Catholic Action: Defend Marriage, Family, Archbishop Nienstedt, Common Good

Marriage and the family are institutions that must be promoted and defended from every possible misrepresentation of their true nature

'We urge our state government, our fellow Catholics, and all people of good will in the state of Minnesota to support marriage, both in theory and in practical measures that safeguard, promote and enhance the institution of marriage and its inseparable counterpart, the family. One practical measure would be the passage of a constitutional amendment clearly defining marriage as a union of one man and one woman. Changing the definition of marriage and legitimizing same-sex unions would work against the socially vital goal to support and strengthen marriage between one man and one woman, as it has always been understood.'

P>COLLEGEVILLE, MN (Catholic Online) - We have covered the courageous leadership of Archbishop John Nienstedt who, with his brother Bishops, sent out a DVD to over 400,000 of the faithful defending marriage and calling the faithful to do so with their votes in the upcoming elections. This defense of true marriage is why he is being opposed by homosexual equivalency activists. Some among them seek to compel all of us to call what can never be a marriage to be one - and use the Police Power of the State to enforce their new regime. The Homosexual Equivalency Movement is behind open defiance right within the sanctuary of the Catholic Church at the Liturgy on the campus of St. John's University when the Bishop presided. 

Archbishop John Nienstedt defends marriage as between one man and one woman, intended for life, open to children - and the family and society founded upon it. He has shown "Episcopal Courage in Defending Marriage and Family". He teaches with fidelity what the Catholic Church teaches. He affirms what the Natural Law reveals to all men and women through the exercise of reason and promotes the common good of society.

Marriage based family is the first society, first government, first school, first economy, first church and first mediating institution of civil society. When it fourishes, society flourishes. Defending true marriage is the way to defend the real common good. Through his leadership on this vital front, the Archbishop has now become a hero to the faithful. His efforts are of great importance in the unrelenting attack against authentic marriage and the family and society founded upon it.

Authentic marriage - and the family founded upon it - is the foundation of civil societies across ethnic, geographical, religious and racial communities. Marriage is not simply a "religious" construct. It is an institution revealed by the Natural Law which can be known by all through the exercise of reason. Homosexual sexual acts, even if engaged in with one partner for a long time, are not the equivalent of a marriage, no matter what any court or legislature may say. We must not allow marriage to be redefined or replaced by Cultural Revolutionaries.

At the point of the arrow in this effort to undermine true marriage are efforts by activist groups such as the "Human Rights Campaign" to equate in the law how one engages in non-marital sexual acts with a member of the same sex to being a member of a particular race or gender, thereby making practicing homosexuals a "protected class" for civil rights purposes. This is legally and socially dangerous. One is a status; the other involves a behavior and a lifestyle.

We are engaged in another front in a protracted Cultural Revolution. Homosexual Equivalency Activists are being assisted by some in the media who support their agenda. Some of the headlines used to report on the distribution of the teaching DVD from the Catholic Bishops of Minnesota show this bias. For example, a reporter named Molly Guthrie wrote a piece for Pioneer Press entitled "Catholics get creative in response to archbishop's anti-gay-marriage message: Anti-gay marriage message has local Catholics buzzing."

The teaching DVD sent from the Teachers of the Catholic Church, the Bishops, to the Catholic faithful is a proper exercise of their office. It is an excellent defense of marriage. However, in an example of Orwellian Newspeak, the writer frames it as being "anti-gay marriage." There is no such thing as gay marriage! We are in the throes of a fever pitch verbal assault against the truth about marriage rivaled only by the horrid use of the term "choice" to hide the infamy of abortion. It must be exposed and opposed.

In his apostolic exhortation on the Eucharist, the Sacrament of Charity, Pope Benedict summarized the duty of Bishops, all the Clergy and all of the 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. " We offer the following summary of the truth about marriage the Bishops wrote for the faithful of Minnesota which was published in the Diocesan newspaper of the Archdiocese of St. Paul/ Minneapolis, the Catholic Spirit.

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Minnesota bishops issue brief catechesis on marriage

We, the Catholic bishops of Minnesota, believe it is our responsibility to speak in support of marriage as a lifelong commitment between one man and one woman in an enduring bond of love. This union is ordered to both the mutual good of the spouses and to the procreation and raising of children.

Marriage from the perspective of faith
Based on God's Word given in divine revelation, we believe that marriage creates a sacred bond between spouses. We hold this to be true not only for ourselves, but for all humanity. In the context of faith, marriage is willed by the Creator from the beginning to mirror God's love for the human family, and it was raised by Christ to the dignity of a sacrament of the New Covenant of grace, a visible and effective sign of Jesus' sacrificial love revealed on the cross. As such, marriage is a constant reminder of God's love for the human race, as well as a reflection of the permanent, faithful, and fruitful bond of love between Christ and the church (cf. Genesis 1:27, 2:22-24; Ephesians 5:31-32.) The perspective we hold on this issue is also shared by many other people of faith both Christian and otherwise (cf. "Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience," Nov. 20, 2009)

Marriage from the perspective of human reason
Our convictions about marriage, strengthened and reinforced by our belief in divine revelation, find ample support in principles which can be discovered by human reason and which have been reflected throughout human history. The obvious and intimate connection between the conjugal act and conception, along with the universally recognized importance of stable marriages for the education and formation of children, removes marriage from the private sphere and places it into the public realm, an institution very much part of the common good and therefore a concern of the state.

This has been true across all cultures. Both faith and reason agree, then, that marriage is an institution central to the life of human society. The committed relationship between one man and one woman calls forth the best of the spouses, not only for their own sake, but also for the well-being of their children and for the advancement of the common good. It is neither possible for us to change the definition of marriage nor wise to attempt to do so.

The question of same-sex unions
Authentic human rights make powerful moral demands on us, so the appeal to human rights in order to legitimize same-sex relationships appears persuasive to many. All persons, regardless of sexual orientation, do have rights to common, basic relational needs, rights that correspond to the duties imposed on us by our nature and knowable by faith and reason. The strongest such duty is love itself, which is the call to give oneself freely to another, a gift of self that is by no means limited to sexual expression.

Persons with same-sex attractions are our sisters and brothers, and their same-sex attraction does not define them as persons nor deprive them of their authentic human rights, including the most fundamental rights of all - the right to life and the right to love. Consequently, we oppose any discrimination against persons based on their having a same-sex attraction.

At the same time, meeting authentic human needs does not require changing society's definition of marriage or creating a marriage-like status for those with same-sex attraction. As pastoral leaders within the state of Minnesota, we believe that efforts to bestow legal recognition on same-sex unions are mistaken. They are based on the erroneous notion that "a committed homo­sexual relationship" is a human right and therefore can be legitimately defined as a marriage, enjoying the privileges that accompany marriage.

The specific privileges granted to married persons by the state are not granted for the personal advantage of spouses but to advance the common good, now and in the future. Protecting all persons, including those with same-sex attractions, from discrimination advances the common good. But not recognizing same-sex union as marriage is not discrimination, because it does not deny a basic human right. While we again acknowledge that all persons have a natural right to love another and to marry, that right is limited in significant ways by the very nature of the human person and the institution of marriage, which is a unique relationship that can only exist between one man and one woman.

Conclusion
We urge our state government, our fellow Catholics, and all people of good will in the state of Minnesota to support marriage, both in theory and in practical measures that safeguard, promote and enhance the institution of marriage and its inseparable counterpart, the family. One practical measure would be the passage of a constitutional amendment clearly defining marriage as a union of one man and one woman. On the other hand, changing the definition of marriage and legitimizing same-sex unions would work against the socially vital goal to support and strengthen marriage between one man and one woman, as it has always been understood.

For further reading, see: "Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan," by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Nov. 17, 2009. See also the website at  www.usccb.org/defenseofmarriage .

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