PENNA. BISHOPS' STATEMENT ON MARRIAGE AND SEXUALITY

1. Why should the Church be involved in the discussion of same-sex unions or same-sex marriages?

Our understanding of marriage as a life-long covenant between a husband and wife is not the exclusive teaching of any one church or religious communion. Rather we are dealing with a belief that is abundantly evident as a natural human reality. "The Church's teaching on marriage and on the complementarity of the sexes reiterates a truth that is evident to right reason and recognized as such by all the major cultures of the world" (Considerations, 2). Our teaching on marriage reflects the millennia-long human understanding of marriage that is rooted in our human nature and is directed by a moral order implanted in our hearts.

Precisely because the family is the primary cell of human society we all must be involved in the correct definition of marriage. But the Church has an additional reason to join in this debate. The truth about marriage is confirmed by God's word. What the Church teaches about marriage is "contained in the biblical accounts of creation, an expression also of the original human wisdom in which the voice of nature itself is heard" (Considerations, 3).

2. Does the principle of separation of Church and State exclude the voice of religious and moral conviction from public debate on something as significant as marriage?

All the members of the civil community have a right to express their views and to work together to assure that basic human values are preserved and supported by the laws of the land. One reason we have laws is precisely because we recognize that the community has an obligation to promote its most important values: the dignity of life, the right to property, to our good name, to our personal integrity and the right ordering of all human behavior including sexual activity. The voices that speak for these values should not be silent.

3. What exactly is the Catholic vision of love and human sexuality?

The Catholic vision of love finds its origin in the loving communion that God intended when he created man and woman. Deep in the heart of each human being, created in the image and likeness of God, is the call to love. The model of this love is God's own life, since we are created in God's image. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit enjoy a life of profound personal loving communion. Each of us is called to share in that love and manifest it in our world.

In creating man--male and female--God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and multiply" (Gen. 1.28). God created man and woman as partners and as complementary members of a communion of life and love. Human sexuality, then, is a part of that wondrous creation of God which he finds so very good. Human sexuality is not incidental to life. The covenant of marriage is a way to accomplish, at a most profoundly human level, both the mutual support that love brings to a couple and the fruitfulness of that love in their children. ...

6. What is marriage?

Marriage, as instituted by God and supported by the needs of human nature, is a faithful, exclusive, lifelong union of one man and one woman joined in an intimate communion of life and love. The call to marriage is woven deeply into the human spirit. Man and woman are different from, yet created for, each other in all aspects of their being. This complementarity, including sexual difference and spousal configuration, draws them together in a mutually loving union that is always open to the procreation of children. (See USCCB, Statement, 1). ...

11. Why should marriage even be a part of civil law?

The civil government has power to enact legislation because there is a human need for order as we live together with others. The ordering of our society must reflect our deepest and most abiding values.

Civil laws are intended not only to provide a structure within which we can live in harmony and peace, but also to support our most cherished values. In a religiously pluralistic society we find common ground for legislation in the created order and in the natural moral law that follows on that reality.

It is within the context of God's natural created order, human sexuality and marriage, that we can evaluate some of the current challenges to these values today. To propose a new definition of marriage is to present a completely different understanding of human sexuality and its purpose. Thus we see increasingly proposals made for same-sex "marriage"--the desire to legitimize a union of people of the same sex as if it were a relationship equal to marriage. ...

15. Is legal marriage among homosexuals a right to which they are entitled?

While some would frame the definition of marriage solely in terms of civil rights, the reality is far greater. Human rights are reflective of the natural moral order. We do not create new human rights. The state can make legal rights but must first recognize God's created natural moral order. Thus the state has an obligation to avoid anything that would confuse the proper definition of marriage but also to foster marriage and support it as an institution. "Because married couples ensure the succession of generations and are therefore eminently within the public interest, civil law grants them institutional recognition" (Considerations, 9). The State should not create legal rights that contradict the natural moral order.

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posted by Eve at 5:15 PM VOTE

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