America's Largest Catholic Newspaper
In their ruling late last month, the justices of the Supreme Court, by a narrow 5-4 margin, advocated a constitutional right to same-sex marriage in these United States. That much is certain.
That there was momentum in individual states, approximately three-quarters of which had legalized same-sex marriage within their own borders since Massachusetts became the first to do so back in 2004, and among the majority of American people, according to recent opinion polls, also seems beyond dispute.
In a headlong rush to create rights for individuals, where they did not exist before, many other good things, such as the definition of marriage, have been reworked into something much different than what they were.
You don’t have to be constitutional lawyer or a theologian to understand that. No, even a Catholic editor with 25 years of his own stake in the marriage game can easily see it, too.
Before the dawning of our New Millennium, marriage was understood from its very beginning to be the union of one man and one woman. That much was a given, with no discussion, no exceptions. The Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., in a statement issued after the Supreme Court’s decision, said such an understanding “is a truth that predates courts and constitutions…(and) transcends cultures, religions and all time—it is the foundation of civilization.”
Lofty words, to be sure, but they carry the ring of truth. As I said before, you don’t have be an expert to understand that there is a reason why men and women brought together in the bonds of marriage have formed the “building blocks” from the beginnings of civilization. It is not an accident of nature that the bodies of males and females are uniquely suited to work in concert to bring forth new life. That’s a biological reality, not happenstance.
You only have to be paying a little bit of attention to see the challenges traditional marriage has endured in recent decades, stemming from a culture that no longer understands and embraces the gifts it brings to couples and the children they are blessed to raise for the good of society. Those challenges run the gamut from the many young couples who prefer to live together before marriage, or instead of marriage, to the epidemic of divorce in a culture in which the permanence of marriage is flouted at seemingly every turn.
The ruling in favor of same-sex marriage alters the definition of marriage to be something very different than it originally was. You have to give people who support same-sex marriage credit for pushing their agenda in a very organized and dedicated fashion. By emphasizing the “equality” buzzword, they have been able to broaden their camp to activate constituencies well beyond the gay community. It also had the powerful effect of branding those who were against “marriage equality” as bigots. Talk about quieting the opposition.
So exactly where does this leave people like my wife and me, as well as many of you now reading this column? That is, people whose concept of marriage is not swayed by what is currently popular or in vogue.
Well, I hope you will have the courage of your convictions. Let me assure you that it does not make you a bigot. As Christians we are supposed to reach out to others, even those with whom we disagree, with love but also in truth. Our responsibility, as Pope Francis has pointed out, is not to judge others.
Still, when we see things are not as they should be, especially from a public policy point of view, we are supposed to make our voices heard. This battle is far from over.
Many significant religious liberty questions are still to be decided. You have an important perspective to share in this matter. Don’t keep it to yourself.
