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Id like to try to answer this by asking myself four key questions:

Jesus once spoke about marriage, drawing on the Book of Genesis: Havent you read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one? What therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder (Mt19:45).

Jesus laid down the basis of Christian living with what he called his new commandment: That you love one another even as I have loved you (Jn 13:34). The hard part of Christian love is that little word, as, which for Jesus means that Christians, including spouses in marriage, are ready to lay down their life for each other. Jesus is only asking us to do what each Person of the Blessed Trinity are doing for one another. So Pope Francis has said that marriage is the icon [or image] of God, created for us by him, who is the perfect communion of the three persons of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Jesus is definitely not obsessed with sexhes only said one sentence about it, which sets such a high standard I think it refers to any and every sexual failure we humans can fall into: Every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart (Mt 5:28). As St John Paul II explains, heart means the full depth of the person as loved by God, where God loves each of us for our own sake, not for what he gets out of us. If I dont love you other unconditionally and purely for your own sake, and treat you as an object to provide myself with pleasure, Im committing adultery in my heart.

The only way a same sex married couple could have children would be through adopting or fostering a child of other parents, or through another partner. Ill leave a discussion of Same Sex Marriage adoption/fostering for another day. Lesbians are likely to access donor-assisted human reproduction, while gay men desiring children have to adopt, foster, or use surrogacy. Donor-assisted reproduction, or the use of surrogacy, seems to be a terrible injustice to children acquired in this way, intentionally depriving them of at least one biological parent.

U-S childrens rights Heather Barwick, born to lesbian parents, has an interesting take on this: I dont support gay marriage. But it might not be for the reasons that you think. Its not because youre gay. I love you, so much. Its because of the nature of the same-sex relationship itself. Same-sex marriage and parenting withholds either a mother or father from a child while telling him or her that it doesnt matter. That its all the same. But its not. A lot of us, a lot of your kids, are hurting. My fathers absence created a huge hole in me, and I ached every day for a dad. I loved my mums partner, but another mum could never have replaced the father I lost.

Originally posted here:
Ask A Priest - Why is the Church opposed to same sex marriage? - The Catholic Weekly