Today, President Biden is signing the Respect for Marriage Act into law. Bishop Jeffrey J. Walsh prayerfully responds to the passing of the gay marriage legislation:
Treated in the section entitled “the celebration of the Christian mystery”, the Catechism of the Catholic Church has this to say about the Sacrament of Matrimony:
- “The matrimonial covenant, by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life, is by its nature ordered toward the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring; this covenant between baptized persons has been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a sacrament” (CCC #1601)
- “The intimate community of life and love which constitutes the married state has been established by the Creator and endowed by him with its own proper laws…God himself is the author of marriage. The vocation to marriage is written in the very nature of man and woman as they came from the hand of the Creator. Marriage is not a purely human institution despite the many variations it may have undergone through the centuries in different cultures, social structures, and spiritual attitudes. These differences should not cause us to forget its common and permanent characteristics.” (CCC #1603)
The rich teachings of the Church are a guiding light to all who seek the truth.
Signed into law on December 13, 2022, the mis-named “Respect for Marriage Act” does not reflect respect for the true nature of marriage any more than the recently passed “Reproductive Freedom for All” act reflects the true nature of abortion or freedom.
With every contentious moral “hot button” issue, there is a temptation to just go along with the crowd. I find it interesting how most of the politicians who voted in favor of this act only a few years ago held the same position as those who objected to it. It was once fundamentally understood that marriage is a permanent, faithful and exclusive covenant between one man and one woman. The march of the sexual revolution continues to trample on the dignity of God as Creator.
Should marriage no longer be permanent? Should spouses in marriage no longer be faithful to each other? Should a person be allowed to have more than one spouse? Can a person be married to both a man and a woman at the same time? Should we teach children that having a mother and father is arbitrary and gender is just something we choose?
We seem to be at a profound moment of confusion in history. We seem to have lost our divinely revealed moral compass and/or have rejected it. The sad reality is that the teaching of Jesus Christ embodied in his Church is becoming increasingly viewed as discriminatory. With every fiber of our being, that perception must be refuted. Jesus came that we may have life and have it to the full. With love for all and humble acknowledgment of our own sins, praying for strength to bear our share of the cross, let us remain faithful to the Lord. The only measure of true progress is if we are moving toward our goal – heaven.
Watch Bishop Walsh's video statement on the passing of the gay marriage legislation, an excerpt from his Dec. 14, 2022 Checking In video.
