Please keep in mind that those seeking a redefinition of marriage are arguing not only against established legal precedent but also the view of the enlightened men who actually wrote the U.S. Constitution. This is well reflected in the definition of marriage found in An American Dictionary of the English Language, published by Noah Webster in 1828. Webster was a contemporary of the founding fathers and his definition reflects the common understanding of marriage that existed at the time of the birth of our nation and throughout its history. Here is that original and still timely definition:

Marriage: The act of uniting a man and woman for life; Marriage is a contract both civil and religious, by which the parties engage to live together in mutual affection and fidelity, till death shall separate them. Marriage was instituted by God himself for the purpose of preventing the promiscuous intercourse of the sexes, for promoting domestic fidelity, and for securing the maintenance and education of children.

Most of the faithful in St. Louis revered him and miss him to this day. The ones who loved him most and likely miss him most of all are the seminarians.

The seminary in St. Louis was packed with aspirants from across the country who wanted to be near Burke and he wanted to be near them. It is said he spent an inordinate amount of time with his seminarians and even spent one-on-one time with each of them on a regular basis.

A high-ranking Vatican official told me that, when he was a student at the North American College in Rome, then Bishop Burke went out of his way to take care of the students from small dioceses who may have been at the NAC by themselves. He regularly took them out to dinner and otherwise ministered to them.

Please continue reading at Dare we hope for Burke?.

Between now and the election of our next Holy Father faithful from around the world can join in contributing to a prayerful Spiritual Bouquet for the cardinals gathered in Rome to elect the next Pope. Spiritual Bouquets are prayers, devotional acts or good deeds that someone offers for someone else. This can be a number of Masses offered, Holy Communions offered, rosaries and, or, other prayers said. The idea is that each prayer is like a flower and that the group is like a bouquet mystically offered as a gift to God for a particular intention.

Thomas McKenna, the founder and president of Catholic Action for Faith and Family, the organization sponsoring the initiative, said that he conceived the initiative after speaking last week with Cardinal Raymond Burke, a long-time friend and episcopal advisor to the organization. “I asked Cardinal Burke if there was anything I could do and he responded that his only request was for prayers” McKenna said. “I understand that the most important roll of Catholics from all walks of life is to pray for the cardinals who will elect the next Pope” he continued. This power house of prayer intentions aims to unite Catholics to pray for the cardinal electors.

“This initiative is a blessing to Holy Mother Church and is testimony to the role of the laity in their aspiration to assist the Bride of Christ” stated Fr. John Trigilio, Jr., president of the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy and a popular EWTN program television host.

Faithful are asked to go to the Catholic Action website (CatholicAction.org) and register their prayer offerings. These offerings will be presented in Rome to the next elected pope.

For more information and to pledge prayer intentions for the Spiritual Bouquet go to www.CatholicAction.org.

###

“Truth is clear. Wanting children to be connected to a mother and father discriminates against no one. Every child has a father and a mother, and either you support the only institution that connects a child with their father and mother or you don’t. Adoption, by a mother and father, mirrors the natural union of a mother and father and provides a balanced, happy alternative for when a child may not be reared by their biological parents.”

The complete interview is at CatholicHerald.co.uk.

WASHINGTON — In response to the November 6 statewide referenda results in Washington State, Minnesota, Maryland, and Maine regarding marriage, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage, called for renewed efforts to strengthen and protect marriage and family life and expressed gratitude to marriage protection supporters.

“Yesterday, November 6, was a disappointing day for marriage, as the effort to preserve the unique meaning of marriage in the law lost by only a narrow margin in four states, even though vastly outspent by those who promote the redefinition of marriage,” Archbishop Cordileone said.

“The meaning of marriage, though, cannot be redefined because it lies within our very nature. No matter what policy, law or judicial decision is put into place, marriage is the only institution that unites a man and a woman to each other and to any children born of their union. It is either this, or it is nothing at all. In view of the fact that every child has a mother and a father, our society either respects the basic right of every child to be raised by his or her mother and father together and so supports the true and unique meaning of marriage for the good of children, or it does not. In a society marked by increasing poverty and family fragmentation, marriage needs to be strengthened, promoted, and defended, not redefined. I hope and pray that political leaders, judges, and all people will seek to honor this foundational and common sense truth of marriage,” the archbishop said.

Earlier this year, the Washington State and Maryland legislatures voted in favor of bills to redefine marriage and the governors of these states signed the respective bills into law; however, before these laws could take effect, enough voters in each state signed a petition to put these laws before the voters in yesterday’s referenda. In Minnesota, the state legislature in 2011 voted to adopt a marriage protection amendment to the state constitution, which went before the voters yesterday.

In Maine, earlier this year, supporters of marriage redefinition submitted a petition with enough signatures to have a referendum on marriage redefinition in an attempt to counter the 2009 vote of the people that protected the meaning of marriage. In Maryland and Maine, voters yesterday voted in favor of redefining marriage (votes are still being confirmed in Washington State, though it is projected that voters did the same there as well). In Minnesota, voters rejected the proposed state constitutional amendment, though Minnesota still protects marriage as the union of one man and one woman through state statute.

“I extend heartfelt gratitude to all those who dedicated and sacrificed time, energy and resources to protect marriage,” Archbishop Cordileone said. “I especially call on all people to pray and to build a renewed culture of marriage and the family. This is a fundamental task on which the future good and stability of our society, and particularly that of our children, rest.”

Original USCCB page is here.

He went on to say that intrinsically evil actions, such as abortion and euthanasia, “must always be rejected and opposed,” and that issues that do not directly affect the life and dignity of people are secondary to these. Though Bishop Kagan “will not tell you how to vote,” he wrote that “I ask you to vote for the candidates who represent you as Catholic citizens. Please do not vote for the candidate who is most likeable.” “There isn’t a circumstance that can ever justify you or me checking our faith at the door, and then going in and doing something that is contrary to what we say we believe.”

“It does a great disservice to other Catholics, and to those who are not Catholic, if we create one of those artificial divisions between what I believe as a Catholic and what I do as a Catholic.” Bishop Kagan added that “conscience can be in error,” and that while there are things that are “easily recognized” by individual consciences as true or false, there are also matters “in between.” “And that’s where the relationship between Church authority and conscience… becomes so necessary and essential, because it’s not always clear what is the Truth, and therefore what is the good.”

“So it’s that recognition that there is an authority… that can inform and properly form one’s conscience so it recognizes the Truth, and then directs the person to seek that which is true and good.” He said the relationship between authority and conscience is a “complementary” one, and that authority and conscience are not meant to be “at odds” with one another. “For a Catholic to properly form and inform his or her conscience, so that the truth is recognized and the good is pursued… one has to be able to look to the authentic teaching of that truth,” he offered.

Please read the entire letter at the Diocese of Bismark website.

WASHINGTON — In response to a decision on October 18 by a divided federal appeals court panel to strike down part of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage, issued the following comment expressing disappointment over the ruling.

“The recognition that marriage is and can only be the union of one man and one woman is grounded in our nature, being clear from the very way our bodies are designed. This recognition obliges our consciences and laws. It is a matter of basic rights – the right of every child to be welcomed and raised, as far as possible, by his or her mother and father together in a stable home,” Archbishop Cordileone said. “Marriage is the only institution whereby a man and a woman unite for life and are united to any child born from their union. The public good demands that the unique meaning and purpose of marriage be respected in law and society, not rejected as beyond the constitutional pale. Redefining marriage never upholds the equal dignity of individuals because it contradicts basic human rights. The ruling yesterday is unjust and a great disappointment.”

On October 18, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed, by a 2-1 vote, a U.S. District Court decision striking down section 3 of DOMA as unconstitutional. Section 3 defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman for purposes of federal law.

DOMA was approved by a broad, bi-partisan majority of Congress in 1996, and signed into law by President Bill Clinton. DOMA recognizes for purposes of federal law that marriage is the union of one man and one woman, and it also protects the rights of states to uphold this definition of marriage in the face of laws from other states that might be adverse to such definition.

Original USCCB page is here.

His Eminence Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke examines the beauty and power of the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist in light of the profound and elucidating teachings of Blessed Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI.

Listen to the full interview online here.

Today’s decision by a federal district court in Nebraska to dismiss one of the many pending lawsuits against the HHS abortion-drug, contraception and sterilization mandate is unfortunate (and in one respect, seriously mistaken). But the decision turns on technicalities and doesn’t decide the merits of the dispute. Bear this context in mind if you should hear anyone trumpeting this decision as some sort of “victory” for the federal government on the religious-liberty questions at the heart of the HHS mandate litigation. It’s nothing of the sort.

The lawsuit was brought by Nebraska and seven other states, as well as three Catholic non-profit organizations (a high school, a charity, and a mutual society), and two individuals. The federal court (senior judge Warren Urbom, a 1970 Nixon appointee) dismissed the lawsuit without prejudice, finding that none of the plaintiffs had “standing” – which means that the court thought that the plaintiffs hadn’t properly claimed any real “injury” from the mandate in their complaint.

Please continue reading at The Becket Fund.

San Diego’s Coadjuter Bishop, Bishop Cirilo Flores, and president and founder of Catholic Action for Faith and Family, Thomas McKenna, were among those who spoke at the June 20 event. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) organized Fortnight for Freedom in response to the Obama administration’s contraception mandate, often referred to as the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) mandate. The HHS mandate would require employers, including religious institutions, to provide health insurance plans that offer free contraceptive services to their employees. At the heart of the debate is a narrowly defined exemption allowing parishes to forgo the mandate, but requires Catholic hospitals, charities, and universities to comply.

Bishop Flores, who described the exemption as “stingy,” expressed contempt for the government’s definition of what qualifies as religious ministry. In the government’s attempt to define religious ministry as an activity that serves only its own kind, Bishop Flores said that the exemption “sets aside our history of social services, of education, of hospitals. Because we serve people not because they’re Catholic but because we are Catholic.”

Thomas McKenna, addressing those gathered at the event, echoed the concerns of Bishop Flores saying that, “government ought to take account of the religious life of the people and show it favor since the function of government is to make provisions for the common good. However, it would clearly transgress the limits set to its power were it to presume to direct or inhibit religious activities.”

The U.S. Bishops have been strongly united against the HHS mandate. Fortnight for Freedom, lasting from June 21 to July 4, aims to rally the faithful together for fourteen days of prayer, study, catechesis, and public action. Dioceses from every corner of the United States will participate in Fortnight for Freedom activities.

Cardinal Raymond Burke, Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura and Episcopal advisor to Catholic Action for Faith and Family, was recently interviewed on Catholic Action Insight, an EWTN program produced by Catholic Action for Faith and Family, about the HHS mandate. “I admire very much the courage of the bishops. At the same time, I believe they would say along with me, that they’re doing no more than their duty,” said Cardinal Burke. “Our government needs to understand that what is being done with this mandate is contrary first of all to a fundamental human right, the right to free exercise of one’s conscience, and at the same time contrary to the very foundations of our own nation.”

The Church has sent a message to the government that this debate is not about contraception or the availability of contraception, but is about the government’s attempt to squelch religious freedom and freedom of conscience. “As people of faith, we believe that we are created by God to know Him, to love Him and to serve Him in this world and to be with Him in the next. This is the root of our religious liberty: Our human dignity as daughters and sons of God. Our religious freedom is not a favor from the government. It is a gift from God, ” said Bishop Flores. “Not just worshipping in church, not just attending Mass, not just private devotions, but living our faith in the world.”

The U.S. Bishops have asked that the faithful join them in praying the Prayer for the Protection of Religious Liberty. Please join Catholic Action for Faith and Family in supporting the bishops, our Catholic faith, and religious freedom by praying:

O God our Creator,

Through the power and working of your Holy Spirit, you call us to live out our faith in the midst of the world, bringing the light and the saving truth of the Gospel to every corner of society.

We ask you to bless us in our vigilance for the gift of religious liberty.

Give us the strength of mind and heart to readily defend our freedoms when they are threatened;give us courage in making our voices heard on behalf of the rights of your Church and the freedom of conscience of all people of faith.

Grant, we pray, O heavenly Father, a clear and united voice to all your sons and daughters gathered in your Church in this decisive hour in the history of our nation, so that, with every trial withstood and every danger overcome? for the sake of our children, our grandchildren, and all who come after us? this great land will always be “one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen

For more information, visit the USCCB’s Fortnight for Freedom.