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Written by WiG
Jan 19, 2012
Archbishop J. Peter Sartain
The Catholic bishops of Washington are urging members of the Church to contact state lawmakers and lobby against legislation that would legalize marriage for same-sex couples.
Marriage equality bills have been introduced in the Washington House and Senate and endorsed by Gov. Chris Gregoire.
Hearings on the bills could take place early next week. In the House, enough votes exist for passage, but the bill is a vote short in the Senate.
The National Organization for Marriage, organizing against the legislation, pledged as much as $250,000 to help fund primary challenges against any Republican who votes for the marriage rights for gays and lesbians.
More recently, the state's Catholic leaders posted their opposition to the marriage equality bill in a letter on the Archdiocese of Seattle website. The website contains English-language and Spanish-language versions of the statement, as well as a link to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ “Promotion and Defense of Marriage” webpage and a FAQ on marriage.
The letter stated, “The legislation to redefine marriage, therefore, is not in the public interest.
“Marriage is certainly about the public recognition of a relationship between a man and a woman which carries certain rights and responsibilities for the two adults. But, it is much more. Marriage in faith and societal traditions is acknowledged as the foundation of civilization. It has long been recognized that the stability of society depends on the stability of family life in which a man and a woman conceive and nurture new life. In this way, civil recognition of marriage has sought to bestow on countless generations of children the incomparable benefit of a loving mother and father committed to one another in a lifelong union.”
Signed by Archbishop J. Peter Sartain and Bishops Joseph J. Tyson, Blase J. Cupich and Eusebio Elizondo, the letter concludes, with a plea for people to contact lawmakers and “request that they defend the current legal definition of marriage as the union of a man and a woman.”
