March for Marriage 2016

On June 25, 2016, the day before the one year anniversary of the erroneous and unjust Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, a rally and March for Marriage will be held in Washington, D.C. The event is meant to highlight the importance of the unique meaning of marriage to society and the importance of mothers and fathers for children.

Participants will be gathering at the reflecting pool in front of the Capitol building around 11:30 a.m. for the program, and the march to the Supreme Court will begin at 1:00 p.m.

Please consider joining the March for Marriage 2016 to witness to the continued importance of authentic marriage!

Archbishop Kurtz on Legal System and Marriage

At his blog, Archbishop Kurtz reflected on whether the legal system is prepared for ramifications if marriage is redefined in law.

March for Marriage 2015 Re-Cap

Thanks to everyone who came out to the March for Marriage on Saturday! It was a great turnout, and a prayerful, peaceful witness to the truth about marriage.

Archbishop Lori gave the opening prayer, and Archbishop Kurtz gave an address. (Pictured above with Archbishop Vigano, the papal nuncio, and Bishop Perry; Not pictured but also present were Archbishop Broglio and Bishop McIntyre)

Mass before the March for Marriage

The Archdiocese of Washington is holding a Mass for Marriage at 10:30 a.m. at St. Dominic on Saturday, April 25 before the March for Marriage. Please attend if you can!

March for Marriage: April 25, 2015

Bishop Malone and Archbishop Cordileone have once again invited and encouraged the Bishops and the faithful to take part in the March for Marriage on April 25, 2015, three days before the U.S. Supreme Court hears oral arguments on the constitutionality of states’ preserving the legal definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

Writing to the U.S. bishops, these two Chairmen wrote, “The March will be an opportunity to stand for the good of marriage in our nation, to pray for our Supreme Court justices, and to demonstrate our commitment to the well-being of children. It complements well the bishops’ Call to Prayer for Life, Marriage, and Religious Liberty (www.usccb.org/pray). The anticipated decision of the Supreme Court positions itself to be the most important judicial ruling in our nation since the infamous Roe v. Wade decision declaring a constitutional right to abortion. The March is an important witness to a movement dedicated to building a culture of marriage and the family, and it serves to remind all people that a Supreme Court ruling will not decide the issue of marriage any more than Roe decided the issue of abortion. We are deeply grateful for any support you can offer for this March.”

Read Archbishop Cordileone’s Address

At the March for Marriage last week, Archbishop Cordileone gave an address at the rally.

He said, “The question is then: does society need an institution that unites children to the mothers and fathers who bring them into the world, or doesn’t it?  If it does, that institution is marriage – nothing else provides this basic good to children.”

The Archbishop also spoke about the love and support we must offer single parents, struggling marriages, teens trying to live chastely, women feeling pressured into abortion, single people hoping for a spouse, infertile couples, those who care for their ill spouses, and finally, “for the young person trying to navigate through sexual identity issues and may feel alienated from the Church because of it, maybe even because of the sort of treatment received from those who profess to be believers.  To all of you, I say: know that you are a child of God, that you are called to heroic love and that with God’s help you can do it, that we love you and want to support you in living your God-given call.”

Archbishop Cordileone encouraged everyone at the March, “not to paint our opponents on this issue with broad strokes” and to remember that there are many people on the other side of this debate of good will, seeking to do right.  Love is the answer, he reminded us.

Archbishop Cordileone responds to concerns regarding the March for Marriage

A number of officials from San Francisco and a number of other groups wrote to Archbishop Cordileone last week to urge him not to join the March for Marriage on June 19.  They argued that the March for Marriage was a platform for hate.

Archbishop Cordileone responded yesterday to the Lt. Governor Newsom and Mayor Ed Lee, pointing out that the March for Marriage, “is not ‘anti-LGBT’ (as some have described it); it is not anti-anyone or anti-anything. Rather, it is a pro-marriage March… Rest assured that if the point of this event were to single out a group of individuals and target them for hatred, I most certainly would not be there.”

He goes on to encourage his correspondents not to take hearsay for truth and corrects a number of assertions about the organizers of the event. He states his willingness and interest in meeting the letter signers in person, not only to talk about the issue, but simply to get to know them, writing, “It is the personal encounter that changes the vision of the other and softens the heart.”

The Archbishop ends his letter with a plea of his own: “When all is said and done, then, there is only one thing that I would ask of you more than anything else: before you judge us, get to know us.”

March for Marriage Promotional Video

The National Organization for Marriage has put out this promotional video for the March on June 19th. Check it out and join us for the March for Marriage!