Bishops: We must protect marriage
The Catholic bishops of New Jersey are calling on all Catholics in the state to participate in a state-wide postcard campaign supporting Senate Joint Resolution 1. The resolution would amend the U.S. Constitution to state that “Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman.”
A vote on the measure is scheduled in early June.
The campaign to support passage of the proposed amendment has been endorsed by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and is being facilitated nationally by the Knights of Columbus. Local chapters of the organization are helping to distribute postcards and underwrite the cost. They will pay for half of the expense to print and distribute 730,000 postcards to parishes across the state. For those involved with the effort, the goal is to maintain the importance of marriage in society. “I don’t think we can consider ourselves a society without traditional marriage as we know it,” said Judith A. Psota, director, diocesan Office of Family Life, who is coordinating the postcard campaign in the Metuchen diocese.
Debate over the creation of a legal definition of marriage goes back many years. In 1996, President Bill Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage at the federal level as the legal union between one man and one woman. The act passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 342 to 67 and the Senate, 85 to 14. The wording of the act closely mirrored laws passed in 38 other states at the time.
Those who support an amendment to the constitution say it is necessary to prevent judges at the state level from overriding the desires of their state’s residents.
Senators supporting the amendment proposal need at least 60 votes to end any attempted filibuster and bring the resolution to a vote of the full senate. Once the measure is debated on the senate floor, it must be approved with 67 votes before it is given to the states for ratification. A 2004 attempt to pass the amendment fell short by 12 votes and did not reach the senate floor.
Psota said reaction at the parish level to the postcard campaign has been positive. She is hoping for results similar to or exceeding a previous similar campaign organized two years ago. During that mailing, more than 12,000 signatures were gathered in the diocese.
Psota believes that many Catholics are in agreement with the church’s position on marriage, even if they disagree with its position on other social issues. “This seems to be one that most people can come together and agree on,” she said. “On this issue, the Catholic people feel strongly and want marriage to remain a sacrament as we’ve always known it.”
In the postcards, which are pre-addressed to Senators Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez, participants sign their name to the statement, “Marriage is more than a lifestyle choice. It makes a unique contribution to the common good of society by providing a way for a man and a woman to bring children into the world and to care for them in the context of a loving, committed, lifetime relationship.”
To encourage Catholics to become involved in the postcard campaign, parishes were given pulpit announcements to read the weekends of May 13-14 and May 20-21. Parishes also received suggested petitions for the sanctity of marriage to be read the weekend of May 20-21.
— Erick Rommel
*The attached/referenced article was originally published in The Catholic Spirit, the official newspaper of the Diocese of Metuchen, and is protected under U.S. and international copyright law