What was once an important debate over the nature, purpose, and legal status of marriage has emerged as a critical national issue, the resolution of which will shape the future of our society and the course of constitutional government in the United States.
Many states across the nation are moving to either strengthen their existing statutory language that recognizes marriage between a man and a woman or to amend their constitution to preserve the traditional meaning of marriage. The information on this page is intended to reflect the breadth of the movement to defend marriage throughout the United States.
Darfur would be Sudanese President Lt. General Omar Hassan al Bashir's second genocidal campaign against his countrymen. He waged the first against the Christian and animist people of south and central Sudan, with most of the deaths occurring over a decade beginning in the early '90s and 2002. As Elie Wiesel wrote about the south, it was "genocide in slow motion."
Growing up in Massachusetts, I naturally imbibed a patriotic atmosphere. In the movies I was treated to the foot-tapping music of George M. Cohan performed with patriotic gusto by the inimitable Jimmy Cagney. In school, we were obliged to memorize Sit Walter Scott's "The Lay of the Last Minstrel". The intimidating power of the opening lines has never left me.
The familiar way of marriage as a 'bridge' between a man and woman is now the focus of intense legal scrutiny and controversy. An inevitable 'war of the ring' has been looming on the horizon for the last decade. Now the war has broken out; and those committed to the heterosexuality of the marriage bond appear to be confused, ill-prepared, and in retreat.
As a child I devoured junior history books, and relived through them the battles of the past. It must have been they which first taught me about the great battle which was the English Reformation.
If we claim to be Catholic, we need to act like it — all the way, all the time, without excuses.
The passing of President Ronald Reagan into eternity is evoking an array of emotions and thoughts. People recall his winsome and shining character, his classic American optimism. That is in sharp contrast to what his critics always assailed as his intellectual shallowness.
