(USCCB) WASHINGTON—The U.S. Supreme Court decision, June 26,
interpreting the U.S. Constitution to require all states to license and
recognize same-sex “marriage” “is a tragic error that harms the common
good and most vulnerable among us,” said Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of
Louisville, Kentucky, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic
Bishops (USCCB).
The full statement follows:
Regardless
of what a narrow majority of the Supreme Court may declare at this
moment in history, the nature of the human person and marriage remains
unchanged and unchangeable. Just as Roe v. Wade did not settle the
question of abortion over forty years ago, Obergefell v. Hodges does not
settle the question of marriage today. Neither decision is rooted in
the truth, and as a result, both will eventually fail. Today the Court
is wrong again. It is profoundly immoral and unjust for the government
to declare that two people of the same sex can constitute a marriage.
The
unique meaning of marriage as the union of one man and one woman is
inscribed in our bodies as male and female. The protection of this
meaning is a critical dimension of the “integral ecology” that Pope
Francis has called us to promote. Mandating marriage redefinition across
the country is a tragic error that harms the common good and most
vulnerable among us, especially children. The law has a duty to support
every child’s basic right to be raised, where possible, by his or her
married mother and father in a stable home.
Jesus Christ, with
great love, taught unambiguously that from the beginning marriage is the
lifelong union of one man and one woman. As Catholic bishops, we follow
our Lord and will continue to teach and to act according to this truth.
I
encourage Catholics to move forward with faith, hope, and love: faith
in the unchanging truth about marriage, rooted in the immutable nature
of the human person and confirmed by divine revelation; hope that these
truths will once again prevail in our society, not only by their logic,
but by their great beauty and manifest service to the common good; and
love for all our neighbors, even those who hate us or would punish us
for our faith and moral convictions.
Lastly, I call upon all
people of good will to join us in proclaiming the goodness, truth, and
beauty of marriage as rightly understood for millennia, and I ask all in
positions of power and authority to respect the God-given freedom to
seek, live by, and bear witness to the truth.
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Keywords: U.S.
Conference of Catholic Bishops, USCCB, Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz,
Supreme Court, religious freedom, marriage, same-sex, Obergefell v.
Hodges, Roe v. Wade, Pope Francis, integral ecology, encyclical
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