Love and Marriage

The United States bishops have prepared a draft pastoral letter titled “Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan,” the text of which will be formally considered by the bishops in mid November and was made available on the National Catholic Reporter website.

There are two equally interesting aspects to this story. The first concerns the document, per se. The second is why the text was made public, by the most consistent mouthpiece of Catholic dissent in the US, weeks prior to the US bishops’ meeting that will consider it. Examining the first may give insight into the second.

The document begins with several beautiful observations about the natural blessings of marriage, including “the wondrous gift of co-creating human life,” and the additional graces that flow to Christians connected to its sacramental possibilities.

The purpose for presenting a new pastoral, however, lies in the concerns its authors have for contemporary assaults against the institution, both in its natural and sacramental states, including an unwillingness of people to enter into committed relationships, a precipitous divorce rate, a contraceptive culture, and current efforts at the redefinition of marriage.

These five threads are discussed in some depth throughout the letter, each concluding – as one would suspect it must – with the articulation of traditional Catholic principles. Marriage is an exclusive, indissoluble relationship (a “privileged sphere of intimacy”) between one man and one woman that establishes a “unique communion of persons,” ordered for the good of the spouses – its unitive purpose – and for the procreation and education of children, that is, for an overflowing, life-giving purpose.

Acts that deliberately reject either (or both) of these ends of marriage do tremendous damage. Conjugal intercourse that willfully closes itself to procreative potential becomes self-gratifying rather than self-donating. Legitimization of same-sex unions, through “blessings” or legal licensing, is a “grave injustice,” threatening “the very fabric of society, striking at the source from which society and culture come and which they are meant to serve,” to the “unique and proper place of husbands and wives, the place of mothers and fathers, and the rights of the child.” The evils of divorce and cohabitation, for their part, create terrible social and personal instability. “Clearly, there is no substitute for the binding lifelong commitment of marriage.”

Now, the bishops have no illusions that marriage is an easy proposition in a world broken by original sin, but they also recognize that Christ’s salvific action gives the natural institution of marriage great hope. The second and larger portion of the pastoral is devoted to the theme of marriage as a sacrament, as a vocation, as a reflection of the life of the Trinity, and as a domestic church. The bishops conclude the section, and the document, by addressing how specific gifts of marriage can assist in the work of growing in virtue.

This is hardly a radical piece of writing. It draws heavily from the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the articulations of contemporary popes. The usefulness for a pastoral letter such as “Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan,” it would seem, lies in reassuring the Catholic people – often confused by dissenters into thinking the Church can somehow change the moral truth – that the Church continues to teach as She has always taught.

Enter the Politicians of Church Change

EDGE Chicago describes itself as a “network of local Gay, Lesbian Bisexual and Transgender (GLBT)” that includes “journalists dedicated to the presentation of local and national news and information targeted to the GLBT community in a fair, entertaining, non-conglomerate format.” Kilian Melloy, an EDGE Staff Reporter, commented on the pastoral draft in his Oct 16, 2009 article, “Catholic Bishops: Gays, Condoms, Divorce Undermining Marriage.”

Melloy’s perspective is that “U.S. Catholic bishops claim in a pastoral letter that marriage is being destroyed by contraceptives, unmarried couples living together, the failure of married couples to remain in their relationships, and the commitment of gay and lesbian families.” The pastoral “attacks marriage equality as a menace to ‘the intrinsic dignity of every human person, and the common good,’ and claims that, ‘The legal recognition of same-sex unions poses a multifaceted threat to the very fabric of society, striking at the very source from which society and culture come.’”

Melloy also notes that a National, Catholic Reporter (NCR) editorial said the draft document “was not ‘pastoral,’” reading “as if it was written by someone who has never once engaged in a marriage preparation program, let alone actually ever been married.” In an effort to cinch his argument, Melloy brings up the issue of the criminal inability of many bishops to correct pedophile priests (the implication being that this is a singularly hypocritical bunch to be dispensing moral opinion).

Several questions come to mind in the wake of NCR’s publication of the pastoral draft, its acerbic editorial, and the various commentary it’s sparked. One is why the draft appeared on the NCR website rather than, oh say, the bishops’ website? Was this a “leaked” document and if so, why? …or, for that matter, who?

In looking at various blogs, I suspect “somebody” or “bodies” hope to generate a letter-writing campaign to “encourage” the bishops to reconsider their approval of the draft. For example, Rev. Dr. Marilyn Sewell, a former pastor of a Unitarian Universalist congregation, was so “outraged” at that the Catholic Church would reaffirm its own teachings that she “was moved to write the following letter to the church leaders charged with the formal review of the document,” inviting readers to join her. Sewell assures the Catholic “leaders” that in her 17 years of service (a rather ironic contrast to the 2000 years of experience from which these Catholic “leaders” have drawn), she has “united in Holy Union many gay and lesbian couples, and also married some couples, for the brief period in which marriage was legal in Oregon. I can assure you that love does not differ, whether in traditional couples or same-sex couples. Love is love, and it is holy, and given of God….The times are changing.”

Stephanie Block is the editor of the New Mexico based Los Pequenos newspaper and a founder of the Catholic Media Coalition.