A few years ago Pope Benedict said:

There are some who believe that it is legitimate to destroy human life in its earliest or final stages. Equally troubling is the growing crisis of the family, which is the fundamental nucleus of society based on the indissoluble bond of marriage between a man and a woman. Experience has shown that when the truth about man is subverted or the foundation of the family undermined, peace itself is threatened and the rule of law is compromised, leading inevitably to forms of injustice and violence. (Sept. 21, 2007)

Clearly the Church takes the sacrament of marriage seriously. But what is marriage and why do Catholics believe that it only meant to be between a man and a woman? In light of the recent controversy over Miss California’s defense of traditional marriage during Sunday’s Miss USA pageant, I thought it would be good to offer an explanation of the meaning of marriage for Catholics.

The Vatican II and the Code of Canon Law (Can. 1055) describe marriage roughly in this way: Marriage is the intimate, exclusive, indissoluble communion of life and love entered by man and woman at the design of the Creator for the purpose of their own good and the procreation and education of children; this covenant between baptized persons has been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a sacrament.

OK…but what does that actually mean??

Christopher West does the best job of concisely explaining this in a few columns titled What is Marriage? – Part I and Part II. He also has another article explaining the Basic Theology of Marriage

There is not much that I can add to these articles or explain more concisely other than to say that, on a practical, natural level, the Church does not recognize or encourage same-sex marriage because of her belief that marriage is meant to be a symbol of the relationship of the Trinity and of Christ and the Church and that, based on the biological make-up of the human body as male and female, only the complementary union of two different sexes is capable of adequately symbolizing this life-giving love. I hope you will take the time to read those, very short, easy to understand, articles to at least gain a better understanding as to what Catholics really believe about the sacrament of marriage. The majority of those who ridicule and reject this teaching have no idea what it actually is. Unfortunately even many (probably most) Catholics do not fully understand it and, therefore, have a real hard time trying to defending it. Either that or, because this is such a contested issue, they avoid defending the sanctity of marriage altogether out of fear that they might be accused of “imposing their beliefs” on others. The late Fr. Richard Neuhaus responds to this:

Other important articles you should check out:
Created Male and Female for a Reason
Do Homosexuals Actually Exist?

It must be said that although the Church does not recognize the legitimacy of so-called homosexual “marriage” and denounces homosexual sexual relations as immoral, she does have great love and compassion for those with same-sex attraction and reaches out to our brothers and sisters and assists them in living chaste lives in fellowship, truth and love. See the Courage Apostolate

Previous posts:
“Fireproof”, Marriage and World Peace
Vocation to Marriage
TOB Tuesdays

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