Cardinal Keith O'Brien Calls Scotland to Defend the Truth about Marriage

Get ready. Pray. Prepare. Persevere. The battle is engaged. Our Cardinals and Bishops are our teachers. We are the ones enlisted on the front lines of this historic struggle for the very future of the West. This is our hour.

Do not misunderstand the teaching of the Catholic Church concerning the true nature of marriage and the family and society founded upon it. This is objective truth, revealed in the Natural Law and thus knowable and binding on all men and women in every Nation. We must resist the lies and the lure of those who seek to keep us behind our Church doors in our defense of this truth. Yes, the Church, through Scripture and Tradition, opens up the depth of this truth concerning the nature and ends of marriage for those who believe. However, the objective nature of marriage is not simply a matter of our "religious position" as Christians.

P>GLASKOW, Scotland, UK (Catholic Online) - Keith Patrick Cardinal O'Brien is one of many heroic Catholic Bishops who have taken their place on the front line of the battle of our age to defend true marriage and the family and society founded upon it. When the history is written of this monumental struggle for the soul of western civilization, he will be included in the ranks of a growing number of courageous Catholic Church leaders who took their stand and would not be moved.

Make no mistake, this is a battle. St. Paul reminded the early Christians in Ephesus, "our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens. Therefore, put on the armor of God - that you may be able to resist on the evil day and, having done everything, to hold your ground." (Eph. 6:12, 13)

We are facing an intense spiritual war against the very idea of the existence of objective truths in a contemporary age which has been besieged by the false propaganda of what Pope Benedict XVI properly called a "Dictatorship of Relativism." Relativism is an ideology which maintains the there are no truths upon which to ground and inform daily life. That "your truth" is equal to "my truth" - in short, there is not truth. We serve Jesus Christ, the One who proclaims to the world waiting to be born, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life". (John 14:6)

We who are baptized into Christ now live our lives as members of His Body, which St. Paul reminded his disciple Timothy, is "the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of truth." The truths which this Church proclaims and defends in the social order, such as the truth about marriage and the family and society founded upon it, are revealed in the Natural Law. They are the very foundation for every truly human and just social order. They are not simply "religious matters" to be kept to oursleves, locked up, figuratively or literally, behind our Church doors.

To be able to stand and fight in this battle, It will also help to remember these words which the Apostle addressed to the Christians in Ephesus, "stand fast with your loins girded in truth, clothed with righteousness as a breastplate, and your feet shod in readiness for the gospel of peace. In all circumstances, hold faith as a shield, to quench all [the] flaming arrows of the evil one.And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. With all prayer and supplication, pray at every opportunity in the Spirit".(Eph 6: 14-19a)

In a March 3, 2012 editorial opinion in the secular newspaper the London Telegraph entitled "We cannot afford to indulge this madness", Cardinal  O'Brien spoke boldly to the broader society of the United kingdom concerning the effort to - by secular fiat- compel a moral and legal equivalency be given between homosexual partnerships and truth marriage:

"The Government is this month launching a consultation on same-sex marriage, asking the public whether it should be introduced in England and Wales. I hope many respond and consider signing the petition in support of traditional marriage organised by a new organization, the Coalition for Marriage. On the surface, the question of same-sex marriage may seem to be an innocuous one. Civil partnerships have been in place for several years now, allowing same-sex couples to register their relationship and enjoy a variety of legal protections.

"When these arrangements were introduced, supporters were at pains to point out that they didn't want marriage, accepting that marriage had only ever meant the legal union of a man and a woman. Those of us, who were not in favor of civil partnership, believing that such relationships are harmful to the physical, mental and spiritual wellbeing of those involved, warned that in time marriage would be demanded too. We were accused of scaremongering then, yet exactly such demands are upon us now.

"Since all the legal rights of marriage are already available to homosexual couples, it is clear that this proposal is not about rights, but rather is an attempt to redefine marriage for the whole of society at the behest of a small minority of activists. Redefining marriage will have huge implications for what is taught in our schools, and for wider society. It will redefine society since the institution of marriage is one of the fundamental building blocks of society. The repercussions of enacting same-sex marriage into law will be immense.

"But can we simply redefine terms at a whim? Can a word whose meaning has been clearly understood in every society throughout history suddenly be changed to mean something else? If same-sex marriage is enacted into law what will happen to the teacher who wants to tell pupils that marriage can only mean - and has only ever meant - the union of a man and a woman?

"Will that teacher's right to hold and teach this view be respected or will it be removed? Will both teacher and pupils simply become the next victims of the tyranny of tolerance, heretics, whose dissent from state-imposed orthodoxy must be crushed at all costs?

"In Article 16 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, marriage is defined as a relationship between men and women. But when our politicians suggest jettisoning the established understanding of marriage and subverting its meaning they aren't derided. Instead, their attempt to redefine reality is given a polite hearing, their madness is indulged. Their proposal represents a grotesque subversion of a universally accepted human right.

"As an institution, marriage long predates the existence of any state or government. It was not created by governments and should not be changed by them. Instead, recognizing the innumerable benefits which marriage brings to society, they should act to protect and uphold marriage, not attack or dismantle it.

"This is a point of view that would have been endorsed and accepted only a few years ago, yet today advancing a traditional understanding of marriage risks one being labeled an intolerant bigot.There is no doubt that, as a society, we have become blasé about the importance of marriage as a stabilizing influence and less inclined to prize it as a worthwhile institution.

"It has been damaged and undermined over the course of a generation, yet marriage has always existed in order to bring men and women together so that the children born of those unions will have a mother and a father. "This brings us to the one perspective which seems to be completely lost or ignored: the point of view of the child. All children deserve to begin life with a mother and father; the evidence in favor of the stability and well-being which this provides is overwhelming and unequivocal. It cannot be provided by a same-sex couple, however well-intentioned they may be.

"Same-sex marriage would eliminate entirely in law the basic idea of a mother and a father for every child. It would create a society which deliberately chooses to deprive a child of either a mother or a father.

"Other dangers exist. If marriage can be redefined so that it no longer means a man and a woman but two men or two women, why stop there? Why not allow three men or a woman and two men to constitute a marriage, if they pledge their fidelity to one another? If marriage is simply about adults who love each other, on what basis can three adults who love each other be prevented from marrying?

"In November 2003, after a court decision in Massachusetts to legalize gay marriage, school libraries were required to stock same-sex literature; primary schoolchildren were given homosexual fairy stories such as King & King. Some high school students were even given an explicit manual of homosexual advocacy entitled The Little Black Book: Queer in the 21st Century. Education suddenly had to comply with what was now deemed "normal".

"Disingenuously, the Government has suggested that same-sex marriage wouldn't be compulsory and churches could choose to opt out. This is staggeringly arrogant. No Government has the moral authority to dismantle the universally understood meaning of marriage. Imagine for a moment that the Government had decided to legalize slavery but assured us that "no one will be forced to keep a slave".

"Would such worthless assurances calm our fury? Would they justify dismantling a fundamental human right? Or would they simply amount to weasel words masking a great wrong? The Universal Declaration on Human Rights is crystal clear: marriage is a right which applies to men and women, "the family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State".

"This universal truth is so self-evident that it shouldn't need to be repeated. If the Government attempts to demolish a universally recognized human right, they will have forfeited the trust which society has placed in them and their intolerance will shame the United Kingdom in the eyes of the world."

The editorial in a secular newspaper concluded with this identification of the Churchman, "Cardinal O'Brien is President of the Bishops' Conference of Scotland and Britain's most senior Catholic."

On Sunday, August 26, 2012, at every ambo in Scotland the faithful heard a pastoral letter read. It reinforced these words from the Cardinal, "With this letter we will announce the creation of a National Commission for Marriage and the Family, a body which will be charged with promoting the true nature of marriage, it will develop an online presence and produce materials and organize events which will help Catholic families to support and sustain marriage. While we pray that our elected leaders will sustain rather than subvert marriage, we promise to continue to do everything we can to convince them that redefining marriage would be wrong for society"

I urge all of our readers to pray for this heroic Cardinal of Scotland. We also need to imitate his effort in every Nation of the West where this "madness" has been unleashed. Do not misunderstand the teaching of the Catholic Church concerning the true nature of marriage and the family and society founded upon it. This is objective truth, revealed in the Natural Law and thus knowable and binding on all men and women in every Nation. We must defend the objectively true nature of marriage. We must resist the lies and the lure of those who seek to keep us behind our Church doors in our defense of this truth.

Yes, the Church, through Scripture and Tradition, opens up the depth of this truth concerning the nature and ends of marriage for those who believe. Yes, the Magisterium (teaching office) of the Catholic Church offers the fullness of the meaning of that truth for all who seek to find it. However, the objective nature of marriage is not simply a matter of our "religious position" as Christians. We cannot, we must not, we will not, back down from proclaiming it from the housetops. Marriage - and the family and society founded upon it- serves the true Common Good of every society. Marriage cannot ever be replaced by some counterfeit structure pretending to provide some alternative to their indispensable role. 

The Cardinal declared August 26, 2012 "National Marriage Sunday" in all of the Catholic Churches in Scotland. The Pastoral Letter which was read in all of Scotland's 500 Catholic parishes. He was forced to break off discussions with the secular government when, in spite of repeated overtures from the Catholic Church, other Christian traditions, other religious believers and an overwhelming number of other people of good will who recognize that true marriage serves the common good, the secular government announced its intention to impose its will on the whole of society and reject the Natural Law.

Get ready. Pray. Prepare. Persevere. The battle is engaged. Our Cardinals and Bishops are our teachers. We are the ones enlisted on the front lines of this historic struggle for the very future of the West. This is our hour. 

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