Download Homily on Marriage: Religious Freedom and Foundation of Society

Homily on Marriage: Religious Freedom and Foundation of Society
June 24, 2012 by Fr. Brian Eilers
We have a new American flag and have placed it and our papal flag in the sanctuary. Do these
flags belong here? Can they be placed together?
This is the same question faced by many who have gone before us. Stated another way, can we
be citizens of our home country and of the kingdom of God?
Friday we celebrated the feast of Sts. Thomas More and John Fisher.
Bishop Fischer was perhaps the most well respected Church leader in England 1500s. However,
as King Henry the 8th began taking away rights from the church, weakening religious freedom,
he resisted. Finally, King Henry declared himself head of the church of England and forced all
leaders of the Catholic church to acknowledge this. Bishop Fischer refused and was beheaded
for it. St. Thomas more was the lord chancellor of England. He also refused to acknowledge
King Henry as head of the Church. When on trial he said that he could not in good conscience
renounce his catholic faith and make the oath. On the gallows he said his most famous words, “I
am the kings good servant but God's first.”
Both of these martyrs believed they could be good citizens of the state and of the kingdom of
God.
Today, this belief is being challenged once again as religious freedoms are eroding. Clearly the
current tensions are nothing compared to the persecution of the church in England in the 1500s,
at least not yet.
Last week Deacon Pat preached about religious freedom. He gave the the example of
immigration in Alabama and how no one is allowed to give assistance to illegal immigrants, even
baptism, religious ed classes, food, etc.
A few months ago I preached about the HHS mandate and how we could all be forced to pay into
health insurance plans that cover abortion causing drugs and contraceptives, even those these
violate our faith and the natural right to life of children in their mothers wombs.
This week I would like to look at marriage. After all, the teachings of the church on marriage are
tested in each age. King Henry the 8th did not accept the decision of the church to not recognize
his divorce and not grant him and annulment. The Church remained fiercely faithful to Jesus
clear teaching that what God has joined together, men must not divide. Mt 10:9
However, the challenge to marriage today is about whether or not marriage is between one man
and one woman or not.
The teaching of Jesus and the Church on marriage is quite clear. One man, one woman, for life.
And consideration of the natural order of things also leads us to this conclusion. But before I get
to these points I think it is important to say a few things.
First, the Church does not hate any gay or lesbian. God loves them. We love them and want
them to know Gods love for them. If anyone hates gays or lesbians, they need to repent and ask
God for the grace to love all people as he does.
Homily on Marriage: Religious Freedom and Foundation of Society
June 24, 2012 by Fr. Brian Eilers
Second, this is about marriage. "Gays and Lesbians have a right to live as they choose,
they don’t have the right to redefine marriage for all of us."
Third, there are consequences. It may seem that making same sex marriage legal is the nice
thing to do, right. After all, would it really change anything? Well, here are a few examples of
things we have already seen.
1. Catholic foster care and adoption services: Boston, San Francisco, the District of Columbia,
and the state of Illinois have driven local Catholic Charities out of the business of providing
adoption or foster care services—by revoking their licenses, by ending their government
contracts, or both—because those Charities refused to place children with same-sex couples or
unmarried opposite-sex couples who cohabit.
2. In Ocean Grove, New Jersey, a Christian group lost its tax exemption for refusing to host a
homosexual ceremony.
3. In Mississippi, a governmental health counselor was fired because she didn't want to counsel a
patient about her lesbian relationship, because she views homosexuality as a sin. The counselor
sued, but courts upheld her firing.
4. A federal judge ruled that Eastern Michigan University didn't violate a young lady's rights
when it expelled her from a graduate counseling course for refusing to affirm homosexual
conduct.
5. In New York, Orthodox Jewish Yeshiva University's Albert Einstein College of Medicine was
ordered to allow same-sex "couples" to live in dormitories for married couples.
6. In Massachusetts a man was told by a judge that he did not have the right to remove his child
from school on the day in which they would be taught that marriage can be between any two
consenting adults, not just a man and a woman.
Christian people are being told that their belief on marriage between one man and one woman
cannot be tolerated in the public square.
Where this is heading? Will the church be forced to hold weddings for 2 men or 2 women? Will
the church not be able to teach about marriage? Will we be forced to remove from any
publications this teaching because it is intolerant of a civil right?
Again, this is not about whether or not we respect gay and lesbian persons. This is about
upholding the foundation of all societies, marriage between one man and one woman for life.
The question remains - can these two flags be flown together?
Revelation, Natural Law
I think it is important to consider what our faith teaches about marriage and what we can learn
from natural law.
First is the Faith perspective.
We get a glimpse of in the story of the birth of John the Baptist in today’s Gospel. God reveals
this truth to us in spectacular, attention grabbing ways, so that we know he is speaking. John, the
herald of Jesus, is miraculously conceived in Elizabeth even in her old Age. His father is silenced
but then his tongue is freed to speak when it is time to give his boys a name. God is yelling at us
in the way he yells - giving us the invitation to listen rather than forcing us to follow but putting
Homily on Marriage: Religious Freedom and Foundation of Society
June 24, 2012 by Fr. Brian Eilers
us in a straight jacket. " behold, I stand at the door and knock. If a person hears my voice, he
may open the door and I will dine with him and he with me," Revelation 3:20
Second, this is about marriage.
When Jesus is asked about marriage, he refers back to Genesis.
"And He answered and said to them, 'Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning
'made them male and female,'" —Matthew 19:4 —Mark 10:6
St. Paul teaches something new about marriage, that it is a sacrament through which a man and
woman participate in Gods love. Jesus loves his bride, the Church - free, total, faithful and
fruitful. A man loves his wife - free, total, faithful and fruitful - a participation in, a sacrament of
the love between Jesus and his bride.
Third, we can look at this from faith but also from natural law, the right order of created
things.
Marriage attaches mothers and fathers to their children, and to one another. If we replace that
essential public purpose with inessential private purposes (friendship, affection, hospital
visitation rights, etc), marriage will not be able to do its job. But children will still need secure
attachments to their mothers and fathers, a need which will go unfulfilled.
Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse, founder of the Ruth Institute whose aim it is to “make marriage
cool,” elaborates on this, “The US would be redefining parenthood, as a side effect of redefining
marriage, without even considering the consequences. Until now, marriage makes legal
parenthood track biological parenthood. The legal presumption of paternity means that children
born to a married woman are presumed to be the children of her husband. With this legal rule,
and the social practice of sexual exclusivity, marriage attaches children to their biological
parents.”
“Same sex couples, of course, do not procreate together. “Marriage equality” requires
a slippery move from “presumption of paternity” to the gender neutral “presumption of
parentage.” This sleight of hand transforms parenthood. The same sex partner of a biological
parent is never the other biological parent. Rather than attaching children to their biological
parents, same sex marriage is the vehicle that separates children from a parent.”
We have an interest in protecting marriage because it gives us a future - children. A child has the
natural right to know his/her mother and father, to be connected to his/her genetic heritage. I
was at a family reunion yesterday with my parents, brothers and sisters, their children, my
Grandmother and her brothers and sisters, and their families. I am connected to a family which
gives meaning to my life, a connection to others, something that helps me to know who I am and
from where I have come. We each have a human right to be connected to our genetic heritage.
Only in exceptional circumstances do we allow adoption, for the good of the child, to have a
mom and dad and extended family.
When children are not looked at as a natural fruit of marriage, they become a commodity.
Homily on Marriage: Religious Freedom and Foundation of Society
June 24, 2012 by Fr. Brian Eilers
Take, for example, the case of a couple from the US who wanted to have a child of their own but
did not want to have to go through the difficulties of a pregnancy. A doctor created an embryo
from their egg and sperm and they hired a woman in India to carry the child. Meanwhile, they
divorced and decided they did not want the child. The woman in India, with no genetic
connection to the child also did not want the child. So, who has responsibility to raise the child?
Children as commodities... this is what happens when we make marriage something other than
one man, one woman, for life or get away from its clear purpose to attach a man and a woman to
their child and them to each other.
Conclusion
I ask you to get informed about these issues and talk to your friends about them. Yes, some
would say that you should not talk about religion and politics unless you want to end a
friendship. However, I say that there is nothing more important to talk about, especially at this
time in our nation's history. Go beyond the headlines and partisan polemics of the news
programs; read our bishop's document on religious freedom; be informed! We cannot
simply walk the well worn paths of the past by voting as we always have or as our parents have.
The path is now littered with mines ready to explode and destroy our religious liberty. We must
see where Jesus is calling us to walk.
I also ask you to pray. daily rosary, daily Mass, fasting - join me in skipping one meal each day
during these 14 days for freedom.
St Thomas more told all those who had voted to condemn him to the gallows that he hoped that
he would one day see them in heaven. Those who disagree with us are not evil or without hope.
They have a conscience. We have to pray that they will also come to know God’s amazing love
for them. This precious treasure of faith is to be shared, not locked away only to be celebrated
behind locked doors. The martyrs gave their lives for the right to share Gods love in public. Are
you willing to sit back and let that freedom erode?
Both of these flags belong in the sanctuary; as people of faith we can say like St. Thomas More,
“I am the King’s good servant, but God’s first.