God, not the Supreme Court, defines human nature and marriage

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On October 13, the feast of Our Lady of Fatima, a group of faithful Catholics from three churches prayed an outdoor rosary for the sanctity of marriage in front of Immaculate Conception Church in Westerly. They prayed for one hour in front of a portable banner that read “God’s marriage = 1 man + 1 woman.”

Orwell once noted that during times of great deceit speaking the truth is a revolutionary act. Today, the mere fact that a passerby might read the truth is enough to ignite a firestorm of hateful, expletive-laden threats by social media, email and phone. Countless of these were directed at the pastor and secretary of Immaculate Conception Church for days following the prayer hour.

None of this actual hate and bigotry made it into the news, of course. No. A counter demonstration under the inane banner “Love is Love” did. This “peaceful” demonstration — which included the same people who spewed hate from their laptops and phones at the church and faithful Catholics — made ABC news, was featured on the front page of the Westerly Sun and plastered all over social media.

Has anyone stopped to ask what “love is love” actually means? I love my husband and I love each of my sons and daughter. Does that mean I am or should be married to each of them?

When it comes to the nature of human sexuality and the nature of marriage, devout Catholics are routinely labeled misled and ignorant at best, or hateful and bigoted at worst. This is precisely what the editors of the Westerly Sun did in their October 21st editorial “Sign outside church only served to sow division.”

For the Sun and others to promote such blatant anti-Catholic animus, while simultaneously holding themselves up as paragons of virtue, is the height of hypocrisy, and gravely offensive. We devout Catholics, by the way, are the ones who have science, reason and faith on our side.

The primary purpose of marriage, and the only reason the State has any interest in recognizing marriage, is that marriage legally binds a man to his children and their mother, which is foundational to raising up the next generation of citizens for the common good. The reason interracial marriage bans were unjust is because they prohibited the morally licit union of one man and one woman. These facts did not change with the passage of Obergefell anymore than the fact that life begins at conception changed with the passage of Roe.

Our duty to speak the truth, and our right to freedom of speech and religion as faithful Catholics, is no less than that of any other American. Atheist Camille Paglia understands this; so should all who disagree with us.

Paglia is an American academic, activist and longtime social commentator. She has often pointed out that disapproval of homosexual behavior is not “ignorance” or “bigotry” when motivated by moral principles.

In the case of Catholicism, these principles are grounded in reason and over 2,000 years of Biblical teaching. In nature, procreation is the single, relentless rule. Our sexual bodies are designed for reproduction; this is the norm. Reason alone tells us this, which is why the Catechism of the Catholic Church holds homosexual behavior to be “intrinsically disordered” relative to God’s design for human beings.

The Church rejects homosexual behavior because it is intrinsically unchaste, just as she rejects all unchaste sexual behavior — including artificial contraception — between men and women. The Church also welcomes those who are attracted to members of the same-sex, particularly through the apostolate called Courage (couragerc.org), just as she welcomes all of us with our various recalcitrant temptations. St. Paul referred to these as “thorns in the flesh.”

Moreover, while the Church does not ask anyone to attempt changing their sexual attractions. There are thousands of individuals who no longer identify with such same-sex attractions and have overcome them. There is hope for freedom from the temptation of homosexual attraction and from the slavery of homosexual behavior.

The bottom line is this. It is every Catholic’s duty to proclaim the truth both in and out of season. Faithful Catholics engaged in a one-hour outdoor prayer service in front of a banner that proclaims the truth of God’s design for marriage is not hate speech. It is our freedom of speech and freedom of religion in practice.

Dr. Cretella is executive director of the American College of Pediatricians, and a member of the Catholic Medical Association