence of intolerance for what the civil law upholds and even imposes" and that "those who do not conform to the official religion, we are warned, place their citizenship in danger." He also cited the requirements of the 2010 federal
Affordable Care Act. He wrote that:In September 2014, George met with a gay music director of a Catholic parish who had been fired after announcing his intention to marry his partner. The man said of the meeting: "I was just again grateful for the opportunity to meet with him, for him to know me, for him to hear my story. ...I think the overall tone was again pastoral." ==Extra-diocesan posts==