Letters

Importance of marriage

Brendan Keogh

Contents - Nov 2012 - Buy a copy now All Saints Day: the 'Feast of the Unknown Saint' - Fr Munachi Ezeogu cssp Pope's Lebanon visit sends a message of peace to Middle East - Michael Gilchrist News: The Church Around the World Some good 'family' news from Russia - Babette Francis Ignite Conference unites young practising Catholics - Br Barry Coldrey Shanghai's new auxiliary bishop: a prophet and a hero - Bernard Cervellera Hong Kong's Catholic Bishop interviewed Worldwide religious persecution continues - Cardinal Timothy Dolan Significance of the Higgs boson 'God particle' for believers - David Forster The new evangelisation: restore a sense of the sacred - Andrew Kania Letters: Importance of marriage - Brendan Keogh Letters: People of God - John Frey Letters: Catholic quotations - Mike Lovett Letters: Religious rebellion - Kevin McManus Books: CATHOLICISM: A Journey to the Heart of the Faith, by Fr Robert Barron - Michael Gilchrist (reviewer) Books: A MIDLIFE JOURNEY, by Gerald O'Collins SJ - Frank Mobbs (reviewer) Books: THE GIFT OF THE ROSARY: How to Make and How and Why to Pray, by Brian Peachey - Barry Morgan (reviewer) Support: Fighting Fund Books: Order books from www.freedompublishing.com.au Reflection: Father forgive them ...: God's infinite mercy for the repentant - Anne Lastman

One of the first duties of any government is to guard and promote families as the basic cell of a healthy society.

The natural foundation of a family is the marriage covenant between a man and a woman to live together exclusively for life, for their mutual benefit and the nurture of any children of the marriage.

A government denies justice to marriage and families if it gives equal status to any other forms of sexual union, such as same-sex ones, since these are not based on the inherently fertile male-female relationship which contributes to the common good of society by producing and raising the next generation of citizens.

For the children, unions other than marriage lack the balance of natural parents and the dual male/female influences conducive to their best nurture, health and happiness.

Many consider it only just and fair to give equal recognition to the "choice" of other types of unions, but on the contrary, it is most unjust to treat such arrangements as the same since they are obviously not for the common good of society.

Many people's views are formed by the civil laws, made by majority or consensus opinion. For them what is legal is OK; but man-made laws do not decide the natural laws of morality. They are only there to guard and apply our rights and duties in various life situations.

Arbitrary unions also lessen the chances of persons ever attaining the maturity and fulfilment which result from the total commitment of true love which is so much lacking today. Moreover they discredit true marriage by downgrading it to the level of "any sex for recreation", just as divorce trivialises marriage by making it seem like a conditional and potentially temporary arrangement.

To legalise same-sex marriage would be to redefine true marriage as simply another lifestyle choice so that everyone will be legally forced to accept it, preach it, teach it and facilitate it, or else suffer the consequences of fines, imprisonment or ostracism if they don't. This is already happening in other parts of the world such as Massachusetts, Ontario and the UK.

We must defend natural law and natural marriage or see the collapse of the necessary consensus and social cohesion needed for the peace and prosperity of our nation.

BRENDAN KEOGH
Eaglehawk, Vic

Reprinted from AD2000 Vol 25 No 10 (November 2012), p. 14