The Catholic Bishops of NY State have released the following statement:
http://www.nyscatholic.org/pages/news/show_newsDetails.asp?id=539
The subject line of this blog refers to the words of the Scripture about marriage: For this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother, and cling to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.
This simple truth no longer applies to civil marriage in our State. The implications of the new marriage law will gradually become apparent. There is no longer any transcendent or natural referent to marriage in our law. The same arguments for “same sex marriage” might as well be applied to multi-party marriages.
The Church retains the legal freedom to set her own qualifications for celebrating marriages; though we might well be put under pressure to accord legal and financial recognition to same-sex unions for the purpose of adoptions and spousal benefits.
I do not think it impossible that we are entering into a new era of tension between our Faith and the secular authorities. Sad to think that the leadership in this movement is so heavily populated with “Catholic” politicians.
July 3, 2011