A Rational Basis for Marriage between One Man and One Woman

A Rational Basis for Marriage between One Man and One Woman | Bill Maguire | Catholic World Report

Same-sex marriage not only undermines real marriage, it redefines the human person.

It is imperative for Catholics to develop rational arguments to defend the institution of marriage in the public square. We live in a pluralistic society and, therefore, what we accept as revelation is not necessarily accepted by others. However, an argument grounded in right reason—without explicit recourse to revelation—is in principle comprehensible to all persons of good will.

As we consider the current debate over marriage, it would be a mistake to underestimate the pedagogical function of the law and how a fundamental change in marriage law will result in a fundamental change in our understanding of the human person. What is at stake in the push to redefine marriage to include same-sex partners is not only the radical redefinition of marriage—but, also and necessarily, the radical redefinition of the human person and the entire range of relationships that constitute our basic experience as persons: male and female; husband and wife; mother and father; son and daughter; brother and sister.

Same-Sex Marriage Renders the Public Recognition of Marriage Unnecessary

Marriage between one man and one woman is recognized as a public institution, with its attendant benefits and responsibilities, precisely because it serves the common good. Marriage offers the State its most necessary common good: bringing children into the world and raising them in a family that includes the love of their mother and father. The State needs people (citizens) in order to flourish: no people = no State. Under the principle of subsidiarity, the common good is better served when mothers and fathers raise their children, not the State.

Extending marriage to same-sex partners, will redefine marriage in such a way that marriage will no longer be understood to have a direct relationship to the procreation and education of children.

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Comments

[Justin N.]

Thank you for posting this. He has some good points that I hadn't thought of before...

[Charlie B]

I'll say it once, I'll say it a thousand times, a voice crying in the wilderness of ecclesial inertia: we have a life-changing vision of the human person, human sexuality, and sacramental marriage. Unless and until the chief pastors of our communion decide to take prophetic, courageous, structural, and developmental ACTION on behalf of marriage and family (a la Familiaris consortio, nos. 65-70), our primary evangelizing and vocation engendering community (the domestic church) will continue to be evangelized by the likes of 50 Shades, Modern Family, Two and a Half Men, Sex and the City (and variations there of) yadda, yadda.
Happy, healthy, on-the-path-to holiness (Lumen gentium, V) marriages and families make our best doctrine. From engagement to the confirmation of their first child, we have 4 opps to evangelize and strengthen couples. I'll be glad to share a modest schema if anyone is interested. E mail me. Meanwhile, in joyful hope...