Same-sex Laws Stifle Church

Experts at Marriage Law Project say any statute that makes it illegal for Catholics to adhere to their beliefs threatens religious freedom

By Mary Schneidau

Despite the progress that has been made at the state level to defend marriage as the union between one man and one woman, lawyers at the Marriage Law Project warn that the fight to protect marriage has not been won and that the battle is increasingly attacking the Church.

The project, part of the Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law, tracks marriage-related legislation, assist state Catholic conferences in their response to legislation and litigation and publishes materials on marriage law.

“We’re here to help the Church figure out what to do,” said Robert Destro, the project’s director and a law professor at CUA. ‘We do the legal nitty-gritty.”

The legal nitty-gritty is becoming murkier, Destro said, as bishops have to balance between upholding the teachings of the church and not running afoul of the law in states that have embraced civil unions of same- sex couples.

Anne Collins, a project staff member, said same-sex marriage activists have been effective in equating the defense of traditional marriage with discrimination. The bishops, she said, need to craft their message to address that charge.

“A lot of work needs to be done in developing a response,” she said. “This is a major cultural struggle. The Church is seen as the enemy.”

Collins also noted that bishops’ responses to marriage-related legislation have been inconsistent. While most bishops have supported amendments to state constitutions protecting traditional marriage, a few have not.

Sister Mary Ann Walsh, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said the USCCB is not involved with marriage amendments on the state level because they vary from state to state, and work with those amendments is left to state Catholic conferences.

Battle over family

The Church’s institutional response will only succeed if average Catholics understand the gravity of the situation, Destro said.“This is a battle for one of the most important cultural symbols: The definition of a family." Collins said some people are not concerned with issues like same-sex marriage or civil unions because they believe “it’s not going to affect my marriage.”

The experience of the Archdiocese of Boston’s Catholic Charities shows that it will, she said.

Last month, Catholic Charities of Boston announced it was ending its century-old practice of facilitating adoptions. Massachusetts would not grant the group — which had previously placed 13 children with same-sex couples — an exemption from anti-discrimination laws that force organizations to allow same-sex couples to adopt.

Legal recognition of same-sex couples is a threat to the Church, Destro said, because it stifles the Church freedom to put its teaching on marriage into practice in its social work. “Is the Church going to be free to be the Church?” Destro asked. “If you view it through a non-discrimination lens, then no.”

If same-sex marriage efforts are successful, information on same-sex relationships might soon be taught in schools and the acceptance of other nontraditional relationships, like polygamy, will become commonplace, Destro said.

An amendment

Nineteen states have adopted amendments that define marriage as between one man and one woman, and another 10 have them in the works. While members of Marriage Law Project are heartened by those facts, they cautioned that they may not be enough.

Lincoln Oliphant, a research fellow at the Marriage Law Project, said it is unlikely a federal marriage amendment will be adopted any time soon because states are not now obligated to recognize same-sex civil unions from other states. It is still important, though, to work for the legal defense of traditional marriage.

“The law, in addition to its power to enforce and mandate, is a terrific teaching tool,” he said.

The project is working to spread the message about the urgency of the situation, including planning a fall conference that will teach journalists in the religious media about legal issues related to marriage.

“It affects you because as the culture around you changes to make what the Church teaches anti-social, eventually you have to choose,” Destro said.

--Mary Schneidau writes from Maryland.