Each family has its differences

When the U.S. Supreme Court declared it will rule in the coming weeks whether same-sex marriage will be extended nationwide, the esteemed New York Times and others called the issue “one of the great civil rights questions of the age.”

For many Catholics, it’s also one of the great vexing questions that causes angst and rifts within families and individual psyches. Many support the Church’s position and are adamantly opposed, others are okay with same-sex unions so long as they do not have the stature of marriage between man and woman, and still others support marriage regardless of the sex of the partners.

Almost 10 years ago, in July 2005, Canada became the fourth country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide. The Prime Minister who brought in the law, Paul Martin, took much heat at the time, especially because he described himself as a church-going Catholic who wrestled with his conscience over the issue. Many Catholics all but called on Rome to ex-communicate Martin.