Marriage is a natural institution that has been celebrated since time immemorial and is recognized by all cultures. As the lifelong covenant of love between a man and a woman to the exclusion of all others, marriage is the most solid foundation for the family, the basic building block of society.

The purposes of this institution are the good of the couple, as well as procreation and the education of children. Marriage also guarantees continuity between the generations, and parental models in the form of a mother and a father.

It is in the public interest that the State give a privileged place to the marriage of a man and a woman. Governments have the responsibility to encourage this type of union, since marriage between a man and a woman ensures a future for society by providing it with new citizens, and constitutes, more than any other type of union, the ideal environment for child rearing.

Children have a primary right to be conceived from an act of love between their parents, to know their biological mother and father, to be educated by them and to live in profound communion with them. Where some or all of this is not possible, children are sometimes raised in loving families by an adoptive mother and father. Children need the two role models of a man and a woman, which present to them two different yet complementary roles that are crucial for their upbringing and the formation of their personalities.

The spouses: cooperators of Love

Neither the State nor religions invented marriage or determined its natural characteristics. They only formalized a reality that already existed well before them, thereby recognizing that the features inherent in this reality – the stability of the couple, as well as procreation and the education of children – benefited the common good of society.

It is God who is the author of the natural institution of marriage. In creating man and woman in His image and likeness, he inscribed in them a vocation to love and communion. Genesis tells us that “This is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one body.” (Gen 2:24). Marriage is an alliance by which the couple forms a community of love and life that enables them to cooperate in God’s project of love for humanity.   

Having come to live among us, Christ – God made man – emphasized the fundamental importance of marriage by elevating it to the dignity of a sacrament. Therefore, marriage has become a sign of his love for the Church and of the new and eternal Covenant, sealed by his blood, between God and humanity. Thus, St. Paul tells us: “Husbands, love you wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” (Eph 5: 25).

A man and a woman who choose to get married in the Church, thereby inviting God to be a part of their Union, know that they can always count on the strength of His love, which will enable them to love one another like Christ loves the Church. This is why their covenant of conjugal love will be total, faithful and exclusive, and bears fruit.

Redefinition of Marriage

Since the summer of 2005, Canadian law no longer gives special recognition or protection to marriage between a man and a woman. On June 28, 2005, the Canadian Parliament adopted the Act respecting certain aspects of legal capacity for marriage for civil purposes, which redefined the institution of marriage and made it accessible to partners of the same sex.

This social reengineering which denatured marriage also divided Canadians. The Harper government will soon be putting forward a motion to reopen the debate on this question

(This short reflection is largely inspired by the brief submitted to the Senate Standing Committee on Constitution and Legal Affairs by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, July 13, 2005).