By Terry Vanderheyden
ST. PAUL, Minnesota, February 14, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – About 150 protesters demonstrated outside the Cathedral of St. Paul while Roman Catholic Archbishop Harry Flynn held a Mass in honour of marriage Sunday. The group gathered to protest the church’s support for a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex “marriage.”
“Today we come together to celebrate … the vocation of marriage between one man and woman,” the archbishop said during Mass, as reported by the Pioneer Press. “Today that vocation is under challenge, even under attack.”
The protesters attended the Mass because of support from the state’s Roman Catholic bishops for a constitutional amendment, which, pending state approval would appear on a ballot in the November elections. The Mass has been a tradition for the past 25 years.
When Archbishop Flynn asked married couples to stand for recognition, several same-sex couple activists also stood, as the archbishop led the throng in a renewal of their marriage vows.
In a statement, the archdiocese re-stated the official Church position on marriage: “The time-honored and Judeo-Christian definition of marriage as a lifelong union between one man and one woman is under assault from many sides. It is because of Catholic unswerving belief in this definition of marriage that we join with other faiths in giving our wholehearted support to the proposed Minnesota Marriage Amendment,” they added.
The archdiocese has sponsored a postcard program that encourages parishioners to petition their lawmakers to vote in favor of the proposed marriage amendment.
Read the bishop’s statement on the constitutional amendment (pdf):
https://www.archspm.org/family/pdfs/Bishops%20of%20MN%2012-22-05%20statement.pdf
Download a copy of the petition:
https://www.archspm.org/family/pdfs/petitiongeneric.pdf
Visit the archdiocesan marriage page:
https://www.archspm.org/family/Federal%20Marriage%20Amendment.htm