"We must not allow our Legislature to redefine marriage."For background read, Same-sex 'Marriage' in Maryland Legislature
UPDATE 8/9/11: Catholic Gov. Says Archbishop Wrong on 'Gay Marriage'
-- From "Catholic leaders urge continued fight against same-sex marriage in Md." by John Wagner, Washington Post 2/28/11
The top three church leaders who serve the state issued a joint statement Monday urging their flock to "act at once" to prevent the House of Delegates from passing the same bill legalizing gay nuptials that passed the Senate last week.
The bill is on the verge of passing this year despite the fact that the top three leaders in Annapolis are Catholic: Gov. Martin O'Malley (D), House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel) and Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert).
As The Post detailed in a story last week, O'Malley has said he will sign the bill if it reaches his desk. Busch is planning to vote for it. And though Miller voted against it, he worked to head off a threatened filibuster that could have spelled the bill's defeat.
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From "Maryland Catholics urged to keep up fight against same-sex marriage" by Catholic News Service 3/1/11
"The word marriage describes the commitment of a man and a woman to come together for life with the possibility of generating and educating children," the bishops said in a statement. "This is not to say that some people over the ages have not come together in a variety of ways, physical, financial and social. But these various unions have always had other names because they are not marriage."
The statement was signed by Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl of Washington, Baltimore Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien of Baltimore and Bishop W. Francis Malooly of Wilmington, Del. The Washington Archdiocese and the Wilmington Diocese include parishes in Maryland.
[The bishops] also noted [the bill] "contains inadequate conscience protections for religious institutions and individuals."
"As a result, the measure would jeopardize the religious freedom of all those who cannot in good conscience recognize marriages that conflict with their sincerely held religious beliefs," they added.
Legalizing same-sex marriage "would lead to the erosion of the family, our society's most valued and important social unit," the bishops said. "The measure would dismantle our state's legal recognition of the true procreative nature of marriage."
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