Truth about marriage will prevail, Archbishop Cordileone assures DC rally

June 19, 2014

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco rallied support for the institution of marriage, promising that “the truth will not go away, and we will not go away,” in an address to the March for Marriage on Washington, DC on June 19.

Archbishop Cordileone, who chairs the US bishops’ committee on marriage, braved criticism from homosexual activists to participate in the Washington event. Responding to complaints that the March for Marriage would encourage “disdain and hate” for homosexuals, the archbishop stressed that the event was “not anti-anyone or anti-anything,” but an affirmation of marriage.

Speaking to the crowd in Washington, Archbishop Cordileone said that Christians should always be motivated by “love and compassion in the service of truth, especially the truth of the human person.” That commitment Christians to defend the martial union, he said, explaining:

Every child comes from a man and a woman, and has a right, a natural human right, to know and be known by, to love and be loved by, their own mother and father. This is the great public good that marriage is oriented towards and protects. The question is then: does society need an institution that unites children to the mothers and fathers who bring them into the world, or doesn’t it? If it does, that institution is marriage – nothing else provides this basic good to children.

Archbishop Cordileone cautioned supporters of marriage to avoid rancor toward their political opponents. He said:

Yes, we must show love toward all of these and more. Love is the answer. But love in the truth. The truth is that every child comes from a mother and a father, and to deliberately deprive a child of knowing and being loved by his or her mother and father is an outright injustice. That is our very nature, and no law can change it.

Tacitly acknowledging that political trends have favored the redefinition of marriage, the archbishop said that supporters of marriage should hold firm, confident that their cause will be vindicated. He pointed to the example of the pro-life movement, which endured through political doldrums. “A relatively small band of faithful believers held the line on the sanctity of human life in the womb,” he recalled, “and today, two generations later, the pro-life movement is flourishing like never before.” The same will inevitably hold true for the cause of marriage, he assured participants in the March.

 

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Further information:

• Building a Civilization of Truth and Love (San Francisco archdiocese)
• Archbishop Cordileone responds to critics on March for Marriage (CWN, 6/17)