Sacramento, Calif., Aug 5, 2008 / 16:43 pm
The Catholic Bishops of California have endorsed Proposition 8, a measure on the California ballot that would ban what they called the “radical change” of same-sex marriage. Writing in a statement, the bishops explained Catholic teaching on marriage and also defended marriage’s natural functions in stabilizing society for the procreation and rearing of children.
“As citizens of California, we need to avail ourselves of the opportunity to overturn this ruling by the California Supreme Court,” the bishops urged in their statement, referring to the court’s May 15 decision mandating that same-sex marriage be enacted in the state.
The language of the ballot, which declares only marriage between a man and a woman to be valid in California, “simply affirms the historic, logical and reasonable definition of marriage—and does not remove any benefits from other contractual arrangements.”
The bishops declared that marriage is intrinsic to “stable, flourishing and hospitable societies” and is the “ideal relationship between a man and a woman for the purposes of the procreation of the human race.”