Strong support for the federal Marriage Protection Amendment (HJ Res. 51), introduced by Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-Kansas) in the U.S. House of Representatives, was expressed by the chairman of the U.S. Bishops’ Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage.
“The amendment would secure in law throughout the country the basic truth known to reason that marriage is the union of one man and one woman,” said Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone in a Feb. 19 letter to Rep. Huelskamp.
Referencing recent federal court decisions striking down a number of state marriage laws, Archbishop Cordileone said, “An amendment to the U.S. Constitution is the only remedy in law against this judicial activism that may ultimately end with federal judges declaring that the U.S. Constitution requires states, and consequently the federal government, to redefine marriage.”
Archbishop Cordileone called the proposed amendment “a needed remedy” to legislative or judicial efforts that would mandate a constitutional change in the meaning of marriage “in order to promote (at least to begin with) ‘marriages’ between two people of the same sex throughout the country.”
Preserving “this elemental truth” of on man-one woman marriage “is necessary for the good of society at large and for the good of children who deserve the love of both a mother and a father, neither of whom is expendable,” the archbishop stated. “Indeed, marriage is the only institution that unites a man and a woman to each other and to any child conceived of their union.”
Recent federal court decisions “that essentially redefine marriage to be merely a state recognized arrangement of intimate adult relationships ignore the truth about marriage, which deserves the highest protection in law,” he added.
Archbishop Cordileone urged the U.S. House of Representatives to pass the Marriage Protection Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and encouraged members to join the resolution as cosponsors. A constitutional amendment requires two-thirds approval in the House of Representatives and Senate, and then ratification by three-fourths of the states. TD
To view Archbishop Cordileone’s letter online, visit www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/marriage-and-family/marriage/promotion-and-defense-of-marriage/loader.cfm?csModule=security/getfile&pageid=133631.
