The Institution of Marriage and the Common Good:
A Pastoral Letter of the Virginia Catholic Bishops
(From the issue of 9/28/06)
September 2006
Dear Friends in Christ:
On Nov. 7, Virginia voters will have an opportunity to decide whether
to adopt a state constitutional amendment that would affirm marriage as
“a union between one man and one woman” and draw a clear distinction
between the public institution of marriage and other voluntary relationships.
This ballot question has profound significance for the future of the family,
the most fundamental social structure of our society. In light of this
important opportunity, we wish to share with you, the faithful in our
two dioceses, our Church’s teaching on the nature of marriage, especially
as it relates to our laws and our responsibilities as faithful citizens.
Marriage, properly understood, was built into our nature right from the
beginning. In fact, our understanding of marriage is bound up in our understanding
of creation itself. In the Book of Genesis, we learn that God created
men and women as equal and complementary (see Gn 1:27, 2:23), enabled
male and female to become “one flesh” and thereby reflect
His inner unity by their complementarity (see Gn 2:24), and told the first
man and woman to “be fertile and multiply” (Gn 1:28), thus
making them participants in His work of creation. Hence, man and woman
are predisposed to form, in the words of Pope John Paul II, a “communion
of spouses,” which in turn “gives rise to the community of
the family” (Letter to Families, no. 7).
In our ever-changing and increasingly complex society, the Genesis story
brings us “back to the basics” by reminding us that marriage
had a design and purpose long before any nation, religion, or law was
established. Even before Christ elevated marriage between the baptized
to the dignity of a sacrament, it existed as the human and social institution
upon which civilization is structured. The Catechism of the Catholic Church
captures the essence of this natural order: “The marriage covenant,
by which a man and a woman form with each other an intimate communion
of life and love, has been founded and endowed with its own special laws
by the Creator” (no. 1660). In other words, the founder and author
of marriage is none other than God Himself! Though regulated by civil
laws and church laws, marriage did not originate from either church or
state, but from God. The only authentic understanding of marriage, therefore,
is the one that God inscribed in our human nature.
No religion, government, or individual has the right or the legitimate
authority to alter the basic meaning and structure of marriage that has
existed ever since the first man and woman were created. Because God designed
the marital union as part of our intrinsic nature and established it as
the foundation of our civilization, the proper role of both church and
state is one of stewardship, to preserve our Creator’s great gift
of marriage from one generation to the next. With regard to government’s
responsibility in this matter, the Second Vatican Council affirmed, “All
those . . . who exercise influence over communities and social groups
should work efficiently for the welfare of marriage and the family. Public
authority should regard it as a sacred duty to recognize, protect and
promote their authentic nature, to shield public morality and to favor
the prosperity of home life” (Gaudium et Spes, no. 52).
Because marriage is properly understood as a gift from God for the common
good of humanity, this essential social institution naturally possesses
certain qualities that are of unique and irreplaceable benefit to society.
God, after all, gives us only what is genuinely good for us. By weaving
the design of marriage into the fabric of our being, He made it the structure
upon which families – the basic communities of civilization –
are built. Indeed, the marital bond is very different than any other voluntary
relationship because of its stability, the environment it provides for
the development of families, and the protection it accords spouses and
children. Through marriage, two equal but sexually different persons give
themselves and their complementarity to each other for a lifetime, for
the benefit of each other and their family; by their pledge of lifelong
fidelity, they provide the most stable conditions for bringing children
into the world and raising them; by their sexual difference, they provide
their children the full range of human nurturing that comes by being raised
by a mother and a father.
These unique contributions to society show us why upholding the marital
union of man and woman as a public institution, in a way that clearly
distinguishes it from any other relationship, is necessary for the common
good. Because governments and citizens have a compelling interest in supporting
and promoting the best and most stable social structure for the well-being
of families, no other relationship should be accorded a legal status equivalent
to that of marriage. Those who would give non-marital unions the privileges
and status enjoyed by husbands and wives contradict and devalue what is
truly good for society. Put another way, marriage as the lifelong union
of a man and a woman is not one “model” among many options
of equal public significance. Rather, it is the very building block of
the family and of society. Civil laws make a just and necessary distinction
when they recognize the unique role the institution of marriage has in
society, rather than reducing this institution to nothing more than one
of many alternative kinds of voluntary relationships.
As citizens and voters, then, we face important questions: Will we affirm
God’s definition of marriage, or will we leave the door open for
others to rewrite it whenever they see fit? Is the marital union -- between
a man and a woman who give themselves completely to each other -- a unique
bond that forms the basis of the family and society, or is it no different
than any other voluntary relationship? Considering these questions within
the context of important political decisions, and thereby helping to promote
the common good of our communities, is an essential part of what it means
to be a follower of Christ in our Commonwealth today.
In light of assertions made by some who oppose the proposed marriage-protection
amendment, we also wish to remind the faithful in our dioceses of the
duty to analyze campaign rhetoric honestly and critically, and to avoid
using erroneous claims as a pretext for disregarding Church teaching or
encouraging others to do so. Factual information about what the proposed
amendment would and would not do is available in a detailed question-and-answer
piece prepared by the Virginia Catholic Conference and posted on its website
(www.vacatholic.org). The piece notes, for example, that although opponents
have said the amendment would interfere with certain property and end-of-life
decisions made by unmarried individuals, those claims are squarely at
odds with the official explanation of the ballot question that is available
to all voters from the Virginia State Board of Elections. We encourage
you to read the Conference’s material as you prepare to cast your
vote on this important question.
Preserving and promoting marriage is an integral component of our shared
civic responsibility. As Pope John Paul II wrote, “The future of
humanity passes by way of the family. It is therefore indispensable and
urgent that every person of good will should endeavor to save and foster
the values and requirements of the family” (Familiaris Consortio,
no. 86). In the Catholic liturgy, one of the nuptial blessings speaks
of married life as “the one blessing that was not forfeited by original
sin or washed away in the flood.” If God Himself values the institution
of marriage so highly, can we do any less?
Faithfully in Christ,
Most Reverend Paul S. Loverde
Bishop of Arlington
Most Reverend Francis X. DiLorenzo
Bishop of Richmond
Copyright (c) 2006 Arlington Catholic
Herald
