Homosexual Marriage: Only Ourselves to Blame

by Bryce J. Christenson on March 14, 2012 · 3 comments

Though restoring substance to marriage will entail many legal, political, economic, and cultural tasks, it will require above all two things: (1) restoring substance to the marital home economy; (2) reinvigorating religion as a basis for marital and family life.

Berry clarifies what will be required to restore marriage to a healthy home economy when he writes about how “a household economy… [should involve] the work of both wife and husband [and]…[give] them a measure of economic independence and self-protection, a measure of self-employment, a measure of freedom, as well as a common ground and a common satisfaction. Such a household economy may employ the disciplines and skills of housewifery, of carpentry and other trades of building and maintenance, of gardening and other branches of subsistence agriculture, and even of woodlot management and woodcutting. It may also involve a ‘cottage industry’ of some kind.”

The renewing of religion, on the other hand, will require deeper and more challenging changes. However, the prophet Isaiah holds out the promise that “they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles.”. Eagles, it should be recalled, mate — male and female — for life.

Bryce Christensen teaches composition and literature at Southern Utah University. This article has been abridged and republished with permission fromThe Family in America and from the author. For references, please consult the original article.

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Tagged as: Best of Week, homosexual marriage, Marriage

  • Hey

    You can applaud the changes, you can go with the changes and even benefit from them, or you can sit and cry and lament them, but you will never essentially reverse them. The river always flows just in one direction, whether you like it or not. Marriage is one of the institutions, and like all others, it is changing and will continue to change. The problem with America is that while it once was the champion of progress and positive change, it has not take a backseat, and sometimes looks like it’s paddling against the current.

  • Harold Fickett

    This is one of the strongest pieces of analysis we’ve published here at Catholic Exchange.  Unlike the commentator, “Hey,” I believe that if we understand the several forces redefining marriage long before the advent of homosexual marriage, we can reclaim marriage in its true character.  This will certainly mean more and more Catholic couples choosing to live in a deliberately counter-cultural way, and that’s happening through the comeback of large families and home schooling.  Two of our bloggers, Cari Donaldson and Dwija Borobia, are part of this movement, as they live (and write) in dramatic opposition to marriage-as-a-benefits-package. 

    The author’s emphasis on the economic forces that have torn traditional marriage apart is crucial; it’s also something that even the conservative Catholic press shies away from because of its reluctance to advance any criticism against a free-market system.  Sadly, the practical necessity–or what appears to be the necessity–for  most of having two outside-the-home incomes does more damage, I imagine, to traditional marriage than any other factor, and railing against the behavior this promotes while leaving unaddressed the root cause vitiates the authority of traditional marriage’s defenders.  People think, “How are we ever going to live like that?” Since there are so few good options, they ignore the biblical charge “to be fruitful and multiply” and budget their commitment to the family, as all of life becomes a cost-benefit analysis. 

    Let’s do something really interesting here at Catholic Exchange and think how young Catholic couples and the rest of us can participate in the invention of a new family-friendly economy that will allow traditional marriages to flourish.  We ought to have special editions devoted to ways in which Catholic couples can have a home-centered economy, particularly in non-agrarian settings.  The family farm makes home-centered economies natural, but only so many can go back to the country, albeit I’ve seen this done successfully and in a heroic way, especially around Clear Creek Monastery in northeastern Oklahoma.  In order for Catholics to supply the counter-cultural witness that’s needed (and which they themselves would benefit from), many more non-agrarian options need to be invented and replicated. 

  • Sueshaw17

    This entire article would have made more sense if “homosexuality” was left out. It’s as if  the author is trying to get two points across at the same time and it gets a little confusing for my simple mind. No we do not live in the times of Ozzie and Harriet, things are getting crazy in this world. I am not a homosexual but have many friends who are and are married. Although that lifestyle is not my own, I try with my heart to understand what they must be going through. I do not believe that true homosexuality is a choice. Although I have met many educated, professional people that do. This thinking, in my opinion, immediately removes all intelligence from them. None of us are God, and if God is love, then He loves them as well. It is not our job to try and figure out what God thinks about good loving people. Most of the homosexual people I am in touch with are professional, upstanding citizens. This article makes me feel as if “these people” are worthless souls and are damned to hell. As a christian, I don’t buy it. People pick and choose what they want the Bible to say to make it work for them. It’s sickening. Marriage in itself, I agree, is not what it should be, I think about that fact a lot. People are not willing to make the commitments it takes to keep a marriage together. All these values come from the home. So sad most homes are in a state of chaos. Thanks for listening, Sue.