US Supreme Court To Hear Cases on Changing What Can Never Be a Marriage Into a Marriage

12/10/2012

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marriage and destroy the institution which is the cornerstone of civil society are involved in a return to a pagan practice. They are unleashing anarchy in the social order.

Next, I warned against even using the word marriage when referring to homosexual (or gay) partnerships. This warning did not come from some personal hostility toward persons with same sex attraction but out of a desire for verbal integrity. Homosexual relationships simply cannot constitute a marriage.

As a lawyer and activist I know that in the effort to change the culture, the softening of the language is the most effective early action before a wholesale assault is waged in the courtrooms, the legislatures and the media. Such loaded language eventually destroys the vigilance of those who are caught unaware of its ruthless and corrosive effect.

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 advances and the common good is threatened.

True marriage is the preeminent and the most fundamental of all human social institutions. It is a relationship defined by nature 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 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.

For Judges or legislatures to grant legal equivalency to co-habiting paramours (homosexual or heterosexual) 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. Homosexual couples cannot bring into existence what marriage intends by its very definition. To confer the benefits that have been conferred in the past only to stable married couples and families to homosexual paramours is bad public policy.

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.

The 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 followed what the legal positivists have long proclaimed, "The law is what the courts say it is."

Those who claim that accepting all of this is a matter of tolerance are the most intolerant. 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.

Christians must not participate in the destruction of the institution of marriage. The Sacred Scriptures and unbroken teaching of the Church confirm that marriage is between one man and one woman. Of that there is no doubt. Those who attempt to argue otherwise in the various Christian communities are being disingenuous. They are also false teachers.

Catholic Christians must lead the defense of Marriage. Our Church is the most vocal and clear in the defense of marriage - and the family and society founded upon it. That means we will face the brunt of the persecution which will come.

In his apostolic exhortation on the Eucharist, the Sacrament of Charity, Pope Benedict summarized the duty of the Catholic faithful when confronted with an assault on authentic marriage: "Marriage and the family are institutions that must be promoted and defended from every possible misrepresentation of their true nature, since whatever is injurious to them is injurious to society itself."

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith of the Catholic Church wrote these words in 2003, "The Church's teaching on marriage and on the complementarity of the sexes reiterates a truth that is evident to right reason and recognized as such by all the major cultures of the world. Marriage is not just any relationship between human beings. It was established by the Creator with its own nature, essential properties and purpose."

"No ideology can erase from the human spirit the certainty that marriage exists solely between a man and a woman, who by mutual personal gift, proper and exclusive to themselves, tend toward the communion of their persons. In this way, they mutually perfect each other, in order to cooperate with God in the procreation and upbringing of new human lives."

They are correct. Pray for the Justices of the US Supreme Court. Pray for Marriage.

- - -

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, gay marriage, homosexual marriage, family, United States v Windsor, Hollingsworth, Dennis, et al, v Perry, Kristin M, et al., homosexual equivalency, Supreme Court, Deacon Keith Fournier

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1 - 10 of 13 Comments

Celia
5 months ago
Tom, Jesus would tell the lesbian like he did the adulteress I too do not condemn you . Go & Sin no more. We all know right from wrong at the end of the day. The hardest thing to do today is to be honest & unselfish in order to follow Christ every thing is about ME!!!
Thomas
6 months ago
I agree with the statements that marriage is between a man,woman, and child. Without the communion of children to the mother and father, marriage is reduced to a purely emotional, sexual statement with no benefit to society. It would lack the natural law of life, motherhood, and fatherhood. What would be the purpose of the government being involved at all, tax reason I guess, feeding the treasury.
judy claar
6 months ago
Wow! What responses! And what a mess! Does anyone know their CCD?
Good article Deacon! Prayerful Blessings to All...
Starzec
6 months ago
Just a couple of issues:
First, for those who believe the Church recognizes civil marriages, please re-educate yourselves. I married my wife in a civil marriage some 20 years ago. When I returned to the church in the early 2000's, I was told what I already knew: that I was not eligible to take the sacrements until my marriage was convalidated. At that time, my wife of 15 years and I attended classes and took the test all of which culminated in our being married, again, by a priest. What I realized then and I suspect there is more of now, is that many Catholics are ignorant of the rules. I point to a Catholic friend of ours who was divorced and remarried and divorced again but still participated in the sacrements. When I informed him he should not be doing that, he scoffed at the "silly rules". I said I was pretty sure. He said the priest knew and did not act. I suspect there are several others who participate in the sacrements and are not supposed to be; I imagine there are several more civil married folks who do so unwittingly. If you are worried about gay marriages, they by "silly rules" will not be recognized by the Church.

Second, Throughout the convalidation process, my wife and I joked about how ironic it is to sit in a class being taught how to be married by people, priest and a nun, who have NEVER been married. There will be those who scoff and say they are married to their Faith or to God, but they do not have to wake up with their Faith mad at them for not paying attention to them, God does not pester them to fix the faucet etc. I have never heard of God not talking to someone because that person shrunk his favorite sweater in the wash. The idea that priests and nuns know something about being married, "traditional" or gay, is something the Catholic Church has very wrong.

The real argument is over civil marriage. As I mentioned above, the church struggles with civil marriages in general. It does not have a firm grasp of how to deal with even the "traditional" civil marriages (why Convalidation) let alone the gay marriage issue. When the Church has non-married persons trying to educated those about to be married, when the Church has persons who do not understand the rules and ramifications of their Faith, then there is a serious disconnect between doctrine and practice.
Joseph
6 months ago
Excellent article, Deacon, but what in your opinion is the best way for us to describe long-term relationships of homosexuals under the law. I ask because we all need to be singing from the same hymn sheet on this one, as you quite rightly point out. Would it be best to describe them as 'gay unions', thereby reserving, as you point out, the word 'marriage' exclusively for heterosexuals? Or 'civil unions'? As you have probably heard, in the UK the Conservative government (that's right, Conservative!!) is now ramming through Gay marriage not just before a Government official but in Churches i.e. full Church weddings for gays. They say that no Church will be 'forced' to conduct such weddings but under the law they will be able to if they want to. Of course no one believes this. As soon as the law passes gays will roll up in front of churches, especially the catholic churches, demanding to be allowed to have their wedding in the church. Since they will be refused they will take out legal challenges and everyone knows they will win since under the European Court of Human Rights their cases will be viewed positively. Once this measure is passed, or even before, expect the same tactic to be used in the US. The gay movement and their secularist backers are determined to have gays not just 'married' but 'married' in Churches. And once the Catholic Church refuses (as we will), persecution will begin in earnest. The storm clouds are gathering and dark days are coming for all people of Faith.
vance
6 months ago
The US Supreme Court has left me very pessimistic after they ruled in favor of Obamacare. The problem the church has is that 52% of the faithful believe that Homosexual Marriage is OK. The simple reason for this is that the Faithful does not hear a thing about marriage from the pulpit.
mike robertson
6 months ago
Catholic democrats are to blame for voting again for someone who thinks he (and his daughter) are right and God is wrong as to what constitutes marriage. We should not be surprised at such arrogance. The Catholic democrats' candidate refused to acknowledge God on Thanksgiving Day. I will acknowledge God, not the Catholic democrats or their candidate. The Catholic democrats' candidate also thinks it should be legal to kill girls and boys outside of their mom's womb even after they survived the attempt to kill them in their mom's womb. The Catholic democrats' candidate also continues his relentless immoral and unjust war against the Church. We are threatened with closure of our institutions and even prison for some (I hope it is only some) of our leaders for continuing to obey God and not to obey the Catholic democrats' candidate and his immoral law. Until the Catholic democrats' candidate was elected, we had freedom of religion and no need to worry about our institutions being closed. So we are not surprised that the Catholic democrats' candidate, who is the author of such a corrupt social policy, thinks he knows more than God as to what constitutes marriage.
youkokun
6 months ago
Tom McGuire, you've got something there. Of course we can't speak for Jesus like Protestants tend to do and claim knowledge of His political stances, but we know He is merciful yet holy; He loves all sinners yet arrived and was "pierced for our transgressions", that is He became a sacrifice so that we might become holy inheritors of the Spirit. In Beaverton, OR, there are about two regular Catholic churches, and then there's one church that claims to minister to both Catholics and Lutherans who support homosexuality. I think this church is confused, and true Catholic leaders must minister to them wth disciplinary action. Jesus would have said to the lesbian what He said to everyone else: "Cast down your net and follow Me."
Tom McGuire
6 months ago
Although we repeat over and over again the natural law can be known by reason, it would seem many, perhaps the majority of people most of whom are reasonable, are not convinced by the argument of natural law. Marriage between a man and a woman for Catholics is a Sacrament. Catholics would do well to place greater emphasis on preparation for entering into a valid marriage, and when a relationship fails to find a way through forgiveness to reconcile partners. Good marriages are the most important witness of Christian marriage.

The issue of state definition of marriage will not be determined by the Catholic Church; members of the Church must participate in the civil process that defines legal marriage. It would be wise to not just stand against what is considered to be against natural law, but find ways to include homosexual people in the community as full participating members. If the woman at the well had been a lesbian, what would Jesus have said?
Rob
6 months ago
I think this is another area where the church's neglect of real life marriages has created a circumstance where we have no credibility. The teachings are right, but with divorce rates in our own ranks that are similar to the nonbelievers, it's hard to get those to take us at our word. Do what we say, but don't do as we do. Does not work.

Personally I think this ship has sailed. We find ourselves like the bridesmaids with no oil.

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