This brilliant article by John C. Eastman presents as a tragedy play what is, in fact, a great tragedy.  The tragedy is twofold: (1) the failure of U.S. Courts to respect the institution of marriage between a man and a woman–an institution vital to all societies throughout human history–and (2) the complete disregard for the…

Judge Maura D. Corrigan sets forth a principled understanding of natural marriage and explains the negative consequences upon children when natural marriage is devalued.  She is careful to clarify that judges in the United States are restricted in their authority, that is, they are to interpret and apply the law, not make laws.  Nevertheless, she…

INTRODUCTION Alfonso Cardinal Lopez Trujillo presents a rich and deep vision of marriage as “a natural institution which precedes the sacrament.” (1) The essence of marriage, so understood, is unity and indissolubility. Marriage does not ratify or celebrate a preexisting relationship. It transforms the relation between man and woman because it comes into existence only from the moment a man and woman decide, via a free act of the will, to give themselves to each other in this unique way. (2) Unity implies a community in the whole of life, including the gift and acceptance of the whole sexual self, and therefore an openness to giving and accepting from one another the gift of motherhood and fatherhood. (3) A woman who gives herself to a man at the altar as a wife, but secretly reserves the right to have sex or children with another man, is not really giving herself at all. A ceremony in which a man promises to stay with a woman until someone better comes along is not really making a marriage promise at all, whatever his legal certificate says. The task is to explain the obstacles to achieving this vision of marriage and also the ways to overcome such obstacles. Practically speaking, the strongest resistance to this vision of marriage as a natural institution clusters around three areas: contraception, divorce, and gender. (4) What is the deep source of these obstacles to marriage? There are many possible answers, many of which Cardinal Trujillo touches upon: legal positivism, individualism, false anthropologies, self-created spiritualities, and the accompanying decline in religious and/or moral authority. (5) Most intriguing is that Cardinal Trujillo identifies ideology itself as the enemy of the family: [T]he various historical attempts to eliminate the family as a   natural institution have perhaps contributed to the decline,   apparent now more than ever before, of the proper understanding   of the “natural character” of the family. Such attempts have   been produced particularly in countries following a Marxist   ideology, in a world pursued…