Here is my shot-gun approach to try to explain marriage and the family.
Now more than ever we hear so many slogans on both side of the so-called same sex marriage debate that they seem to have lost their meaning. I am sure you have heard them all so I won’t repeat them. These slogans have been used so much that I think the people who use them don’t know how to explain their position intelligently or even with compassion.
In the Catechism of the Catholic Church Marriage is defined as:
1601 "The matrimonial covenant (promise), 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."
Again in the Catechism: The nature of the family
2201 The conjugal community is established upon the consent of the spouses. Marriage and the family are ordered to the good of the spouses and to the procreation and education of children. the love of the spouses and the begetting of children create among members of the same family personal relationships and primordial responsibilities.
2202 A man and a woman united in marriage, together with their children, form a family. This institution is prior to any recognition by public authority, which has an obligation to recognize it. It should be considered the normal reference point by which the different forms of family relationship are to be evaluated.
2203 In creating man and woman, God instituted the human family and endowed it with its fundamental constitution. Its members are persons equal in dignity. For the common good of its members and of society, the family necessarily has manifold responsibilities, rights, and duties.
Marriage has been instituted by God since the very beginning of mankind for the survival of mankind. It is a religious sacrament. Its very origins are religious and the earliest civilizations have adopted the marriage sacrament and integrated it into their own society because they saw the benefits of the family. And to reiterate what was mentioned above, that public authority has an obligation to recognize it. A strong united family is vital for a civilization to thrive for various and obvious reasons. There are things that a father can provide that the mother can’t and vice versa. This doesn’t make one better than the other. Just because they are different does not make them unequal. It is reality. A marriage is a relationship that is complementary.
Two males or two females lack the fullness of what is necessary to create of even raise a child. Regardless of how masculine or feminine one of the two is. There is something that is intrinsic in God’s design or “in nature” if you will, that completes the order of the family. If we take God out of the argument and look at the situation from a science/ biological, economic, even logical perspective they will tell you that a family is what is needed for the well being and continuing prosperity of a civilization.
What is mentioned in the CCC 1601 is describing the normal order of how things should be. But because of man’s fallen nature we are susceptible to sin. There are plenty of scenarios that we can imagine and make comparisons of various situations and make a list of “what if’s” and “what’s better”; the point is that we have to try to conform ourselves to the natural order of things for our own benefit and happiness. The rules set by God are not arbitrarily mandated but have been placed so that we can have life and have it abundantly. He knows what is good for us better than we can possibly know, and when we turn our backs on him, we are making ourselves to be our own “god”, determining what is best for us and ultimately cutting ourselves off from the very One who created us in the first place.
Theologians have said that marriage is a reflection or image of the perfect union of God; the Blessed Trinity. Although God is neither male nor female, the nature of God is pure life giving love. Marriage reflects Gods nature when a man and a woman become one flesh in marriage and have children. The family can serve as a testimony that we abide to His plan.
People are very passionate about this subject because they feel it is a civil rights issue. I don’t believe it is. For it to be a civil rights issue does it have to be an issue of race, religion, sex or ethnicity? Are we really to create a new class of people based on their sexual preference? Are there going to be check boxes on applications or on census forms indicating “gay” or “straight”? I think that just creates more division.
I do see a civil rights issue on the forefront however. That civil rights issue will come to a head when a Catholic Priest refuses to marry a same sex couple. Would he be breaking the law if he refuses to do so? We have seen instances similar to this in Boston when a Catholic adoption agency was forced to shut down because they would not let a same sex couple adopt a child. They were given an ultimatum, either let same sex couples adopt or get shut down. They shut down.
I think this is just the beginning of a long ride down a slippery slope. I am not very optimistic about the situation, especially after what happened in New York. I am not so sure the majority of the American people want this to become the law of the land. But the government, Hollywood and mainstream media outlets are pushing this agenda.
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