LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Government not the solution in marriage issue

Posted

TO THE EDITOR:

I would like to congratulate Kathy Pesta on the longevity of her marriage.

Thirty-four years of marriage to the same man is a wonderful testimony to the grace of the Holy Spirit at work through the sacrament. While I share to some extent the concerns that she raised in her letter of January 28th (“Students too young to defend marriage”), I feel compelled to respond to her observation that marriage is “two things,” (“a civil contract” and “a sacramental institution,”). While correct in stating that marriage is a, “sacramental institution,” her assertion that it is also, “a civil contract,” is a bit tricky.

In the scope of human history, government regulation of marriage (vis-à-vis the marriage license) is a fairly new phenomenon, dating back only to the 16th century. Prior to that, marriage was always regarded as a human institution rooted in the natural law and connected to the various religious institutions of the people, not a government institution rooted in civil law. The history of State regulated marriage is a dubious one at best, and even throughout our own nation’s history the marriage license has been used as a tool of government oppression. It was used only sporadically prior to the 1920’s, but it reached widespread use during the 20’s and was used primarily to deny certain people their natural right to marry, specifically interracial couples and people with birth defects. In truth, the marriage license as it exists today is a vestige of the Progressive era in American history when social engineers believed the eugenic philosophy that the human race was perfectible if only we did not allow unfit people to marry and reproduce, and of course the state was to determine who was fit and unfit for marriage. Up until 1957, twenty-seven states had forced sterilization laws in order to prevent the unfit from “breeding,” and the marriage license played a key part in this eugenic nightmare. Even the very existence of the marriage license in our own day presumes that the state still has the authority to deny people their natural right to marry. This idea should be wholly unacceptable to a free people, and it should also be wholly unacceptable to the Catholic Church. I believe that the gay marriage issue would resolve itself if the government just got out of the marriage business altogether, and did not interfere with free people entering free associations with the blessings of their respective religious institutions. When it comes to the gay marriage issue, we need to realize that government interference is the cause of this controversy and even more interference will not be the solution. Freedom is the only solution. Therefore, Rhode Islanders should seek to abolish the marriage license and return to our common law tradition.

Father Roman R. Manchester

St. John the Baptist Church,

Pawtucket