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Editorial: It’s January, and it’s that time again

Every January we do our thing, marking the vigil that began Jan. 22, 1973, when the U.S. Supreme Court tossed out numerous state laws and invented a constitutional right to abortion — a right to take with violence the most innocent of human lives — through all nine months of pregnancy, one of the most radical abortion regimes in the world.

For 42 years now Catholics across the country have prayed, have fasted, have marched, have supported mothers and their babies, have spoken out, have written letters, have called their representatives and grilled candidates, have funded various pro-life apostolates, have begged, have pleaded.

For the whole history of the church we have recognized a way of life and way of death and made the insistent call to choose life.

There will be numerous opportunities to do so again this January and all throughout the year. The effort to give voice to the voiceless carries on, and will carry on, as long as it is needed.

Maybe it’s just as important a ritual in January to strengthen our resolve. If we are weary of marching, hoarse from making our voices heard, we must remember why we’re doing it, and recommit to carrying it on whether the going is easy or difficult until every child is protected in law and no mother learns of a pregnancy with dread because no one is there to help.

Then we must put that resolve into action. Here are some concrete things we can do during the month of January to make a difference for life:

  • Pray. The rosary, in particular, is a powerful prayer for life. Offer your rosaries this month for an end to abortion.
  • Make your voice heard. Write an email or letter to an elected official, participate in one of the many marches to show your support for life (the March for Life in the Twin Cities begins with a 10:30 a.m. prayer service at the Cathedral of St. Paul followed by a noon march at the State Capitol grounds) or pen a letter to the editor of your local paper.
  • Fast. You can offer up meat on Fridays for respect for life in January, or any other penance you like.
  • Offer support. Can you volunteer for a pro-life organization? Can you get baby supplies to an organiztion that supports mothers? Can you write out a check to a pro-life organization or attend Guiding Star Duluth’s annual Together for Life Banquet Jan. 25 that supports a whole host of such organizations?

There are many ways to support life. Please find one or more this month.

‘We shall overcome’ in fight against abortion, says Cardinal O’Malley

By Mark Pattison/Catholic News Service — Evoking a phrase long associated with the civil rights movement, Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley of Boston told an overflow crowd in Washington that “we shall overcome” in the fight against abortion.

Quoting Pope Francis in his homily Jan. 21 during the opening Mass of the National Prayer Vigil for Life, Cardinal O’Malley said, “The church cannot and must not remain on the sidelines in the fight for a better world.”

Woman prays rosary at pro-life vigil
A young woman prays the rosary during the National Prayer Vigil for Life at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington Jan. 21. The all-night vigil is held before the annual March for Life, which this year marked the 42nd anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion across the nation. (CNS photo/Bob Roller)

He added, “In our country, people have come together in the fight to overcome racism” and other social ills. “The quest for human rights and solidarity brought together people of faith to ‘repair the world,’ to use the Jewish expression.”

Now, Cardinal O’Malley said, the fight is for the right to life, “and we shall overcome,” he said to applause from a crowd of more than 11,000 at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington.

Without saying so directly, Cardinal O’Malley’s use of the phrase as the linchpin for his homily might have come from a phone call from Oprah Winfrey.

The cardinal and some priests were eating dinner at a diner near the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston when the call came. “I presumed it was a telemarketer,” Cardinal O’Malley said, but Winfrey called to thank him for some comments he had made in an earlier blog posting about the movie “Selma,” of which she was one of the producers and had a featured role.

The comment focused on “how every person was made in the image and likeness of God,” Cardinal O’Malley said, a point often made in the pro-life movement.

The cardinal, who is chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, used his sermon to take apart some “American mythology” about abortion. The three biggest myths, he said, are that abortion is a woman’s issue, that most Americans “are pro-choice, pro-abortion,” and that “young people are overwhelmingly in favor of the pro-abortion position.”

But polling over the past 20 years, according to Cardinal O’Malley, shows “women have consistently been more pro-life than men.” By supporting abortion, he said, “men rationalize their irresponsibility” and push women to abort their unborn child, “threatening to abandon her if she ‘chooses’ to gives birth. ... An abortion is a bargain compared to monthly child-support payments.”

On the second myth, Cardinal O’Malley quoted outgoing NARAL Pro-Choice America president Nancy Keegan said “there is a large intensity gap” among supporters of legal abortion and their foes.

And young people, the cardinal added to applause, “are the most pro-life segment of the American people.” Five years ago, the Gallup organization “declared pro-life is the new normal,” Cardinal O’Malley said. “Congratulations, young people — you’re normal.”

“We shall overcome indifference only by love,” Cardinal O’Malley said. “We must press on with the full assurance that we shall overcome.”

Worshippers did not seem to be bothered by the mixture of light rain and fluffy snowflakes that descended on Washington the afternoon of the Mass. Nor did they seem thrown by the Mass starting a half-hour earlier than in past years. The shrine was filled to the brim; even an hour before the scheduled 6:30 p.m. starting time, an usher asked a worshipper as he left the shrine’s vestibule to enter the church, “Do you have a seat, sir?”

More than 1,000 bishops, priests, seminarians, novices and servers took part in the 42-minute entrance procession. And they all had a chair on which to sit in the shrine’s massive sanctuary — which itself has the interior space of a medium-sized suburban church. There also was sufficient seating space in the sanctuary for several dozen nuns and select laypeople.

After the Mass, confession was offered from 9:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. in Our Lady of Hostyn Chapel in the lower level of the national shrine.

Pittsburgh Bishop David A. Zubik led those who stayed on in the National Rosary for Life in the Crypt Church. Bishop Kurt R. Burnette of the Byzantine Eparchy of Passaic, New Jersey, led a night prayer in the church with Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger of Albany, New York, as homilist.

9 Days for Life Novena, Day 6

Intercession

May each person suffering from the loss of a child through abortion find hope & healing in Christ.

Prayers

Our Father, 3 Hail Marys, Glory Be

Reflection

Today, on this 42nd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, we consider the past four decades in which our society has legally permitted abortion. Since that tragic decision, many children’s lives have been lost, and many suffer that loss—often in silence. Yet God’s greatest desire is to forgive. No matter how far we have each strayed from his side, he says to us, “Don’t be afraid. Draw close to my heart.”

“In the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation, also called confession, we meet the Lord, who wants to grant forgiveness and the grace to live a renewed life in him. ... We bishops and priests are eager to help you if you experience difficulty, hesitation, or uncertainty about approaching the Lord in this sacrament. If you have not received this healing sacrament in a long time, we are ready to welcome you” (“God’s Gift of Forgiveness”: www.bit.ly/GiftOfForgiveness). Let us run into the arms of Jesus, who is love and mercy.

Acts of Reparation (choose one)
  • Today, go visit an adoration chapel and spend some time with Jesus.
  • Go to Confession — today, if possible — or during this week. Before you go, look up St. Faustina and learn a little about the message of Divine Mercy she shared during her life.
  • Pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet for those who are suffering the loss of a child through abortion, asking that they find healing and peace.
One Step Further

Find a printable version of this document at http://www.usccb.org/about/pro-life-activities/january-roe-events/upload/2015-Nine-Days-Day-6.pdf.

Kyle Eller: Message of the popes: We are all in this together, so let’s leave no one behind

I’m not aware of any theological principle that grants to popes a charism of coining pithy phrases that sum up profound issues in just a few words, but the three popes in my life as a Catholic have all had a knack for it.

When we think of our beloved St. John Paul II, phrases like “be not afraid!” and “Culture of Life” come instantly to mind.

Kyle Eller
Mere Catholicism

Professorial Pope Benedict XVI, just before he was elected, gave us “dictatorship of relativism,” still one of the most apt descriptions of modern society you’re likely to find. The brilliant theologian also gave us “hermeneutic of continuity,” and while some might find that doesn’t trip off the tongue as easily as the others, it’s an indispensable principle for our faith.

These phrases are prophetic and remain meaningful and valid for us today.

And then there is Pope Francis, who is a font of pithy phrases and memorable images, like “to the margins.”

One that’s been on my mind a lot is “throwaway culture,” a phrase Pope Francis has used in reference to a whole host of issues, including abortion, euthanasia, immigration and the economy.

The idea Pope Francis is playing off of here is one of those strange things that’s at the same time widely known and widely ignored. It’s the consumer goods we buy so often that are disposable, meant to be used once and thrown in the trash, like bottled water. It’s the “planned obsolescence” — things deliberately designed to go out of fashion, break down, wear out, fall behind or otherwise become ready for the trash relatively quickly, creating the need to buy a replacement.

I suspect most of us feel a bit queasy about that reality, both because it doesn’t seem like it could possibly be a good thing and because changing it or even thinking about it seriously would require confronting some pretty basic ideas in our lives, both in the personal realm of our actual practice and in the realm of ideas and our economic orthodoxies.

It’s easier just to go with the flow.

Disposable human beings?

Maybe that is partly why Pope Francis’ application has so much force behind it. Instead of applying it just to things, the pope says we’re applying it to persons too. When they become inconvenient or sick or costly or unproductive or otherwise unwelcome, we toss them out like that empty Coke bottle or that last-generation gadget.

If the pope is right, implicit in this mentality is a vision of the human person, one that is in direct conflict with the vision Christianity has proposed to the world for 2,000 years. Christianity views each person as an unrepeatable creation made in the image and likeness of God, loved by God all the way to the cross and sought by God for an unspeakably blessed eternity.

The opposing vision casts the human person as something akin to a product, a commodity, a thing.

Isn’t that exactly what we’re seeing, more and more, in the conflicts and challenges of our time? Aren’t little unborn babies treated as mere objects to be disposed of if they present a hardship to parents or, on the other hand, to be manufactured if they are desperately wanted or useful for medical research?

When someone gets too old or too sick or has to suffer in a way that makes the people around her uncomfortable and we argue for euthanasia or physician-assisted suicide as a response, aren’t we treating a person in the language of the spreadsheet, the cost-benefit analysis?

We have seen over the past months a conflict over race and appropriate use of force by police, with shocking scenes of violence and despair and the feeling that we’re coming apart at the seams. Did you notice the competing social media hashtags, #blacklivesmatter and #coplivesmatter? We don’t feel the need to make assertions like those unless we feel the value of those lives has been called into question.

The same sorts of things play a significant role in our debates over immigration, poverty, education, foreign policy and war. Isn’t it also behind the “hook-up culture” and our debates over just wages and in many other places we could name?

A call for peacemakers

Pope Francis’ message for the World Day of Peace, highlighting human trafficking and modern day slavery, touches a similar theme, that in the light of Christ we are “no longer slaves, but brothers and sisters.”

Whatever the preferred phrasing, with the term “solidarity” used so often by St. John Paul II or the scriptural “fraternity” to which Pope Francis appeals here or Catholic social doctrine’s “preferential option for the poor,” this is the Christian view of social life, that we are all in it together, that absolutely no one is disposable or left behind, and that we have to pay particularly close attention to those who are most vulnerable, those most likely to be victims of the “throwaway culture.”

If we are to be peacemakers in the new year, that is the vision we have to reclaim.

Kyle Eller is editor of The Northern Cross. Reach him at keller@dioceseduluth.org.

9 Days for Life Novena, Day 5

Intercession

May all people reject pornography and discover the true meaning of love through an encounter and relationship with Christ.

Prayers

Our Father, 3 Hail Marys, Glory Be

Reflection

logoToday we honor the life of St. Agnes, a 12-year old girl martyred in Rome in 304 AD. Agnes never wavered in her commitment to remain a virgin and to give her whole life to the Lord, refusing proposals to marry. Her innocence and heroism facing death helped bring an end to the persecutions of Christians in Rome. Following the example of St. Agnes, let us remain steadfast in recognizing Christ, who is Love Incarnate, as the source and summit of our lives. May his love give us the determination and courage to live for him and for others, especially the most vulnerable among us. St. Agnes, pray for us!

Acts of Reparation (choose one)
  • Don’t push the snooze button. Get right out of bed and offer your day in prayer to God. “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light” (Ephesians 5:14).
  • Fast from snacking today. Eat three meals only.
  • It’s easy to put our headphones on and ignore our siblings or parents. Instead, enjoy the opportunity you have to talk to them; ask them how they are doing.
One Step Further

Did you know that pornography addiction can numb the brain’s ability to experience pleasure? Learn more by reading “Life Matters: Pornography and Our Call to Love” at www.bit.ly/CallToLove.

Find a printable version of this document at http://www.usccb.org/about/pro-life-activities/january-roe-events/upload/2015-Nine-Days-Day-5.pdf.

Thousands expected for March for Life at State Capitol Thursday

Jan. 22 marks the 42nd anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decisions, Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, which legalized abortion on demand throughout all nine months of pregnancy. Minnesota has lost more than 600,000 lives to abortion since these 1973 court decisions, according to the Minnesota Department of Health.

Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life will hold the 2015 MCCL March for Life at the State Capitol on Thursday, Jan. 22. The purpose of the march is to commemorate the 57 million unborn babies’ lives lost to abortion and to call for legislation to protect all innocent human life, including pregnant women and their unborn children.

Pro-life state lawmakers are expected to participate in the brief MCCL program that begins at 12:30 p.m. on the lower Capitol Mall steps. MCCL will announce its 2015 legislative agenda at the event. Media kits will be available at the march, and a news release will be issued shortly afterward.

Organizers say the MCCL March for Life is the largest annual event held at the Capitol, regularly attracting thousands of people.

Date: Thursday, Jan. 22, 2015.

Time: March begins at 12 noon; program begins at 12:30 p.m. on lower Capitol Mall steps.

Place: State Capitol, 75 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., St. Paul.

Father Michael Schmitz: Sin isn’t a necessary evil; aim to know goodness well

Question: Do you really believe that sins are the measurement of your passes to heaven? I don’t think so. Sins are necessary to life. How would you know that good is good if you do not experience sin? It gives balance to life.

Answer: That’s an interesting question. It reminds me of a magazine for kids that I used to read. Do you remember “Highlights for Children”? It was usually in doctor and dentist waiting rooms and had any number of short stories and games for kids to play.

Father Michael Schmitz
Father Michael Schmitz
Ask Father Mike

My favorite thing in “Highlights” was a little comic strip called “Goofus and Gallant.” They were two young boys, and one was the embodiment of bad manners and selfishness (Goofus) while the other was an example of good manners and noble behavior.

There would always be something like, “Goofus makes his dad clean up after supper, while Gallant says, ‘I’ll do the dishes, mom!’ ” The idea is that children are learning the difference between good and bad behavior through comparing and contrasting the behavior of these two boys.

This is clearly one way that we learn things in life. There are plenty of lessons that we learn as we go through this world by way of comparison and contrast.

We say things like, “This lemonade is sour.” In comparison to what? Well, possibly in comparison to something that is not sour (like water) or something that is sweet (like orange juice). We can know things like color based on the light spectrum. This variety adds zest to life and helps us distinguish one thing from another.

But difference in taste or color is not the same thing as difference between good and evil. In fact, this goes back to ancient Christian theology. In Catholic theology, evil is not a “thing” in the same sense that good is a “thing.” In fact, it is more accurate to say that evil is either a distortion of or the lack (privation) of a good. We have evil when something good in itself is either distorted, misused or taken away.

Therefore, something like blindness isn’t a “thing”; it is the lack of a good (sight). One doesn’t need to know blindness in order to know seeing. Or take the case of someone using the truth to hurt another person. Here, one would be misusing a good thing (truth) for an evil purpose, but a person wouldn’t need to experience this in order to know the goodness of truth.

‘Necessary’ doesn’t mean ‘good’

We recognize that evil is a “necessary” part of life in the same sense that we recognize that sickness is a part of life. These things don’t add anything to living. In fact, they mostly serve to take away from our experience of life. They are “necessary” in that we experience them, but sin and evil are not necessary for us to understand the good.

Consider a couple of brief examples.

When it comes to beauty, a person could be raised (in theory) completely surrounded by beauty. Imagine if all of the music and art and entertainment they were exposed to was consistently in accord with the nature of real beauty. They would not have to be simultaneously exposed to ugliness in order to know beauty.

A person exclusively engaged with those things which reflect beauty would actually come to know beauty in a way that someone who was also exposed to ugliness could not. They would certainly be able to recognize ugliness when presented with it, but they wouldn’t need to know ugliness in order to know beauty.

This is the motivation behind the U.S. Treasury Department’s work to train people to be able to spot counterfeit bills. One might imagine that, when training people to recognize counterfeits, they would study all of the different ways a bill could be forged. But this is not how the government does it.

They have found that the single most effective way to train people to know when they are looking at a counterfeit bill is to study genuine bills. They know what “real money” looks and feels like to such a degree that they are able to instantly recognize a fake. They did not, in this sense, need to experience the bad in order to know the good. They just needed to thoroughly know the good.

Or consider parenting. A good parent would certainly vary in the kind of love they gave to their child. At times, their love might be gentle and soothing. At other times, it could be more demanding and less flexible. There would be a great variety of expressions of love that the child would come to know. But the parent would not also have to abuse and use the child in order to “give balance” to their parenting. In a similar way, sin does not “give balance” to life.

Sin adds negatives

It seems shortsighted to say that we wouldn’t know that good is good if we didn’t experience the opposite.

There are virtually an infinite number of goods in this world. The more fully we are exposed to, experience, and come to know these goods, the more full life becomes. Sin merely adds pain and dullness to life, not color.

Lastly, sin isn’t necessarily the measurement of one’s “pass into heaven.” On the contrary, love is the measure.

First, the love God has for us in creating us and redeeming us. Second, in the love we have for him by choosing to obey him. We choose to love God when we choose to respond to his grace with faithfulness.

In the end, sin isn’t the test; love is.

Father Michael Schmitz is director of youth and young adult ministry for the Diocese of Duluth and chaplain of the Newman Center at the University of Minnesota Duluth.

Pope says he will canonize Blessed Junipero Serra in Washington

By Francis X. Rocca / Catholic News Service — Pope Francis said his September trip to the U.S. will take him to Philadelphia, New York and Washington — where he intends to canonize Blessed Junipero Serra — but probably no other stops.

Pope Francis made his remarks Jan. 19, in an hourlong news conference with reporters accompanying him back to Rome from a weeklong trip to Asia.

Pope answers question
Pope Francis responds to questions about the September U.S. papal visit during a news conference aboard his flight from Manila, Philippines, to Rome Jan. 19. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

Four days after announcing he would canonize Blessed Junipero in the U.S. in September, the pope said he wished he could do so in California, the 18th-century Franciscan’s mission field, but would not have time to travel there.

The pope said he planned instead to perform the canonization ceremony at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, saying Washington would be a fitting location because a statue of Blessed Junipero stands in the U.S. Capitol.

The pope also confirmed he would visit the United Nations in New York. He had already announced his participation in the late-September World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia.

Asked about widespread speculation that he would visit the U.S.-Mexico border on the same trip, Pope Francis said “entering the United States by crossing the border from Mexico would be a beautiful thing, as a sign of brotherhood and of help to the immigrants.” But he said making such a visit would raise expectations that he would visit Mexico’s shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and he joked that “war could break out” if he failed to do so.

“There will be time to go to Mexico later on,” he said.

Catholic News Agency reported on a proposed schedule that U.S. and U.N. church leaders have submitted to the Vatican. That schedule, which has not yet been approved, would have the pope arriving in Washington the evening of Sept. 22; visiting the White House and celebrating Mass at the shrine Sept. 23; addressing a joint sessions of Congress Sept. 24 before traveling to New York City to address U.N. General Assembly Sept. 25.

As previously announced, he would spend Sept. 26 and 27 in Philadelphia for the World Meeting of Families.

However, sources familiar with the trip planning have noted that plans submitted to the Vatican are not always approved, and Pope Francis’ comments about the canonization of Blessed Junipero indicated not all plans are finalized.

His Jan. 15 announcement on the plane from Sri Lanka to the Philippines surprised even the people who have been promoting the sainthood cause of Blessed Junipero. The CNA interview with Archbishop Bernardito Auza, Vatican nuncio to the United Nations, said the Mass at the shrine “would be primarily for bishops, consecrated and religious men and women, seminarians and representatives from humanitarian and Catholic charitable organizations,” while Pope Francis said that is when he would canonize Blessed Junipero.

Pope Francis would be the first pope to address a joint session of Congress.

Helen Osman, secretary for communications at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said it was “exciting that the Holy Father has confirmed that he is visiting Washington, New York and Philadelphia. Plans are already underway to enable as many people as possible to participate, including through mass media. We are anticipating that the Vatican will be providing more details toward the end of February and are hoping that a final schedule can be announced soon afterward.”

She said media credentialing would open after the Vatican releases the schedule and would be coordinated through the USCCB Communications Department. In 2008, almost 6,000 media applications were processed for Pope Benedict XVI’s visit.

During his pontificate, St. John Paul II visited the United States seven times — two of which were fuel stopovers — making the country his most frequent foreign destination after his native Poland. He addressed the United Nations in 1979 and 1995; Blessed Paul VI did so in 1965, and Pope Benedict addressed the assembly in 2008, during his one visit as pope.

Pope Francis said he hoped to visit three Latin American countries in 2015 — Bolivia, Ecuador and Paraguay — and three more — Argentina, Chile and Uruguay — the following year. He said he planned to visit two African countries — the Central African Republic and Uganda — in late 2015. He emphasized that all of those trips were still in the “hypothetical” planning stages.

9 Days for Life Novena, Day 4

Intercession

May children awaiting adoption be welcomed into loving families.

Prayers

Our Father, 3 Hail Marys, Glory Be

Reflection

Let us reflect on today’s reading from Hebrews (6:10-20), which reminds us to “hold fast to the hope that lies before us. This we have as an anchor of the soul, sure and firm” (Heb 6:18-19). We pray that children awaiting adoption would be filled with the hope of Christ and “the peace of God that surpasses all understanding” (Phil 4:7). We also remember that, we too, can cling fast to this anchor of hope, for we have received “a spirit of adoption, through which we cry, ‘Abba, Father!’” (Rom 8:15). May our loving Father envelop each of us in His love today and open our eyes in faith, that we may see and rejoice in it.

Acts of Reparation (choose one)
  • Make an act of faith, hope or love. (www.bit.ly/9DaysFaithHopeLove)
  • Today, ignore your sweet tooth. Make healthy eating choices.
  • Make a “quiet hour” today, turning off all electronic devices (cell phone, iPod, computer, television, radio, video game system), and retreat to your room. Spend some time in prayer or prayerful reading.
One Step Further

In “An Adoption Love Story,” Jenny* shares her and her husband’s story of adopting their son, Andrew. Read about some of the challenges, concerns, and joys on their journey at www.bit.ly/AdoptionLoveStory.

*Names changed for privacy

Find a printable version of this document at http://www.usccb.org/about/pro-life-activities/january-roe-events/upload/2015-Nine-Days-Day-4.pdf.

Supreme Court agrees to take up same-sex marriage cases this term

By Catholic News Service — The Supreme Court Jan. 16 agreed to hear four cases over the constitutionality of same-sex marriage, tackling the questions of whether the 14th Amendment requires states to allow such marriages and whether it requires them to recognize same-sex marriages licensed in other states.

In brief orders, the court accepted petitions from Tennessee, Michigan, Kentucky and Ohio, consolidating them into one hearing that will be held probably in late April, meaning a decision would likely come before the end of the term in late June. The court allotted an unusually lengthy period of time for oral arguments, two and a half hours, compared to a typical 60-minute period.

As of Jan. 16, 36 states and the District of Columbia allow same-sex marriages, either under court rulings or state laws. In the other 14 states, they are prohibited, but those bans are all under legal challenge.

The Catholic Church upholds marriage as a union between one man and one woman and teaches that any sexual activity outside of marriage is sinful. The church also teaches that homosexual attraction itself is not sinful and that homosexual people “must be accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity.”

The chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage said that a decision by the Supreme Court on whether a state may define marriage as the union of one man and one woman “may be the most significant court decision since the court’s tragic 1973 Roe v. Wade decision making abortion a constitutional right.”

“It’s hard to imagine how the essential meaning of marriage as between the two sexes, understood in our nation for over 200 years, and consistent with every society throughout all of human history, could be declared illegal,” Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of San Francisco said in a Jan. 16 statement.

Upholding traditional marriage “is not a judgment on anyone,” he said. “It is a matter of justice and truth. The central issue at stake is: what is marriage? The answer is: a bond which unites a man and a woman to each other and to any children who come from their union.”

After the court announced it would take the marriage cases, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said the Obama administration would file an amicus, or “friend of the court,” brief calling for a decision by the justices that would “make marriage equality a reality for all Americans.”

James Esseks, director of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender & HIV Project of the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement the ACLU was “thrilled the court will finally decide this issue. ... The country is ready for a national solution that treats lesbian and gay couples fairly.” The ACLU is a co-counsel in the Kentucky case.

In 2013 the Supreme Court — in separate 5-4 rulings — struck down parts of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, defining marriage as between one man and one woman, and also refused to rule on the merits of a challenge to California’s Proposition 8, the voter-approved initiative barring same-sex marriage.

In the June 26 ruling on DOMA, the court said the federal government could not deny benefits to same-sex couples that were legally married in states that allow such unions based on the Equal Protection Clause. The justices the same day sent back to lower courts a challenge to Prop 8, saying the individuals who defended the law in court lacked the legal standing to do so. On June 28, 2013, a stay on allowing same-sex marriage in California was lifted and such marriages were able to resume.

During his trip to the Philippines, Pope Francis made one of his strongest calls as pope against movements to recognize same-sex unions as marriage.

“The family is also threatened by growing efforts on the part of some to redefine the very institution of marriage,” the pope said Jan. 16, hours after warning that Philippine society was “tempted by confusing presentations of sexuality, marriage and the family.”