Amendment No. 2 and Safeguarding the Sanctity of Marriage
by Cardinal Raymond L. Burke, D.D., J.C.D.
On June 28, the Missouri Catholic Conference published a letter written by the bishops of the Province of St. Louis, which is made up of the state of Missouri. The letter is addressed to all of the faithful of the province regarding an action of the legislature of Missouri. The action in question has profound implications for the future of marriage and family life.
The legislative branch of the state government has decided to place before the citizens of Missouri a serious question about the requirements for a "valid and recognized marriage." On Tuesday, Aug. 3, the citizens of Missouri will decide whether to amend the Missouri Constitution, in what pertains to marriage. The question posed to us on the ballot will be: "Shall the Missouri Constitution be amended so that to be valid and recognized in this state, a marriage shall exist only between a man and a woman?" So serious a matter demands the attention of us all. For that reason, the bishops of the Province have deemed it important to write to you in the matter.
The letter of the bishops of the St. Louis Province, together with a helpful document prepared by the Missouri Catholic Conference, "Questions and Answers on Proposed Marriage Amendment" (see page 1) will be distributed in the parishes of the archdiocese on this coming weekend, July 17-18, in order that you have sufficient time to consider both documents. If you have need of a copy of these documents, please do not hesitate to request a copy from my office.
Duty to vote
Before addressing the substance of the question, I urge you to exercise your right and fulfill your duty to vote on Aug. 3. We can have various reasons for excusing ourselves from voting. We need to consider carefully the validity of these excuses, in the light of our moral duty to serve the good of our brothers and sisters through responsible citizenship.
Some think that their individual vote does not matter within so large a voting population. The truth, however, is that every vote counts. Failing to vote means failing to do my part in promoting the common good. How many elections and referenda have been decided as much by those who have failed to vote as by those who have voted? The responsibility for the outcome of elections and referenda falls upon all of the citizens of a democratic republic. We cannot excuse ourselves for failing to fulfill our responsibility because we are falsely convinced that our vote does not count.
Regarding the question at hand, some say that the right response to the question is clear and, therefore, will surely be sustained by those who do vote, thereby excusing themselves from the bother of going to the polls. The right response should be clear to us as Catholics, but we must realize that the question would be not be presented to us, if there were not some, including Catholics, who are confused in the matter. It is our responsibility as Catholics to fulfill our responsibility to vote, in accord with the moral law. In other words, if we do not exercise our right to vote for an amendment to the Constitution, which upholds the moral law, then we fail to safeguard the good of the individuals and families of the state of Missouri.
I urge you to make every effort to vote on Aug. 3. Also, please encourage family, friends, neighbors and co-workers to exercise their right to vote on so important a question for us all. If you know of persons who find difficulty in getting to the polls, for whatever reason, I ask you to offer them assistance, so that they, too, can exercise fully their civic responsibility.
Sanctity of marriage
The truth regarding marriage is written in human nature as it issued from the hand of God at Creation. From the study of human nature, it is clear that God has made man and woman for each other, in order to provide for them a faithful and lasting relationship of love and to provide for the procreation, that is creation with Him, of offspring. By marriage, a man and a woman promise faithful and enduring love, giving to each other, exclusively and for life, the right to the conjugal act by which married love is blessed with its highest fruit, the conception of a child.
Marriage is not an institution which was established by society or culture. Rather, it is inherent to our human nature and is found in all societies and cultures. Down the centuries, marriage has undergone changes in certain societies and cultures. The goodness of these changes depends upon the fidelity of the society or culture to the natural moral law, which reveals to us the essential requirements of marriage. The "Catechism of the Catholic Church," in setting forth the Church’s teaching on marriage, first acknowledges the teaching on marriage, which human nature itself provides:
The vocation to marriage is written in the very nature of man and woman as they came from the hand of the Creator. Marriage is not a purely human institution despite the many variations it may have undergone through the centuries in different cultures, social structures and spiritual attitudes. These differences should not cause us to forget its common and permanent characteristics. Although the dignity of this institution is not transparent everywhere with the same clarity, some sense of the greatness of the matrimonial union exists in all cultures (No. 1603).
The Second Vatican Ecumenical Council provides a most helpful presentation of natural law regarding marriage (Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et Spes, Nos. 47-52). It articulates more fully what the "Catechism of the Catholic Church" states in summary form.
The natural law regarding marriage is also revealed in the Sacred Scriptures. In the two accounts of Creation, given in the Book of Genesis, the essential characteristics of marriage, revealed in the natural order, are presented (Genesis 1:1-2:4a; and Genesis 2:4b-25). God creates man in His own image and likeness as male and female. He creates man and woman to be suitable partners for one another. So intimate is the relationship of male and female in the creation of man, that woman is formed from the very rib of man. Male and female are so created that a man and a woman leave their own families, in order to form a new family, to become "one body" with each other. God gives to the union of male and female in marriage, to the "one body," the grace of fruitfulness. The fruitfulness of the new home, the new family, formed by marriage is expressed either in the procreation of offspring through the conjugal act or in the adoption of children into the family.
The good of the whole of society depends upon fidelity to nature’s requirements for marriage. The teaching of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council aptly reminds us:
"The well-being of the individual person and of both human and Christian society is closely bound up with the healthy state of conjugal and family life" (Gaudium et Spes, No. 47a).
Reflecting upon our own experience, we know the critical importance of the relationship of father and mother to the growth and development of the child. At the same time, we recognize how much the state of society depends upon the soundness of life in individual families. The most important lessons of life are learned in the relationship of the child to father and mother, in the child’s experience of their relationship as husband and wife. Lack of harmony and violence in the marital relationship lie at the root of so many ills in society.
For us, as Catholics, the sanctity of marriage is seen, above all, in the teaching of our Lord, recorded for us in the Gospel and handed down to us in the Magisterium of the Church. Christ taught the original plan for marriage and, with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Easter and Pentecost — the great fruit of His Passion, Death and Resurrection — He gave to married persons the gift to live in relationship to one another, as God intends. Christ instituted the Sacrament of Marriage, making Himself the source of the grace of the Holy Spirit for the married, so that they may live in faithful, enduring and procreative love of each other, and so attain eternal life (Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 1642).
Respect for the sanctity of marriage requires that we do all within our power to safeguard its essential elements, so that marriage can serve the good of all in society, as it alone can. Respect for the sanctity of marriage means the recognition of God’s plan for marriage and the rejection of any intervention by ourselves which violates God’s plan.
Marriage and same-sex attraction
The present need to define clearly the nature of marriage arises from the efforts of persons with same-sex attraction and others, who wish to have same-sex relationships recognized as marital. In other words, they wish civil authority to recognize as marriage the relationship of a man and a man, or a woman and a woman. To do so would be to treat marriage as an institution created by man, instead of God, and to violate what nature itself teaches us about the marital relationship.
Same-sex attraction, that is "an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex" may have various causes, but it cannot be attributed to God’s plan for man and woman, as it is clearly revealed in their bodies and in the Sacred Scriptures (Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 2357). Persons suffering from same-sex attraction are endowed with the same dignity as every man and woman, and, therefore, "must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 2358). But, accepting each other with respect does not mean failing to recognize our disordered tendencies and defects.
Respecting individuals who suffer same-sex attraction means honoring their call to lead a chaste life, a call which is inherent in our dignity as sons and daughters of God. It would be wrong, on our part as individuals and on the part of society, to give institutional recognition to same-sex relationships by giving them the status of the marital relationship. Rather, we, as individuals, and society, in general, should assist persons with same-sex attraction to lead a good and chaste life by recognizing their same-sex attraction as disordered and disciplining it, so that the inclination does not express itself in immoral actions and the affections of the individual are purified and express themselves in good and chaste friendships.
The protection of the institution of marriage by means of a constitutional amendment is not discriminatory toward persons with same-sex attraction. It does not offend their dignity or foster any unjust attitude or action toward them. It simply provides assurance that all in society will respect the true nature of marriage as the foundation of the life of the family, of society and of the Church. As Catholics, we must respect the moral law in all of its dictates, opposing homosexual acts and opposing any unjust attitude, word or action directed toward persons suffering with same-sex attraction.
There is a tendency to accept same-sex relationships because we do not want to deal with the embarrassment and hurt of recognizing same-sex attraction as disordered. We find various excuses for failing to address a matter which lies at the foundation of our nature as man and woman. As with any anomaly or affliction in life, our human weakness leads us to pretend that it does not exist or to act as if it were other than a difficulty. By giving in to the tendency or temptation to treat same-sex attraction as equivalent to the attraction of man to woman and woman to man, we serve neither the good of persons who struggle with same-sex attraction nor the good of the family and of society. The fact that our American culture more and more fails to make any distinction between same-sex attraction and heterosexual attraction does not justify our failure to make the distinction, respecting God’s gift of human life in its integrity and helping others to attain the perfection to which we are called as true children of God.
Necessity of constitutional amendment
The Missouri General Assembly has already safeguarded the nature of marriage by the state law which declares that marriage can only be between a man and a woman. Some have asked why, then, is it necessary to have a constitutional amendment treating the exact same matter.
Constitutional Amendment No. 2 is needed in order to provide the fullest legal safeguard of the sanctity of marriage. The constitutional amendment safeguards marriage against the action of the courts which could declare the current state law to be unconstitutional, as has happened already in Massachusetts.
The extent of the confusion in society regarding the nature of marriage is reflected in court decisions which have given way to the celebration of so-called marriage between persons of the same sex. It behooves society to safeguard marriage from such court actions.
In a similar vein, some hold the constitutional amendment as unnecessary and oppose it on the grounds that permitting others to have their same-sex relationships recognized as marriage by the civil law does no harm to their marriages between a man and a woman. To reason thus is to refuse to deal with the need to safeguard the integrity of marriage, which most certainly is violated by giving the name of marriage to non-marital unions. The detrimental effects upon individuals and society, in general, of the institutional violation of the nature of marriage are clear.
Conclusion
Once again, I urge you to fulfill your civic responsibility on Aug. 3. Please vote in favor of Constitutional Amendment No. 2, so the institution of marriage may be safeguarded in its integrity. Also, please encourage and assist others to vote. The good of individuals and of society depends upon our safeguarding the sanctity of marriage as it has been given to us by God.
Please pray, especially through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Joseph, her most chaste spouse, that the citizens of Missouri will provide for the greatest possible safeguard of the sanctity of marriage.
I close with words from the teaching of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, which, I hope, will inspire us all to work for the good of marriage and the family, also by voting on Aug. 3:
"The family is the place where different generations come together and help one another to grow wiser and harmonize the rights of individuals with other demands of social life; as such it constitutes the basis of society. Everyone, therefore, who exercises an influence in the community and in social groups should devote himself effectively to the welfare of marriage and the family. Civil authority should consider it a sacred duty to acknowledge the true nature of marriage and the family, to protect and foster them, to safeguard public morality and promote domestic prosperity. The rights of parents to procreate and educate children in the family must be safeguarded. There should also be welfare legislation and provision of various kinds made for the protection and assistance of those who unfortunately have been deprived of the benefits of family life" (Gaudium et Spes, No. 52b).
May this solemn teaching of the Church inspire us with new hope in our every effort to promote marriage and family life in our society.
Sacred Heart of Jesus, wellspring of all virtues, have mercy on us.
Our Lady of Guadalupe, mother of America and star of the new evangelization, pray for us.
St. Joseph, husband of Mary and guardian of the Holy Family, pray for us.
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