Archbishop Dolan Defends Fathers, Marriage and Western Civilization

While one searches the Constitution in vain to find any "right" of two people of the same sex to marry, one immediately locates the right of people of faith not to have intrusive government interfere with the free exercise of religion as the first of the Bill of Rights.Our strong convictions are not anti anybody, but simply pro marriage.

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P>NEW YORK, NY (Catholic Online) - In the aftermath of the horrid display of vularity and perversion called the "Folsom Street Festival" in New York, it is increasingly clear that there is a struggle for the future underway in the West.

The leaders of the homosexual equivalency movement are committed to a future where homosexual sexual practices are considered "morally equivalent" to the sexual expression of marital love between a man and a woman.

They are seeking to enforce in law a future where the positive or civil law of the Nation will force us all to call to be a marriage what can never be a marriage - or face the police power of the State. They are using the courts and the legislatures to enforce a cultural revolution.

Marriage is not simply a "religious" construct.  The Natural Law reveals - and the cross cultural history of civilization affirms - that marriage is between a man and a woman, open to children and intended for life.

Marriage is the foundation for the family which is the privileged place for the formation of virtue and character in children, our future citizens. The family is the first society, first economy, first school, first civilizing and mediating institution and first government.

In his apostolic exhortation on the Eucharist, the Sacrament of Charity, Pope Benedict summarized the duty of the Catholic faithful when confronted with this 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 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."

As the State Senate in New York threatens to commit a form of legislative alchemy by calling what can never be a marriage to be one and then tries to compel all of the people of New York to pay homage to a new Edict from a New Caesar, Archbishop Dolan defends marriage, and the family and society founded upon it. In the words of the Archbishop of New York, "You are claiming the power to change what is not into what is, simply because you say so."
 
The Catholic Church and the message of authentic freedom and true humanism which she proclaims is the only hope for this age being ravaged by a growing counterfeit vision of culture. With great courage, Archbishop Dolan is defending  Marriage and the family and society founded upon it.

On Fathers Day he published this wonderful affirmation of the Truth about family on the "Gospel in a Digital Age". This is a great Bishop who deserves our full support and constant prayer:

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A Father's Day Reflection

June 18th, 2011 Along with so many other people of faith - and of no particular religion at all - we Catholic pastors and citizens persevere, on this Father's Day, in our prayers and efforts to defend the timeless definition of marriage as the loving, faithful union between one man and one woman leading to a family.

At the conclusion of tomorrow's 10:15 Sunday Mass at Saint Patrick's Cathedral, I'll ask for prayers that this noble endeavor, at the heart of nature's understanding of the common good, and historically protected by our country's normative principles, will succeed.

We appreciate and encourage the legitimate concern of some of our thoughtful elected officials to make sure religious freedom is always guaranteed, but still in principle will oppose any radical bill to redefine the very essence of marriage.

While one searches the Constitution in vain to find any "right" of two people of the same sex to marry, one immediately locates the right of people of faith not to have intrusive government interfere with the free exercise of religion as the first of the Bill of Rights.

One has to wonder why the proponents of this radical re-definition, who claim overwhelming popular support, would not consider, for example, a referendum to determine the people's will on such a drastic departure from traditional values?

Please let me once again resist the caricature that we are "anti-gay." Our strong convictions are not anti anybody, but simply pro marriage. We would just as vigorously defend marriage from a demand by a heterosexual, or anybody else, to redefine the very nature of marriage to accommodate a relationship beyond that of one man and one woman.

We celebrate Father's Day. The sacred word "father" implies "mother." The terms "father and mother" presume "husband and wife," and imply "children."

These words are so basic that they're the first ones a baby says; so foundational that they're among the first words of the Creator recorded in the Bible.

Government presumes to redefine these sacred words at the peril of the common good.

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