Maryland & Gay Marriage

The fight for marriage has turned up in the backwaters of the Peoples Republic of Maryland. Two woman filed suite in July and judge Murdock ruled on January 20th, 2006 and in one fell swoop has over turned a 1973 law that defined marriage as between a man and a woman. NPR has reported

Same-sex couples who want to marry have won a victory in the state of Maryland. Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Brooke Murdock has ruled that a 1973 statute that defines marriage as between a man and a woman violates the state constitution. Murdock stayed the opinion until a higher court has affirmed the decision, so same-sex couples cannot get marriage licenses yet. The state attorney general is appealing the decision to an intermediate court.

Maryland is one of seven states where the definition of marriage is in play. And even though gay rights advocates won big in Massachusetts in 2003, and have won in a few state trial courts, gay rights advocates are finding the road to more wins more tortuous than they had anticipated.

What is really a wake up call for Catholic education in the U.S. (and a future post I'm sure) is the state of the Catholic schools in the U.S. I don't think most catholics have any idea just how bad these schools are. The lead plaintiffs actually met at a small catholic college. And further more, both woman were artificially insemenated to allow them to become pregnant.
So much for an education in values NPR also reported"

The lead plaintiffs in the Maryland case, Lisa Polyak and Gitanjali Deane, met at a small Catholic college 27 years ago and have been together for the past 25 years. They kept their relationship secret, until Polyak bore their first child through artificial insemination. Three years later, Deane did the same.

It seems that the Catholic church, and we catholics as a whole have let down society by our failure to preach the gospel loudly and proudly. We failed our faith by allowing our catholic schools to move away from being catholic and becoming more secular. And we have failed these two woman in that we did not preach the good news, nor provide an environmnet that would allow them to confront there issues with homosexuality. And as a result, the institution of marriage is under attack. True, no judge can redefine what God has created. If a judge rules that Adam and Steve can be married, in God's eyes, and by God's definition they are not married no matter how loudly they protest to the contrary.

These people and society as a whole need us to unabashedly preach the good news. Is there hope? All hope is in Christ.