Supreme Court and Marriage

A while back, I wrote this post when Senator Portman flip-flopped on "gay marriage":
Most of it still seems relevant, saving me from having to rewrite essentially the same thing.

With last week's Supreme Court decision, there is much hysteria over the issue. I am glad I am not on facebook. As people of faith, we are likely looking forward to a future of much persecution. Also in front of us, is much work. As people of faith, all the baptized should become well versed in what the Church teaches but especially WHY the Church teaches what she does. It is up to us, with God's help to bring the culture to conversion.

With that in mind, I will add one thing at this time.  Sins are called sins because they are bad for me. God, Church, and grandma do not just declare certain actions to be wrong or sinful arbitrarily. Fornication and sodomy are bad for the human person, body and soul. I heard an interesting statistic the other day that men living the gay lifestyle have an 8,000% higher risk of rectal cancer. Reproductive organs are designed to be coupled with the reproductive organs of a person of the opposite sex. They are not designed for other organs such as those of the digestive system. If we use our cell phones to drive nails into the wall, we will get some nails in place but we will soon be shopping for a new cell phone. Problems with fornication are not as obvious but affect us on a much deeper level. In my Sunday homily, I pointed out that the desire of some to legalize "gay marriage" is a symptom of a much larger problem.

The reason governments began to regulate marriage in the first place is because they realize that new citizens come from this union of husband and wife, and this family setting is the building block of a stable society. Some in government positions seem to have forgotten this. Children have enough issues already. Raising children is difficult enough already. The last thing we need to do is add another layer of confusion. The bishops state this well in the links provided below. Because of the contraceptive mentality, thus rendering the marital act sterile, governmental focus on marriage has shifted to affection and companionship as if they were its essence. These things are effects of marriage but certainly not the essence that we find in the unitive and procreative meanings of marriage at its core.

This is a link to a statement from the USCCB on the issue.

This is a link to a statement from the Most Reverend Dennis M. Schnurr, Archbishop of Cincinnati.