BACK in history, the Roe V Wade decision of the Supreme Court defined Abortion in the United States. That decision had a trickle down effect on most of the so-called Western world.
More recently, Obergefell V Hodges might have the same effect on gay marriage. The decision, as you might expect (or you might not) went to the wire at 5-4 of the Justices.
Eleven of the 50 States and the District of Colombia DC had already legislated in favour of same sex marriage.
This is an extraordinary example of judicial activism by the liberal majority on the Supreme Court. The Court used its clauses governing equal protection to legislate their preferred view on one of the key debates today. But Law Courts are there to say what the law is, not what it should be. Laws are for the Legislature or, in our case, the Parliament.
Fortunately, the Parliament is where the matter in Australia will eventually be resolved. If it were to be decided by the Courts, for example, litigation may well follow for Christians sincerely wanting to reserve marriage to a man and woman.
I agree with Jesuit Father Frank Brennan: “Same-sex marriage is or soon will be a legal reality in all well-educated, developed societies in the foreseeable future. It is imperative that the Church continue to advocate the ideal of sacramental marriage for a man and a woman who are believers wanting to commit themselves to each other before God open to the bearing and nurturing of each other’s children according to the Law of Christ and his Church.
It is appropriate that the Church continues to espouse the ideal that children be nurtured in a family unit by their known biological mother and known biological father, while extending pastoral solicitude to all families and all children, including the hundreds of thousands who are already being raised by same-sex couple.”
We in the Church have known for a long time that the marriages we have do not conform to real sacramental marriage. But many couples do not appreciate the difference and often the clergy are incapable of explaining it.