Although recent polls on Catholics supporting same-sex “marriage” are
viewed as less disheartening than they appear, the results sparked a
call for education on the beauty and truth of Church teaching. Tim
Roder, associate director of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops'
Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage, said that
Catholic belief in marriage is about “remaining faithful to Jesus and
his teaching.” He cited Christ's words about married couples in
the Gospel of Mark, chapter 10: “from the beginning of creation, God
made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father
and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one
flesh.”“We cannot be driven by polls,” Roder told EWTN News March 7.Surveys
indicating some Catholics' rejection of Catholic teaching show “there
is still much work to be done, particularly in educating the faithful on
the beauty of marriage as the unique union of one man and one woman.” The
U.S. Spanish-language television network Univision's recent global poll
of Catholics about their views indicated that about 54 percent of U.S.
Catholic respondents support “gay marriage.” Among this subset,
fifty-nine percent of respondents agreed that the Church should not
perform “gay marriages,” but 35 percent said the Church should. Among
the 12 countries polled, only Spanish Catholics showed more support than
Americans for these ceremonies in Catholic churches.Roeder
said it was a positive sign that even among supporters of same-sex
“marriage,” most rejected such unions being performed in Catholic
churches.Roder
noted, though, that only one-third of Catholics
who attended Mass weekly or more supported Church recognition of
same-sex “marriages.”He said that the survey results help show
that changing the legal definition of marriage “can indeed have a
cultural impact swaying more to support it. The law teaches for
good and ill,” Roder said. “When it teaches something false many just
accept it and this increases the profound cultural crisis in marriage
and family that Pope Francis spoke about in 'Evangelii Gaudium.'”Roder
said marriage is “a question of definition, not expanding rights.” It
is “impossible” for the Church to perform same-sex weddings.“The
body matters. Sexual difference between man and woman is essential to
marriage,” he said. “The Church cannot affirm something that is not true
or real. Only a man and a woman can enter a conjugal union open to the
possibility of children.”
Born during the turbulent era of the French Revolution, Saint Jeanne Jugan rose above hardship and a lack of formal schooling to become a profound vessel of Christ’s mercy. After losing her father at a young age and working through her youth as a kitchen maid and nurse, her life radically changed one freezing night when she encountered a blind, paralyzed elderly woman with nowhere to go. Jeanne carried the woman back to her own home, placed her in her own bed, and began a lifelong mission of radical hospitality. This act of profound love blossomed into the Little Sisters of the Poor , a thriving community dedicated to sheltering and honoring the destitute elderly. Despite later facing heavy trials—including being unjustly sidelined and stripped of her leadership by a controlling chaplain—Jeanne accepted her obscurity and exile with a joyful spirit, resting her complete trust in God's hidden providence until her death in 1879. In our daily lives, Saint Jeanne Jugan invites us to lo...