Scottish Catholic Observer

Chris McLaughlin, Glasgow University: PREACH! We spend far too much of our time fighting last-ditch battles for lost causes. Let me assure you all right now same-sex ‘marriage’ will happen. We will be ignored (again).We lost the culture war on this one years ago. I am glad the bishops had their letter on the matter read out at Mass but I am 32 years old and that was the first (and only) time I can EVER remember the Church’s position on homosexuality being proclaimed from the pulpit. You can’t expect to change the culture if even our own people only hear the truth when it is already crisis time. I have NEVER heard a homily on contraception, pre-marital sex… abortion… or euthanasia. The bishops must instruct priests to do so.

Christine Glen, Strathclyde University: Marriage must be shown to work. A married couple must be an example of how, if two people love each other, they can be united in their Faith and trust. Young people need married couples to be a light of how Christian relationships can still work in a world of divorce and separation. Otherwise, how can we ourselves promote how positive and glorious a Sacrament is to those who are called to the married vocation?

Gerald Bonner, Strathclyde University: Yes, as Christine says, we need to show what marriage actually is. The root of the current debate is a flawed understanding of heterosexual relationships. Contraception is so deeply ingrained in our culture that the idea that marriage is oriented towards procreation is often met with total incomprehension. It is all too easy for us to fall into ways of thinking about marriage that really aren’t that different from the world’s view. If we start removing little bits of the Church’s teaching on marriage then the whole edifice becomes unstable. If we are to be convincing witnesses to the good of marriage then we need to get our own fundamental view of marriage right. I also agree with Chris that we need to fight these cultural battles early.

Luke Timmons, Glasgow University: In order to defend marriage we need to be able to explain what marriage is and why we teach that definition. Too many young Catholics are growing up misinformed and misled and are actually joining in the fight against us, this is the first thing we need to defend against.”

Juls Tapia: I believe that the future of our society lies on us embracing and conserving the institution of marriage, as it safeguards our nature and morality that is our dignity as human beings, thus protecting the common good. As Catholics, we should pray for the institution of marriage and get involved in supporting groups that are promoting marriage, such as Scotland for Marriage.

Fraser Davidson: The difference between a traditional Christian marriage and a state marriage should be highlighted and made clear. Marriage is a vocation between one man and one woman with the intent of creating a loving family. Perhaps Catholic marriage should be termed Holy Marriage,.

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John the Baptist inspires

In order to defend marriage, we must first understand what marriage is. The Church teaches that the natural institution of marriage has as its primary purpose the procreation and education of children. In other words, marriage is not simply about love but has a societal role directed especially to the care of children.

But of course, you don’t get married simply in order to have children, and the Church recognises this. Indeed, Canon Law states that marriage is ordered towards the good of the spouses as well as the procreation and education of offspring. Marriage between Christians is also a Sacrament, and so is also about sanctification. Of course love comes into it, but marriage is not just a recognition of the love of the spouses, as some would have us believe. It is also important to acknowledge the special nature of spousal love, which is fundamentally different to the love of friends or brethren. Spousal love finds its root in the complementarity of man and woman: they were made for each other.

So in order to defend marriage, we must acknowledge the purpose of the institution of marriage (as opposed to the subjective reason a particular man and woman would marry) as being the societal role of procreation and education of children. We must also acknowledge the unique nature of spousal love as being founded in the inherent complementarity of man and woman. It is only in recognising and proclaiming these two facts that we can build a proper defense of marriage.

Christian teaching on the purpose of marriage applies to all marriage, whether sacramental or not, and so is not just for the benefit of the Church but of all society. We therefore need to proclaim the teaching on marriage in its fullness, but in many quarters we will not be popular for doing so.

As part of their duty of proclaiming and teaching the Faith, priests are of course called to preach the true nature of marriage, but so too are the laity. Married couples in particular are called to witness to the true nature of marriage through their daily lives. It is only by ourselves taking on board and living out the true meaning of marriage that we can hope to defend it more widely.  It is generally recognised that the institution of marriage is in crisis, as the figures from the recent census demonstrate. It will not be saved by expanding its definition to include relationships contrary to the spousal love of marriage, but rather by rediscovering the true meaning of marriage, both for society and for spouses.

We can take strength from St John the Baptist, who fearlessly proclaimed the true nature of marriage and paid with his life for doing so. Our efforts are unlikely to end in death, but we will no doubt face ridicule and abuse. Our message must be one of love, but of love properly understood in its different forms and meanings. Love and truth are inseparable, and to deny one is to deny the other. In order to defend marriage, we must proclaim both.