The so-called Marriage Protection Amendment is up for consideration -again- during the week of June 5th. This document would begin the process of amending the U.S. Constitution to define marriage as solely between a man and a woman. It seems to be true that there's no chance of its passing. It looks like there are only 52 sure votes for it.
Just for the record though, it only got 48 votes in the Senate the last time it was considered. To point out the obvious, while it still has too few votes to pass, the trajectory is up and 52 is a majority of the Senate. So, I'm relieved but far from complacent. The increase in votes comes from first-term Republican Senators who replaced Democrats in the last election: Sens. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), Mel Martinez (R-Fla.), John Thune (R-S.D.) and David Vitter (R-La.).
My dismay increased when I heard that the Knights of Columbus (a sociologically peculiar Catholic men's group) is sponsoring a nation-wide postcard campaign in support of the amendment. The President of the US Council of Catholic Bishops, Bishop William Skylstad, supports the Knights in their efforts with the letter summarized here: USCCB Office of Media Relations. Without a doubt he put them up to it, so of course he supports them. But we'll let that pass.
Fretting and stewing about what a Catholic can do to indicate dissent, I offer you this article by Patricia Beattie Jung: Call to Wed.(.pdf) And there's this FAQ, which might give Catholics some ammunition if the coffee-hour conversation gets testy: FAQ. In the mean-time, I'll probably mail the postcard either to the Bishop or back to the Knights, with a little letter. It won't accomplish anything, but at least they'll know that they're not dealing with consensus.
2 comments:
I don't think you are Catholic.
And yet... in spite of your decree... no one's revoked my baptism.
Post a Comment