Los Angeles, Calif., Nov 11, 2008 / 21:50 pm
Archbishop of Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony has issued a statement following the electoral victory of Proposition 8, a California ballot measure which restored the legal definition of marriage to be a union between a man and a woman. Its passage, he said, resulted from an “unprecedented coalition” of people who understood the importance of “the bedrock of marriage” as it has been lived out through recorded history.
“I am grateful to the Catholic Community of Los Angeles for your commitment to the institution of marriage as fashioned by God and to work with such energy to enshrine this divine plan into our State’s Constitution,” he wrote in a November 5 statement.
The cardinal then explained “God’s plan for the human family,” referring to the Book of Genesis’ account of God’s creation of man and woman.
Efforts in support of Proposition 8, Cardinal Mahony explained, centered solely on “preserving God’s plan that marriage between one man and one woman is to be that unchanging reality.” Their mutual love becomes fruitful through “bringing forth children to continue the human family,” and these children’s formation and maturation is “destined by God to take place within a traditional family of one father and one mother.”
“Proposition 8 is not against any group in our society,” the cardinal continued, acknowledging that the Church understands that there are people who live together in relationships other than traditional marriage.
“All of their spiritual, pastoral, and civil rights should be respected, together with their membership in the Church,” he said.
“This special effort across California has also been assisted by many who live outside our state because they recognized the importance of maintaining God’s plan for marriage as a bedrock institution for society,” Cardinal Mahony’s statement concluded.
“May the new definition of marriage in our state Constitution be enlivened by our continuing support for married couples and their families.”