Statement from Archbishop Aymond:
As Catholic Christians, we believe that marriage is between one man and one woman. This belief is rooted in Sacred Scripture, Natural Law and 2000 years of Christian Tradition. To change and redefine marriage will have ramifications for families now and in the future. I stand with the Catholic bishops of the United States as we had hoped there would have been another means of moving forward in society without redefining marriage and family life.
While we stand firm in this belief, as Christians we must extend respect to all and treat all of God's children with dignity even in disagreement. We cannot be disrespectful but always loving in witnessing our faith. Disrespect and hatred can never be condoned.
This is an historical moment in the United States. It gives us as Catholic Christians an opportunity to uphold the Sacrament of Marriage and the importance of family life.
No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were. As some of the petitioners in these cases demonstrate, marriage embodies a love that may endure even past death. It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves. Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization’s oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right.
Longings, indeed. There is much therein that resonates with any living, breathing, loving person. We respect those urges, but disagree that a life outside of the marriage state is one bereft of love, one “condemned to live in loneliness.” Fr. Otis isn’t even a good cook, and I can find a lack of logic there. Love comes in many forms, all of which making demands that lead us higher, that make us more selfless, that inspire us beyond our impulses. Celibate love, then, needs just as much a dramatic witness as married love in the wake of today’s decision.