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Manipulation of Marriage

A Message to Catholic New Yorkers
From the Bishops of New York State
June 24, 2011
We bishops share with so many of you deep disappointment in the presumption of our state's elected officials in the radical redefinition of marriage. Yet we are heartened by the vigor with which so many faithful Catholic New Yorkers fought to preserve the true meaning of marriage.
Many surely believed that Catholics would simply shrug their shoulders and go along with this radical act of social engineering. Yet you did not do that. Together with people of other faith traditions, you spoke out. Thousands of you, by phone, email, letter or in-person visits to your legislators, and through social media like Facebook and Twitter, as well as hand-signed petitions in the back of your church, let you convictions be known. more

May 16, 2011 - Archbishop Dolan
Catholics are Pro-Marriage; Not Anti Anybody
Social Engineering About The Nature and Purpose of Marriage Is Perilous To All Of Us." more

April 11, 2011 -
One Vote Stops Civil Unions Bill
Archbishop Chaput urges Catholics in Colorado to thank legislators for standing up for marriage. He called on Catholics to thank legislators for rejecting a civil unions bill, saying, “It took courage, especially in an environment of bitter criticism.” more

April 5, 2011 - ncregister.com -- Joan Frawley Desmond
Polls: Do the Numbers Lie?
Survey claims that more American Catholics are breaking with Rome over same-sex relationships. Recent headlines trumpeting Catholic support for "gay rights" suggest that the faithful reject Church teaching. But critics allege that the latest opinion research is part of a political strategy to promote same-sex "marriage" and should not be trusted.
....A new survey suggests that Catholics favor same-sex "marriage," but critics such as Bishop Salvatore Cordileone of Oakland, Calif., advise caution. Bishop Cordileone, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Ad Hoc Committee for the Defense of Marriage, says, "The track record shows that polling data on this issue is not all that reliable. In state after state where this has been voted on by the people, the activists have cited polling data in their favor - but they have not won an election once." more

Bishop Cordileone is right.
Robert P. Jones, Ph.D. CEO and Founder of Public Religion Research Institute and Daniel Cox, Director of Research and Co-founder are or at least had positions in the liberal People for the American Way Foundation:
Robert P. Jones, Ph.D., Director and Senior Fellow
Dan Cox, Policy and Values Research Associate
Center for American Values in Public Life
People for the American Way Foundation
See memo: media.pfaw.org
Also see the People for the American Way Foundation web site: www.pfaw.org/
You can prove anything you want with a survey!

February 23, 2011 -- csmonitor.com
US will no longer defend Defense of Marriage Act in court
In a major policy shift on gay rights, the Obama administration announced on Wednesday that it would no longer defend the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act in cases pending in federal court.
Attorney General Eric Holder made the announcement in a written statement and in a letter sent to House Speaker John Boehner.
It said both he and President Obama had concluded that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) unconstitutionally discriminates against same-sex couples who are in marriages that are legally recognized by their state governments.
"The president has instructed the [Justice] Department not to defend the statute in such cases," Mr. Holder said in his statement. "I fully concur with the president's determination."
Speaker Boehner responded through a spokesman, questioning the timing of the announcement.
"While Americans want Washington to focus on creating jobs and cutting spending, the president will have to explain why he thinks now is the appropriate time to stir up a controversial issue that sharply divides the nation," said Boehner spokesman Michael Steel. more

The Defense of Marriage Act


Marriage is a union and legal contract between a man and a woman. In the mayor religions it is a sacred union. In the Catholic religion it is a Sacrament.
Based on a recent California decision any combination can be ruled legal. Soon they may allow marriages between more than two people, relatives, minors and adults or two minors.

October 25, 2010 -- Monsignor Ignacio Barreiro-Carámbula
The Totalitarianism Of Liberalism Cannot Change The Definition of Marriage
Marriage is a permanent, faithful union between a man and a woman. It is necessarily open to life, creating the proper setting not only for sexual union between spouses, but also for giving birth to, raising, and educating children. As such it is a natural institution and genesis of the family, the most basic element of any society. No matter how some may clamor that this natural view of marriage is somehow oppressive or restricting, they cannot change its basic biological, societal and spiritual character. more

Aug. 16, 2010, -- By Lisa Leff -- Associated Press
Court halts Calif. gay marriages pending appeal
A federal appeals court put same-sex weddings in California on hold indefinitely Monday while it considers the constitutionality of the state's gay marriage ban.
The decision, issued by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, trumped a lower court judge's order that would have allowed county clerks to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples on Wednesday. more

August 13, 2010 -- Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer -- President, Human Life International
Gay Marriage and the End of Christian Civilization
Back in the 90s when Fr. Paul Marx, founder of HLI, was asked his opinion about the efforts to legalize "same-sex unions" he commented in his usual forthright fashion, "When they do that," he said, "it's the end." He meant "the end" of the Christian civilization whose values used to form the basis of American common life. Fr. Marx, in a prophetic sense, saw rightly that a society cannot survive the perverse manipulation of the very structure of reality that God Himself has revealed to us, one very fundamental element of which is the institution of marriage. When we allow that to be changed-"It's the end." more

August 10, 2010 -- By David Agren -- Catholic News Service
Cardinal calls Mexican court decision on marriage 'aberrant judgment
Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera of Mexico City denounced a recent Mexican Supreme Court decision upholding the constitutionality of a same-sex marriage law in the nation's capital as an "aberrant judgment."
The church "cannot stop calling evil, 'evil,'" he said in a statement read after his Aug. 8 homily in the city's Metropolitan Cathedral. more

August 10, 2010 -- Deal W. Hudson -- Inside Catholic
Statement from Bishop Thomas Olmsted on the Prop 8 Court Decision Marriage: a "hang up" or God’s plan? This statement from Bishop Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix on the federal court decision striking down Prop 8 is the strongest I have seen from any prelate. It will be published at the diocesan web site later today. The misguided decision of Judge Vaughn Walker, striking down as unconstitutional the California Marriage Law called Proposition 8, cannot be passed over in silence. On August 9, the Arizona Republic celebrated this decision in an editorial called “Marriage Ruling a Landmark on a Long Road.” Using a typical technique of pro-abortion and anti-marriage proponents, the Republic declared that the march toward homosexual marriage is inevitable: “If this generation of Americans doesn’t move forward, the next one will. Young people just do not share their parents’ hang ups about gay marriage.” more

August 05, 2010 -- James Vicini (Reuters)
The Senate on Thursday approved President Barack Obama's nomination of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court, his second appointment to the high court that decides abortion, death penalty and other contentious cases. more

August 4, 2010 -- Associated Press -- Lisa Leff And Paul Elias
A federal judge overturned California's gay-marriage ban Wednesday in a landmark case that could eventually force the U.S. Supreme Court to confront the question of whether same-sex couples have a constitutional right to wed.
The ruling by Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker touched off a celebration outside the courthouse. Gay couples waved rainbow and American flags and erupted with cheers in the city that has long been a magnet for gays.
..... The ruling "vindicates the rights of a minority of our citizens to be treated with decency and respect and equality in our system," said former U.S. Solicitor General Theodore Olson, who delivered the closing argument at trial for opponents of the ban. more

"vindicates the rights of a minority of our citizens"
Based on this decision any combination can be ruled legal. Soon we may allow marriages between more than two people, minors and adults or two minors.

November 5, 2008 -- Tamara Audi
California voters overturned same-sex marriage rights in a vote that stands to affect how the issue plays out elsewhere in the nation.
Proposition 8, which would establish marriage as a union between a man and a woman, passed with 52.1% of the vote, against 47.9% opposed, with 94.6% of precincts reporting. The approval marks a stunning upset in a $70 million campaign that just weeks ago looked to be running in favor of preserving gay marriage rights.
The passage of Prop 8, as it is known, would be a major victory for religious conservatives seeking to ban gay marriage in other states, and a crippling setback for the gay rights movement nationwide. more

Pastoral Care For Couples Who Are Cohabitating
Bishop Michael Sheehan: No Communion For Cohabitating Couples!

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

We are all painfully aware that there are many Catholics today who are living in cohabitation. The Church must make it clear to the faithful that these unions are not in accord with the Gospel, and to help Catholics who find themselves in these situations to do whatever they must do to make their lives pleasing to God.

First of all, we ourselves must be firmly rooted in the Gospel teaching that, when it comes to sexual union, there are only two lifestyles acceptable to Jesus Christ for His disciples: a single life of chastity, or the union of man and woman in the Sacrament of Matrimony. There is no "third way" possible for a Christian. The Bible and the Church teaches that marriage is between one man and one woman and opposes same sex unions. more

Upholding the Truth About Marriage
From a speech by Bishop Thomas Olmsted on the Proposition 8 Court Decision
Phoenix, Arizona, Aug 10, 2010.

We have great need to rediscover the good news of God's plan for marriage; and we need to resist in the public square all efforts to label this plan as a "hang up" of the past. Labeling homosexual "marriage" as "a right" is not an enlightened idea of the 21st century. It is a novel form of a resurrected falsehood from more than 2000 years ago. It will not stand the test of time, just as it cannot withstand popular opinion now.

In every state in our nation where this issue has been put to a vote of the people (31 of the 50), traditional marriage has won. It is only some activist judges, exercising raw judicial power over and against the will of the people, who have pushed their agenda of so-called "homosexual marriage" on the people.

The Lord calls us to love our enemies and to pray for their conversion. Let us do that. He calls us to affirm the human dignity of every human person, including those who struggle with homosexual tendencies. We gladly do that. He also gives us the grace and responsibility to stand up for the truth in the public square, especially the truth about the fundamental institution of society, marriage. Let us do this with courage and compassion, while speaking the truth in love. Let us keep in mind the words of our Savior: Do not be afraid; I am with you always. more

Papal Address on Natural Law
"The Only Valid Bulwark Against Arbitrary Power"
Monday, 12 February 2007

Natural law is, definitively, the only valid bulwark against the arbitrary power or the deception of ideological manipulation. The knowledge of this law inscribed on the heart of man increases with the progress of the moral conscience.
The first duty for all, and particularly for those with public responsibility, must therefore be to promote the maturation of the moral conscience. This is the fundamental progress without which all other progress proves non-authentic.
The law inscribed in our nature is the true guarantee offered to everyone in order to be able to live in freedom and to be respected in their own dignity.
What has been said up to this point has very concrete applications if one refers to the family, that is, to "the intimate partnership of life and the love which constitutes the married state... established by the Creator and endowed by him with its own proper laws" (Gaudium et Spes, n. 48).
Concerning this, the Second Vatican Council has opportunely recalled that the institution of marriage has been "confirmed by the divine law", and therefore "this sacred bond ... for the good of the partner, of the children and of society no longer depends on human decision alone" (ibid.).
Therefore, no law made by man can override the norm written by the Creator without society becoming dramatically wounded in what constitutes its basic foundation. To forget this would mean to weaken the family, penalizing the children and rendering the future of society precarious.
Lastly, I feel the duty to affirm yet again that not all that is scientifically possible is also ethically licit. Technology, when it reduces the human being to an object of experimentation, results in abandoning the weak subject to the arbitration of the stronger. To blindly entrust oneself to technology as the only guarantee of progress, without offering at the same time an ethical code that penetrates its roots in that same reality under study and development, would be equal to doing violence to human nature with devastating consequences for all. more