The Catholic Bishops of the United States have spoken out strongly in defence of traditional marriage ahead of the October Synod on Marriage in Rome.
During their annual spring general assembly, the prelates made marriage a central focus of their discussions and responded warmly to the call from conference president Archbishop Joseph Kurtz to “be more effective in our communication of the meaning of marriage as one man and one woman”.
Interviewed during the gathering by EWTN, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York stressed that the modern concept of redefining marriage goes against one of the oldest of the Church’s teachings.
“God has given us marriage, it’s one of the first things he gave us in the Garden of Eden,” he explained. “So he’s told us what marriage is about, he’s told us it’s forever, it’s life-giving, it’s loving, it’s faithful, and if we attempt to chip away at that, and to change those divinely given qualities, we’re in big trouble.
“That’s what God intends, and that’s what we should be working for; not wasting our time trying to redefine it.”
Adding to the cardinal’s comments, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, chairman of the US bishops’ subcommittee for the promotion of marriage, said: “The basic question is, does society need an institution that connects children to the men and the women that bring them into the world, or not? Is that a good thing for children or not? If it is a good thing, then we have to support marriage as it’s always been understood…because it’s the only institution that does that.”
Meanwhile, in Poland, as the Catholic Bishops there prepare for the Rome synod this October 4-25, amid rumours of moves by Germany’s Bishops towards liberalising approaches to divorced and remarried Catholics, prelates insisted that they would resist any moves towards changes in Church teaching on marriage, though they added their confidence in Pope Francis’ stewardship of the gathering.
“We certainly won’t be going in the theological direction presented by certain German-speaking circles. We believe the output of Paul VI, John Paul II and Benedict XVI, and recent statements by Pope Francis, are enough to view Church teaching as a continuum, not as a revolution,” said Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki of Poznan.