Marriage has been under assault for at least 40 years, but according to Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, the younger generation can turn the tide — by getting married and staying married.
Archbishop Cordileone of San Francisco is the chairman of the US bishops’ Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage. As the Supreme Court on Tuesday and Wednesday heard arguments in two cases regarding same-sex “marriage,” the archbishop is at the forefront of the Church’s battle to defend marriage against this latest, and more “extreme” assault.
The archbishop was in Washington on Tuesday to lead the prayer for the first national March for Marriage, which ended precisely at the Supreme Court.
ZENIT spoke with the archbishop by phone on the vigil of the march.
ZENIT: Recent polls report that a slight majority of Americans favor same-sex “marriage,” but of course polls are only worth so much. What is your view? Is this battle lost at the level of culture, both here at home and internationally?
Archbishop Cordileone: We’ve been hearing for 10 years that public opinion has shifted and that the majority of Americans favor legalizing same-sex “marriage,” but until the last election the traditional concept of marriage has won out every time the people have been able to vote on it. And even now, this last election may indicate some shifting of opinion, but there was another poll that was done the day of, or the day after the election, which indicated that 60% of Americans still favor the traditional concept of marriage. It always depends on how the question is phrased. So, I think that when people understand what marriage really is, what its true purposes are — and that it’s not something that’s discriminatory, that they come around to appreciate it more. Continue reading
Sources
- Zenit
- Image: San Francisco Chronicle