Oppose the Redefinition of Marriage for All of Society

by Dr. Marie Hilliard, Executive Director, Connecticut Catholic Conference

A proposal to legalize same-sex unions in Connecticut is threatening the very fabric of society. The Connecticut Legislature presently is studying the legalization of same-sex unions. It is critical that as many Catholics as possible express their opposition to this attack on marriage and family, and be a living witness to the truth about the nature of marriage and family within the Creator's plan.

There is a large effort by a small special interest group to redefine marriage and family for all of our society. These activists for the legal recognition of same-sex unions erroneously are stating that current law is discriminatory. In fact, current law allows persons, regardless of their gender or marital relationship, to designate persons who have the right to such powers as medical decision making, healthcare visitation, and inheritance. Connecticut Inheritance tax is being phased out. Same-sex couples can adopt in this state. What now these activists are seeking is to redefine marriage and family for all of society. The outcome of such initiatives would violate our civil rights. For example, in Vermont where civil unions have been legalized, the law penalizes justices of the peace who refuse to participate in such ceremonies on the grounds of conscience. Already the education of our children is being impacted. Some school resource materials state that the Gospel does not prohibit homosexuality. If marriage law in Connecticut is changed, your children will be taught values concerning marriage and the family, which you may have little ability to change.

Each person, regardless of his or her choice of life style, has a right to our respect. They have human dignity. In no way can we endorse any attitude or behavior toward lesbians or homosexuals that does not respect their innate dignity. What some are seeking, however, is to alter society's views of marriage and family.

Marriage is an indispensable good for society and has a right in justice to be protected. Recognizing other unions as equivalent is a profound distortion of the anthropological truth concerning the human love between a man and a woman. Man and woman have been made uniquely different to complement each other. There is no equivalency between same sex relationships and relationships formed between a man and a woman. The conjugal dimensions of marriage allow a man and a woman to create a union that symbolizes a totality. The nature of marriage is a communion of love between a man and a woman in a reciprocal gift that is open to the generation of new life. Equating other relationships to this communion is a distortion of this truth. Recognition of this covenant of love in marriage predates any law of any country.

Please call your state legislator and state that you oppose the passage of any legislation that seeks to redefine marriage.

As our Holy Father has stated: "Marriage which undergirds the institution of the family, is constituted by the covenant whereby a man and woman establish between themselves a partnership of their whole life, and of which of its very nature is ordered to the well-being of the spouses and to the procreation and upbringing of children. Only such a union can be recognized and ratified as a 'marriage' in society." [Pope John Paul II, Letter to Families, 1994].

Marriage is a sign of our Savior's relationship with His Church. It is a sacred relationship and needs your protection.