On the eve of New York State Senator
Ruben Diaz Sr.'s rally
against a plan to legalize gay marriage in the state, Archbishop
of New York Timothy Michael Dolan has warned against the institution,
calling it “Orwellian social engineering.”
The archbishop, an outspoken opponent
of marriage equality, said in a blog posting, titled
Marriage: The Core Of Every Civilization, that the
Catholic Church “affirms the dignity of those with same-sex
attractions” but would not back allowing gay and lesbian couples to
marry.
“The definition of marriage is a
given: It is a lifelong union of love and fidelity leading, please
God, to children, between one man and one woman.”
“The definition of marriage is
hardwired into our human reason.”
“To uphold that traditional
definition, to strengthen it, and to defend it is not a posture of
bigotry or bullying,” Dolan wrote. “Nor is it a denial of the
'right' of anybody. As the philosophers remind us, in a civilized,
moral society, we have the right to do what we ought, not to do
whatever we want. Not every desire is a right.”
“To tamper with that definition, or
to engage in some Orwellian social engineering about the nature and
purpose of marriage, is perilous to all of us. If the definition of
marriage is continually being altered, could it not in the future be
morphed again to include multiple spouses or even family members.”
“If big, intrusive government can
re-define the most basic, accepted, revealed truth that marriage
simply means one man + one woman + (hopefully) children, in a loving
family, then I'm afraid Orwell's works will no longer be on the
fiction shelf.”
In
a March interview with the CBS news magazine 60 Minutes,
Dolan said gay and lesbian unions are “beautiful and noble,” but
not good enough for marriage.