Call to Catholic Action: Defense of Marriage Requires Courage and Perseverance

9/20/2011

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innocent human life no matter what the newspeak of the age calls it. It is always and everywhere wrong.

There is an accelerating effort to make homosexual partnerships the equivalent of marriage and use the Police Power of the State to enforce such a restructuring on the rest of civil society. The language of the Anti-Right to Life movement is being used. When sexual behavior between two men or two women is viewed as the foundation of a "right" to marry and those who oppose this equivalency movement are characterized as being against the "freedom" to marry and "equal rights", the revolutionary plan is obvious.

I am disappointed that some who sincerely desired to defend marriage as what it is were so ill prepared and began themselves to fall into these carefully orchestrated verbal traps intended to pave the way in the propaganda battle in order to open the doors to the proponents of the contemporary Cultural Revolution.

True marriage is the preeminent and the most fundamental of all human social institutions. It is a relationship defined by nature itself and protected by the natural law that binds all men and women. It finds its foundation in the order of creation. Civil institutions do not create marriage nor can they create a "right" to marry for those who are incapable of marriage.

The institutions of government should, when acting properly, defend marriage against those who would redefine it. Government has long regulated marriage for the common good. For example, the ban on polygamy and age requirements were enforced in order to ensure that there was a mature decision at the basis of the Marriage contract. In now "redefining" marriage, these renegade Justices and their complicit public officials have imperiled the stability of our society and struck a blow against the common good.

For Judges or legislatures to grant some feigned legal equivalency to co-habiting paramours (homosexual or heterosexual) and then confer governmental benefits upon them does not further freedom it undermines it. It also does not serve the common good it injures it.

To limit marriage to heterosexual couples is not discriminatory now, nor has it ever been. Homosexual couples cannot bring into existence what marriage intends by its very definition. To now "confer" the benefits that have been conferred in the past only to stable married couples and families to homosexual paramours is bad public policy.

The effect of this new legal alchemy is not a true marriage and it will never satisfy those who have been deluded by its false claim. In this new "alchemy", the "officials" of the State have now taken upon themselves the "power" to change the truth.

Theologians and Philosophers speak of ontology as the science or philosophy of being. For example, a rock is a rock and not a cabbage; a man is a man and a woman is a woman. Marriage is ontologically between a man and a woman, ordered toward the union of the spouses, open to children and formative of family. These new cultural alchemists are as fraudulent in their claims as their ancestors who claimed to be able to change cheap metals into gold. History will one day record that their claims were destructive and false.

The enforcers of this new order, whether ruling from the bench or misusing their office in the Legislative and Executive branch, unchecked by any balance of power, have simply followed what the legal positivists have long proclaimed, "The law is what the courts say it is." They have also joined a cultural revolutionary force more potentially lethal to the common good than Chairman Mao's reign of terror was to mainland China.

Make no mistake; those who claim that accepting the new Cultural Revolution is a matter of "tolerance" are the most intolerant. They have unveiled their long planned strategy of forcing their brave new world on the rest of us and will allow no dissent. Notice how intolerant they are of those who, though respecting the dignity of every person, including homosexuals, also insist that marriage is what it is and not what some renegade Court or misguided legislature redefines it to be.

Catholics, other Christians, other people of faith and all people of good will who recognize the vital role that marriage and family serve in the formation of a truly just society must be courageous and persevere. We will be pilloried and persecuted. We must be morally coherent and live a unity of life. Finally, as good and faithful citizens concerned for the common good we need to ask every man and woman running for the Presidency of the United States where they stand on marriage and whether they will defend it against the new cultural revolutionaries.

- - -

Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

Keywords: Marriage, homosexual, gay, family, defense of marriage, Cultural revolution, Deacon Keith Fournier

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1 - 10 of 26 Comments

JeanCatherine
1 year ago
HF

Yes we will all be judge accordingly of course by our faith in whatever it pertains to when the second coming is here.

Places of Interest: Bible, Catechism of the Catholic Church and USCCB, Encyclicals and other documents on the Pastoral Care of Same Sex Unions.

The church is worried about everyone's soul regardless of what they believe. Thats why the call Baptism by Desire for those who are not in the Catholic Faith. In other words those who do believe in what Christ does but are not in His church.

Also I recommend a sight Jean'sBistro2010's search out on this sight for Same Sex information.

Also Courage Apostolate.
johnvikal
1 year ago
@ HF Welcome to the faith. I am a convert, also (2002). Marriage in the Church is not just a piece of paper. It is an efficacious (outward) sign of grace that God gives us. A marriage certificate says that we are entering a contract. Our act of matrimony says that we are entering a covenant with God. During the Sacrament of Marriage, we are exchanging ourselves. In the contract of marriage, we entering in an agreement of received services or goods (aka financially tied together). My husband and I were married at the City Hall in 2004. The officiant was the mayor. She made the vows official with the government. When my husband converted in 2010, our marriage was convalidated by the priest. We have made the Sacrament in the Church, with the priest officiating the covenant (our rings are now sacramentals, which I think is an added bonus). In regards to your parents who “refuse to come into (H)is covenant family”, there are two things you can do: speak the truth (about marriage) when the subject is brought up and pray. Free will can be a pain.

To answer your other question, I don’t think the secular government’s goal is to bring anyone to faith. The federal government recognizes marriage between a man and woman because what comes out the conjugal act? Children. It is physically impossible for a man and a man (a penis and a penis), a woman and a woman (a vagina and a vagina) to create life. Therefore, the idea is to protect opposite-sex marriage so that children can increase population and create more production and economy.
Theresa H
1 year ago
First of all, it appears that there is a new "Theresa" commenting—which is a bit disconcerting--such that I will add an “H” after my middle name that I have been going by on Catholic Online for some time. Hopefully, this (along with my undisclosed e-mail address) will be sufficiently distinguishable.... I would like to say that when we talk about "nature" and "marriage" it should be clear that the homosexual "lifestyle" is not "natural." I say that because in the "natural” way, a homosexual act cannot bring about the conception of a child. The only natural way a child can be conceived is between the union of a man and a woman. And "marriage" is the name given to that "state" (which has also been encoded in civil law) by which "the two become one" and beget a child. (That is why it has also long been called: "the marriage act.") I would add that the USCCB has warned us not to accept the adoption of traditional words (like “marriage”) to express a different /contrary meaning in an excellent Statement (Living the Gospel of Life: A Challenge to American Catholics [Sixth Printing Sept. 2004]). .
Damon Wildeve
1 year ago
Focus your time, energy and money toward helping the elderly, orphans, the poor, hungry and sick. On helping others, loving your neighbor and thanking God for your life while defending the sanctity all human life. When there is no more need for the above you can focus your efforts toward judging and stopping other consenting adults from making their own decisions.
HF
1 year ago
I have an honest question and I think about this a lot, as a recent convert and someone who believes in individual liberty. What is the difference between two atheists or agnostics such as my parents getting married in a civil service and two likewise absent faith homosexuals getting "married". In neither senerio do either couple recognize God nor a covenant with God. This is why Catholics must get married in the Catholic Church and say Catholic vows, marriage inside the church is a sacrament, a binding covenant. But the marriage of my parents is not. Basically what I'm saying/asking is how does through defining non-sacramental civil marriages in a secular government help anybody come to faith? Two people can get married at the courthouse and reject God completely regardless of their orientation. Won't God look upon both my parents who refuse to come into his covenant family the same way as he would look upon two homosexuals who refuse to do the same? For the record, I am not a supporter of same-sex marriage, but I question things like this because some people put this on the top of their list of worries over far worse things that are happening in our country that actually kill and harm people, to where people will support a candidate who wants to define secular "marriage" but who strongly supports the death penalty or loves starting wars or promotes sanctions on countries that have lead to the deaths of thousands.
Alessandra
1 year ago
I am happy to have found a Catholic site that is not a sham!

My recent experience at a sham of "Catholic" site called "First Things/First Thoughts," run by a liberal editor (Joe Carter) who censors conservative viewpoints in discussions about marriage and homosexuality in the most unethical way, only goes to show that there are plenty of "Catholics" who are more liberal and more against Catholic teaching than Unitarians.

And at First Things/First thoughts, they hate freedom of opinion for conservative viewpoints, so posts that question their liberalism on homosexuality and marriage are censored.

It's interesting that Joseph R Yungk, who posts miles of comments on FT, shies away from debating any point here, where underhanded censorship is not the norm. Like a typical liberal, maybe he can only "debate" an opponent if the latter is not allowed to speak?

http://socimages.blogsome.com/2011/09/21/joe-carters-lack-of-ethics-regarding-censorship-on-first-thingsfirst-thoughts/
Theresa
1 year ago
Thanks, Deacon Keith, for the excellent article! No doubt about it, "marriage" in the minds of people all through all the centuries up to our time has been regarded by most every known society as being between one man and one woman. In fact, we know it has been that way "since the beginning" as said in the Bible. Even the "natural law" tells us this--no one can deny this "fact of life!" It grieves me much to see how poor the catechesis is at the "grass roots" level in our parishes and dioceses. Is it any wonder that the number of regular weekly attendees at Sunday Mass has dropped to 25-35% of the "Catholic" population? And that even many of those who do attend on a regular basis can "hardly tell their right hand from, their left....?" The need for adult catechesis, the "New Evangelization" that Pope Benedict XVI has called for is HUGE! He has said (when Cardinal ) that the Church will become very small and will have to start anew, like in the beginning! We also must "watch and pray " that our faith fail not and we not fall into temptation!
John D
1 year ago
Great article. For all those interested here is another series of articles I highly recommend on the subject: http://www.ncregister.com/blog/redefining-marriage-1
mmanske
1 year ago
I am married to a woman and will remain so for the rest of my days, as my faith teaches me. BUT, this does not make me want to force others, through the law, to live as I do. People must be allowed freedom of conscience.
K C Thomas
1 year ago
Congratulations for the excellent article. I would like to ask the protagonists of gay marriage 1 why they do not ask for llegalizing incest
2 why they do not ask for legalizing animal sexual partnership and marriage
3 why they do not ask for legalizing polygamy and polyandry

Only those who do not understand the sacredness of the smallest unit namely "Family" and those who have no experience of family love and discipline can think of devising various means of deriving pleasures detrimental to individuals and society. We can only pray for wisdom to these brethren

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