Policy Statement on Defense of Natural and the Natural Family May 2019

Background

To begin to discuss the ’s teaching on Marriage and the Family one has to begin with Church teaching on the dignity of each and every person. Time and again the Catholic Bishops of the United States in agreement with the ’s and the Church Magisterium have stated in the Catechism of the Catholic Church that: “The human body shares in the dignity of "the image of God": it is a human body precisely because it is animated by a spiritual soul, and it is the whole human person that is intended to become, in the body of Christ, a temple of the Spirit: Man, though made of body and soul, is a unity. Through his very bodily condition he sums up in himself the elements of the material world. Through him they are thus brought to their highest perfection and can raise their voice in praise freely given to the Creator. For this reason man may not despise his bodily life. Rather he is obliged to regard his body as good and to hold it in honor since God has created it and will raise it up on the last day.” (No. 364)

Once the dignity of each human being with his or her human body and soul is established, we can then move into the centrality of marriage as the calling together of one man with one woman in a complementary relationship for life. This is clearly expressed in the Catechism of the Catholic Church in point 372. “Man and woman were made "for each other" - not that God left them half-made and incomplete: he created them to be a communion of persons, in which each can be "helpmate" to the other, for they are equal as persons ("bone of my bones. . .") and complementary as masculine and feminine. In marriage God unites them in such a way that, by forming "one flesh", they can transmit human life: "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth." By transmitting human life to their descendants, man and woman as spouses and parents cooperate in a unique way in the Creator's work.

Unfortunately our American culture is such that heterosexual have been imploding over the last almost 50 years, since the beginning of the sexual revolution of the late 60’s, we are currently faced with a “perfect storm” where natural marriage and the natural family, composed of one man and one woman committed to each other and the children resulting from their union are under extreme attack on all sides.

Add to this that on June 26, 2015 the Supreme Court of the United States handed down a landmark decision in Obergefell vs. Hodges, a case in which the Court held that the Fourteenth Amendment requires states to license and recognize same-sex marriage. Since that date, traditional, natural marriage between one man and one woman has been under legal attack as more and more states begin to fight for LGBT rights based on this new definition of marriage.

As we look at the present situation we need to see how to address the following situations:

• Why is the US divorce rate close to 50%? • Why for the first time in American history, are a majority of adults now living outside of marriage—as single parents, as partners in a cohabitating relationship, or as singles. (https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-prime-life/201503/is- marriage-in-decline) • What have decades of high divorce rates done to children, families and society, and to a person’s ability to make a lifetime commitment to marriage or to any vocation? • What public policies contribute to strengthening marriage and the family unit? • What public policies contribute to the weakening of marriage and the family unit? • How do we explain the Church’s teaching on complementarity between man and woman in a day and age when everyone believes it’s natural to be same sex attracted.

Church Teaching

The Church teaches that : “Everyone, man and woman, should acknowledge and accept his sexual identity. Physical, moral, and spiritual difference and complementarity are oriented toward the goods of marriage and the flourishing of family life. The harmony of the couple and of society depends in part on the way in which the complementarity, needs, and mutual support between the sexes are lived out.” (No. 2333).

On the family the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church states: 213. The family, the natural community in which human social nature is experienced, makes a unique and irreplaceable contribution to the good of society. The family unit, in fact, is born from the communion of persons. “‘Communion' has to do with the personal relationship between the ‘I' and the ‘thou'. ‘Community' on the other hand transcends this framework and moves towards a ‘society', a ‘we'. The family, as a community of persons, is thus the first human ‘society'“[468].

A society built on a family scale is the best guarantee against drifting off course into individualism or collectivism, because within the family the person is always at the centre of attention as an end and never as a means. It is patently clear that the good of persons and the proper functioning of society are closely connected “with the healthy state of conjugal and family life”[469]. Without families that are strong in their communion, and stable in their commitment, people grow weak. In the family, moral values are taught starting from the very first years of life, the spiritual heritage of the religious community and the cultural legacy of the nation are transmitted. In the family one learns social responsibility and solidarity [470].

Our Church believes and teaches that marriage is created by God and is not an arbitrary social arrangement that can be altered by either the Church or the State. It is God's will for humanity and the keystone of every human community.

CALL’s Position

CALL stands with the Church in defense of marriage and family, but also for the basic rights of all people. We therefore decry any unjust discrimination against persons who experience same- sex attraction. But protecting marriage between a man and a woman has nothing to do with denying basic rights to anyone, though it is often framed in such terms. In fact, protecting marriage is safeguarding the rights of our most dependent and vulnerable among us—our children, who deserve to be welcomed as a gift of spousal love and not to be intentionally or legislatively deprived of a mother and a father.

Protecting marriage affirms the unique and indispensable roles of mothers and fathers, and recognizes the particular responsibilities that husbands and wives bear in society. Protecting marriage affirms the permanent and exclusive love between a husband and a wife as a wonderful and incomparable good in itself which also is of great social and practical consequence. This difference is essential for marriage and is the relational context for the formation of the human person. Sadly, the attempts to redefine marriage and family today ignore or reject the unique identity and gifts of man and woman. We believe such a dismissal only fosters confusion about what it means to be human and what it means to be blessed with the vocation of marriage and parenthood.

CALL, like all faithful Catholics, must work to strengthen marriage and family, rather than redefine it.

CALL’s Message

The very basis of marriage is the co-creation of human life. As such, marriage is an institution which precedes all and any political institution. It is a Divine gift, a unique blessing, and, as lay people, a vocation. Marriage deserves reinforcement and protection not just from us as individuals, but also from the state. We understand that in today’s political climate this truth can be contentious and difficult for some to accept. Yet it is a truth which, when articulated reasonably and compassionately, urges all to respect its human, moral, and social value. The nature of marriage is written in the truth of who we are as human persons and as a man and woman joined in union blessed by God and called to be co-creators of human life with Him.

Bibliography: http://www.marriageuniqueforareason.org/church-teaching/ http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/marriage-and-family/marriage/promotion-and-defense-of- marriage/upload/Gender-Ideology-Select-Teaching-Resources.pdf