Los Angeles, Calif., Jun 17, 2008 / 15:46 pm
Leaders in the Catholic Church in California and national pro-family organizations have published their reactions to the first homosexual marriages contracted in California beginning on Monday night.
The bishops of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles reasserted the state’s duty to protect and promote the family, while Kansas Senator Sam Brownback and the Alliance for Marriage Foundation both called for a federal marriage amendment to ban same-sex marriage. Another group, Concerned Women for America, called for Tuesday to be observed as a day of prayer and fasting.
A Monday statement from the bishops of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles said that U.S. Catholic bishops have “affirmed repeatedly” that persons with a homosexual orientation “must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity.” The statement said that all people regardless of sexual orientation are called to holiness and to live according to the teachings of the faith.
“Nonetheless,” the statement continued, “the Church cannot approve of redefining marriage, which has a unique place in God’s creation, joining a man and a woman in a committed relationship in order to nurture and support new life for which marriage is intended.” Quoting the U.S. bishops’ 2006 statement “Ministry to Persons with a Homosexual Inclination,” the statement said “When marriage is redefined so as to make other relationships equivalent to it, the institution of marriage is devalued and further weakened.”
The bishops’ statement said that the state has a primary and fundamental obligation to protect and to promote the family, which it said is rooted in marriage and sustained by it. The statement also said that some benefits sought by same-sex partners can already be obtained without marital status.