The Bishops' Statement begins as follows...
"The U.S. Supreme Court decision, June 26, interpreting the U.S. Constitution to require all states to license and recognize same-sex "marriage" is a tragic error that harms the common good and most vulnerable among us," said Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Read the full statement here:
Supreme Court Decision on Marriage “A Tragic Error” Says President of Catholic Bishops’ Conference
LifeNet's view:
As Pope Francis says in his recent encyclical, "Everything is interrelated."
As most of the faithful would attest, it is important that Catholics rightly inform their consciences on this and other important matters that frame our social essence; not only as Catholics, but as human beings made in the image and likeness of God. To neglect this duty is to invite falsehoods into our lives and the lives of our children and grandchildren for generations to come. We should be seeking the truth and listening to more than the voices of a relativistic, and predominantly secular culture whose worldview often defies Catholic moral teaching and natural law.
It is only reasonable to want to understand issues like same-sex "marriage" as nothing more than a recognition of equality in a diverse and religiously plural, often atheistic society. This is why it is important for the Church to clearly teach and preach so that reasonable questions can be asked and answered. It is also important to view the long-term consequences of our decision making, and not simply make choices based on the immediate desires of any opinion group, as we have seen happen on the same-sex "marriage" issue.
The Church has always recognized the dignity of all persons. We know that which we all have in common, gay or straight, is that we are all born of a mother and father. If we are looking to unify, this is the natural law by which that occurs. Defining society's citizens by sexual preference, for example, only divides. How is this preferable to basic general unity? Problems have always existed in society and they can be addressed in many ways for the betterment of all. It is the opinion of Life Net editors that this recent, narrowly divided Supreme Court ruling only divides us further as a society. This ruling may not have sought to destroy religious freedoms and our Constitutional framework, but it did so. The saddest element of all is that many people cannot even articulate why.