align=justify>Next month we will have the opportunity to amend the state constitution so marriage will be defined henceforward as exclusively the union between one man and one woman (Amendment 43). Anything short of a constitutional amendment will enable activist judges to continue in their efforts to redefine marriage, even against the will of the people. As Catholics we know very well that marriage is the creation of God for the clear purposes of the procreation and education of children, as well as for the loving and mutually supportive relationship so necessary for parents to raise their children properly. To support any other understanding of marriage is contrary to the will of God and the teaching of the Catholic Church. Our duty is clear. We must protect the integrity of marriage and family life as these come to us from the hand of God. "A man and a woman united in marriage, together with their children, form a family. This institution is prior to any recognition by public authority, which has an obligation to recognize it" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 2202).

Those who promote a new definition of marriage do so for a number of reasons, all of which are specious. First, it is said that marriage is a personal and private matter between two (for now) people. Government has no competence to restrict the rights of people in love, they say. Wrong! The state has always placed certain restrictions on marriage. You cannot marry a close blood relative. You cannot marry a child. You cannot marry someone who is already married. And, yes, you cannot marry a person of the same sex. The reason that the state has such an interest in marriage is precisely because marriage is not a personal and private affair. Marriage exists for the good of society. Marriage brings together a man and a woman into a public — not merely private — union in which the rights and responsibilities of the husband and wife toward each other and their children are publicly — not merely privately — defined and supported.

People fall in love all the time. The state has no particular interest in ratifying personal love. Neither should those who count themselves as lovers claim that the state should do so. Marriage is not an arrangement that grants benefits to people in various types of relationships. The state protects marriage because marriage is the fundamental and indispensable unit of society. Marriage is for those who want to bring children into the world and so contribute to the building up of society.

Second, we often hear that allowing people of the same sex to "marry’ would in no way affect, much less jeopardize, traditional marriage or religious freedom. Wrong again! We have seen already that, in those countries where same-sex "marriage" is legal, real marriage and religious freedom have been threatened. Rather than merely list these threats, it is far more compelling to remember that laws do not only restrict. Laws teach. If we allow the definition of marriage to be changed, the government will be teaching the next generations that there is no difference between the relationship of husband and wife and that of two men or two women. Marriage will no longer be about bringing men and women together to make the next generation happen in love. Marriage will simply be about the rights of adults to form unions and families of their choice. And each of us would be required by law to change our understanding of marriage forever.

In addition to the constitutional definition of marriage, we voters will be asked to consider recognizing and granting certain benefits to same-sex couples — known as domestic partnerships (Referendum I). Let’s not allow ourselves to be deceived on this one. These same-sex unions are nothing other than counterfeit marriages, thus reducing marriage to just another domestic partnership. Virtually every right that now belongs to married couples will be handed over to same-sex couples, including the right to adopt children.

I have often heard people say that a law recognizing same-sex domestic partnerships would be the means to ensure that certain important benefits are given to people in non-marital relationships, such as brother-sister. Wrong yet again! First of all, Referendum I is only about homosexual unions. It has no application to legitimate familial relationships. In this sense it is not only dangerous, it is also discriminatory. Secondly, any benefit that same-sex couples seek through recognition of their partnership is already available through contract law. Referendum I is not about civil or human rights. It is about the further eroding of marriage.

In light of the enormity of these two initiatives on the November ballot I urge you to vote "Yes" on Amendment 43 (which would preserve the definition of marriage) and "No" on Referendum I (which would provide no help to people in heterosexual relationships and would only further weaken marriage). We are obliged as Catholics to stand against any legislation that is opposed to the good of individuals or the common good. The United States Catholic Catechism for Adults reminds us that "Catholics must participate in political life and bring to bear upon it — by their voices and their vote — what they have learned about human nature, human destiny and God’s will for human beings from his self-revelation" (pg. 502). I pray that every Catholic will vote responsibly in November.

On the Bailey tragedy

The tragic death of Emily Keyes, the young student so brutally murdered in Bailey last week, brings us face to face once again with the mystery of iniquity in our world. St. Augustine said: "I sought whence evil comes and there was no solution." The mystery of evil can begin to be clarified only in the light of faith. Even though Christ has definitively conquered Satan in the Paschal Mystery, the devil continues to exert his power every day in our world. I have experienced this very powerfully in my life. But where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more! Christ never abandons us to the power of evil. In life’s darkest moments he is there to lift us up and renew our hope in the life of the world to come.

Let us pray for the repose of the soul of Emily Keyes. Let us pray for her family and friends that the Lord will comfort them in this time of terrible sorrow. Let us pray for those girls who were assaulted by the murderer. And let us pray for Emily’s killer, in the hope that God might have given him final repentance.