WASHINGTON (CNS) – Marriage needs “to be preserved and strengthened, not redefined,” San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone said Feb. 28 in support of the State Marriage Defense Act of 2014, introduced into the U.S. Senate by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas).

“Every just effort to stand for the unique meaning of marriage is worthy of support,” the archbishop said in a letter to Cruz.

The archbishop, who is chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage, sent a similar letter in January to U.S. Rep. Randy Weber (R-Texas), when he introduced a companion bill in the House Jan. 9.

Archbishop Cordileone urged the U.S. Senate to pass the measure, saying it is necessary to keep the federal government from circumventing state laws defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

“We should respect the states, and the definition of marriage should be left to democratically elected legislatures, not dictated from Washington,” Cruz said in a statement on introducing the measure.

“This bill will safeguard the ability of states to preserve traditional marriage for its residents.”