Let's be clear, marriage in America is already a civil union per church doctrine UNLESS you're a Catholic married in a church or in specific instances where a Catholic marries someone else outside the church but still married by a priest. 1/3 https://twitter.com/wcruz73/status/1318912347507986434

Trust me, there were classes and a weirdly intrusive questionnaire that my family priest KNEW I was lying on (he did not care) before our church wedding.

But, the Catholic church does not limit things like adoptions to only people sacramentally married in the Church! 2/3

So if the church recognizes non-sacramental heterosexual couples AND the church decides to recognize civil unions, the American catholic church won't have good reasons to exclude gay married couples from MOST stuff. (Which is what a lot of progressive parishes already do). 3/3