Put Out into the Deep

The Sanctity of Marriage

My dear brothers and sisters in the Lord,

As this column goes to press, our legislators in Albany are deciding if New York State will recognize same-sex “marriage,” a radical step that will remove the most basic, essential characteristic of marriage and change its very fundamental nature.
Governor Andrew Cuomo has made it his personal mission to bring this bill to a vote that would recognize unions between homosexual couples as “marriages.” The control of this debate has been in the New York State Senate. State Senators who have seemingly held the power on this vote are three Democrats: Joseph Addabbo, Carl Kruger and Shirley Huntley, who each represent constituents within our diocese. Early last week, they switched from an undecided vote to supporting same-sex marriage.
Their actions of voting in support of this legislation represent not only a destructive development for our state, but also show a heightened disrespect for the thousands of constituents — Catholic and non-Catholic alike — that have let their legislators know they are against same-sex marriage.
While we must thank leaders such as Conservative Party chairman Mike Long and National Organization for Marriage president Brian Brown for their heroic efforts to oppose the very powerful and well-funded efforts to impose this legislation upon New Yorkers, we must also let our voices be heard. We decry the actions of Mr. Addabbo, Mr. Kruger and Ms. Huntley. My hope is that constituents will hold these elected officials accountable for their decisions.
If this legislation is brought to a vote, Republican Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos will ultimately be responsible for the passage of same-sex marriage in our state. The Senate Majority Leader should take a stand otherwise this issue will ironically be decided by Mr. Kruger, who is under indictment, and Ms. Huntley, who is being investigated for public corruption. Sadly, this is the character of our elected officials who are essentially redefining “marriage.”
Ultimately, Mr. Skelos, Mr. Addabbo, Mr. Kruger and Ms. Huntley have ignored their constituents and preferred the counsel of powerful and well-funded elites. Over the past two weeks, the Catholic Citizens Committee urged voters to contact their legislators concerning their opposition to same-sex marriage, and generated over 5,000 phone calls. Our Joint Parish Respect Life Committee met with Mr. Addabbo and repeatedly communicated to him the opposition of its members to the legislation.
We are tampering with nothing less than the laws of God Himself. The dangers and the threat to marriage as a societal good, especially as a sacrament, are very probable if same-sex marriages are recognized. Marriage has forever been, is now, and always will be a joining of one man and one woman in an everlasting relationship. It is undeniably consistent with natural law and biology, and should be apparent to all, regardless of religion. Marriage is a shared personal offering between the two that serves the couple in many ways, allowing them to cultivate their love and through that love, bring about children.
It is particularly disheartening that the definition of marriage may be redefined around the weekend that celebrates Father’s Day. The bringing together of a man and woman in the covenant of marriage is an unvarying and evident reminder of God’s goodness and the beauty of the Divine plan for humanity.
As this Sunday approaches, we must ask, “Who is a father?” and “Are fathers important?” A father is a man who devotes himself to his family, who sacrifices for his children daily. This is so great a responsibility that for his own sake and those in his care, he normally and ideally lives this vocation in the context of marriage.
Common sense and practical evidence tell us that the well-being of children is best served in most cases by their being brought up in an established home with their mother and father. As we approach Father’s Day, we remember that all paternity is an exercise in putting out into the deep with many challenges to be met in fulfilling the responsibilities of fatherhood. Today, unfortunately, fathers and mothers must defend the right of every child to have a mother and a father. Hopefully, at this writing, the law in New York State is not changed, but there will be other battles and fights for marriage in the future.

12 thoughts on “The Sanctity of Marriage

    1. Why is he allowed to receive Communion???
      He’s a public figure, blantantly mocking the church’s teaching on marriage.
      So, instead of reprimanding him, the Church enables him to continue doing as he pleases.
      Something is wrong here.

      1. Well if the Church leadership doesn’t want to take action we the people should do something rather than sit by and say nothing. As I indicated on my posting my son attends Archbishop Molloy High School which has both Andrew Cuomo and Joseph Addabbo in its Hall of Fame. In the fall I plan to start a campaign within AMHS to remove them both from the Hall of Fame for their Anti-Catholic positions / legislation regarding Same Sex Marriage, Abortion, etc. Enough is enough!!!!!!

  1. Thank you for your artcile. More people (Catholics and Non catholics) need to be calling the State and voiceing their opposition to this bill. It is a simple caLL:
    1. The State Capital 518-455-2800
    2. Call the number and simply ask for that Senators office
    3. State your opposition –Deinition of marriage,
    4. No government body has a right to change the very fabric our our society
    5. Bloomberg effects the votes with his money and political clout
    6. It is an abomination and an embarressment that McDonald would change his vote
    7. Call Jim Church in Senator McDonalds office and he will discuss that McDonald has now softened his views after many years as a mans man–ie in the Vietnam War.. Thank you for your service Senator McDonald but you are off target with your view on this bill. Does your political agenda strengthen with your support of the bill via Mayor Bloombergs political connections, clout, money….? You can say what you want but your vote has changed dramatically and your colleagues are up in arms? As I am!!! You should be ashamed !! Do you want to make a change in the Bible? I do not recall Adam and Steve!

  2. I agree with the Bishop that some politicians are jumping the fence to vote on same sex marriage and that in my book is very sad. I guess this is being done for political gain and not based on moral convictions. Now I am a Catholic and Grand Knight at St.Anastasia Knights of Columbus and I firmly believe that marriage is a sacred union between a man and a woman. In my view marriage is a reality with specific content. It has meant from the beginning of history, the commitment of a man and a woman to one another as the basis of a permanent union open to the procreation of children.Therefore marriage is what it is.

  3. Why not list the names of all persons who have attempted to obstruct justice by denying the self-evident truth that there is an inherent ordered nature in Marriage, and thus not every couple can exist in relationship as husband and wife? Since it is true that not every couple can exist in relationship as husband and wife, and it is true that Marriage, by it’s very definition, is restrictive to begin with, then denying a father and daughter, father and son, mother and son, mother and daughter, brother and sister, children, two men, two women, to exist in relationship as husband and wife, is not discrimination. Since it is true that all persons have the unalienable right to be treated with dignity and respect, condoning demeaning sexual acts and sexual relationships that do not respect our inherent dignity as human persons, is in direct violation of our civil rights.

  4. As a Catholic with a 17 year old and 12 year old son I am working towards keeping Catholic and moral values in society. I was among those who met with Senator Addabbo on the SSM Legislation with the JPRLC. Apparently he is only looking out for his political career. What is even more disturbing is that both Governor Cuomo and Senator Addabbo went to Archbishop Molloy High School which my 17 year old son also attends. Both Addabbo and Cuomo are members of the AMHS Hall of Fame. If these politicians don’t want to uphold Catholic values, I believe they should be at least removed from the AMHS Hall of Fame. I already sent a letter to the principal of AMHS with my concerns / position.

  5. On June 15 via CNS, Bishop Cordileone of Oakland, CA officially urged his fellow bishops to fight back in the war of words over efforts to redefine traditional marriage.

    Also on June 15, Bishop DiMarzio warned that civil agents legalizing unigender marriage would be “a radical step that will remove the most basic, essential characteristic of marriage and change its very fundamental nature.”

    In overwhelming numbers, Catholic young men and women regularly cohabit: mimicking marriage — while subjecting their eternal souls to loss simply to test whether-or-not they have found their “soul mate!” It would appear that the “fundamental nature” and “most basic, essential characteristics of marriage” have already been severely compromised!

    The parents of these marital aspirants have been divorcing, annulling, and remarrying in such large numbers that their children no longer have a view of lasting, traditional marriage!

    Bishops’ Tribunals have organized into streamlined, efficient, pro-divorce rubber-stamp bureaucracies leading to second and third marriages – certainly not “traditional!”

    Could it be that Bishops Cordileone and Dimarzio [and peers] are trying to “shut the barn doors” LONG AFTER the horses have bolted, run-free [and have already reproduced several “wild foals?”]

    Decades of Bishops’ docile surrender to [Uncle Sam’s] secular religion has so demoralized parents and their children that neither has any grasp of what “traditional marriage” means. Neither is the current “noise” of Bishops credible when the basics of traditional marriage and family life are routinely ignored and neglected: Sunday homily after Sunday homily.

    Where is the Bishops’ cry respecting God’s preferential option toward first marriages [Mal. 2: 14-16?] Why instead, do the Bishops’ pastors and deacons promote first marriage abandonment followed by divorce/annulment/and remarriage?

    Where is the Bishops’ cry respecting God’s Marital Commandment [1 Cor. 7: 10-11?]

    Where is the Bishops’ plea to reconcile couples [canons 1152.1, 1153.2, 1155, 1446.2, 1676, 1695, 1713?]

    New words to “respect” traditional marriage fall flat when words to uphold Marriage’s dignity have long been given only lip-service; more often “none.”

  6. “Marriage has forever been, is now, and always will be a joining of one man and one woman in an everlasting relationship.” The bishop might add, “until the man or woman or both become unhappy. Then the local tribunal will declare the marriage null and grant permission for the couple to remarry in the Catholic Church.” The American Catholic Church does nothing to oppose divorce/remarriage/cohabitation. . . . It is futile, therefore, for the hierarchy to take even this weak stand against same-sex marriage.

  7. We would have never gotten to this point of having to fight against same-sex marriage if the Church fought against divorce for the last forty years and more recently no-fault divorce. Where was the outspokenness then as any married person could just up and leave spouse and children? Where was the effort from our priests and pastors to encourage reconciliation between separated spouses? Where were the warnings that adultery likely condemns one to hell? Where were the warnings that divorce would cause condemnation of a soul? Have we forgotten it is a mortal sin? What about the good of souls? The good of children? The good of intact families? The good of society? Divorce and annulment is what is encouraged these days even by priests as though it is a good. The Church must acknowledge its clear fault for not consistently speaking out about these grave sins.

    If marriage has been so cheapened all these years, if the new mantra is “divorce is not a sin, only remarriage without annulment is,” we should not be surprised that we arrived at the point of cries for same-sex marriage.

    To come out now seems too little, too late. This is the fruit of our silence!

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