Bishops try to mobilize on marriage

The four Roman Catholic bishops of Massachusetts, in what they described as an unprecedented effort to mobilize the state's 3 million Catholics, yesterday said they will distribute mailings to 1 million households urging laypeople to speak out in favor of a state constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman.

The bishops, making their first joint appearance since the death penalty debate of 1999, said they view it as urgent for Catholics to defend traditional matrimony against what they described as the negative effects of legalizing same-sex marriages. They argued that two-parent, heterosexual families are best for children.

"This historic endeavor reflects the seriousness with which we take the need for the Legislature to give initial approval to the marriage amendment on Feb. 11," said Bishop George W. Coleman of Fall River. "Will our efforts inspire more people to talk to their legislators, which in turn may encourage legislators to do the right thing? We hope so. The stakes are too high, and we will have to answer to God for anything we fail to do."

In the mailer being sent to Catholics, each of the four bishops describes why he opposes gay marriage, and the document includes a guide to contacting lawmakers as well as an explanation of church teaching on gay marriage published by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. The document urges Catholics to visit, call, or write lawmakers before a scheduled Feb. 11 constitutional convention.

"Sadly, in recent years, we have witnessed the breakdown of family life in Western society due to no-fault divorce and the generalization of the acceptance of cohabitation," said Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley of Boston. "The campaign to redefine marriage will only accelerate this negative trend by making the institution indifferent to the absence of either a mother or a father, regardless of the impact on children."

The bishops' initiative comes as a University of Massachusetts poll shows support for the amendment growing. The poll found that 54 percent of registered voters surveyed favor amending the state's constitution to legally define marriage as a union between a man and a woman only. A UMass poll in December found that 46 percent supported the amendment.

The poll, of 401 registered voters, also asked whether the Catholic Church's opposition to gay marriage would affect their decision. The poll found that 58 percent said the church's position had no effect on their decision to support or oppose gay marriage, but 25 percent said the church's position made them less likely to support gay marriage, while just 17 percent said the church's position made it more likely that they would support gay marriage.

The poll had a margin of error of 5 percentage points.

The bishops' appearance yesterday was their first since a joint news conference in 1999, when Cardinal Bernard Law and the bishops of the state's three other Catholic dioceses, including O'Malley, vowed to fight attempts by the Legislature to restore capital punishment. In that appearance, Law appeared to single out then-governor Paul Cellucci, who supported the death penalty.

The bishops have been speaking out on same-sex marriage since a November ruling by the state Supreme Judicial Court declaring that "barring an individual from the protections, benefits, and obligations of civil marriage solely because that person would marry a person of the same sex violates the Massachusetts Constitution." The court gave the Legislature 180 days to carry out its order.

Gay rights advocates say the ruling means the state should issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples; opponents are pushing for the constitutional amendment to bar same-sex marriage. The state Senate has asked the SJC if civil unions would satisfy the court's ruling.

Opponents of gay marriage welcomed the bishops' actions.

"I applaud the forceful stance that the Catholic Church is taking," said Ron Crews, president of the Massachusetts Family Institute. "It will send a clear message to the voters and to the legislators about their desire for citizens to have the opportunity to vote and to see the amendment pass."

But a coalition of 500 clergy and congregations that support gay marriage argued that gay marriages strengthen, not weaken, the institution of marriage.

"We respect the right of the Catholic Church to set its own policies and its own definition of marriage, but the Catholic Church does not have the right to impose its religious beliefs on others," said Rabbi Devon A. Lerner, cochairman of the Religious Coalition for the Freedom to Marry. "Equal civil marriage will not force priests, or any clergy, to change their beliefs or practices -- our laws of separation of church and state guarantee that. We call upon our legislators to represent all the citizens of the Commonwealth, regardless of their religion."

The move by the bishops was also criticized by a new organization, the Catholic Alliance for Social Justice, formed just last week by Catholics who say they reject the right of the Catholic hierarchy to speak for them on "matters of state." The organization has already sent a mailing to all state lawmakers, reminding them of President John F. Kennedy's promise not to take instructions from the Vatican.

"It's time that another voice be heard, because the whole church is not in synch on this issue -- polls show 50 percent of Catholics are not opposed to gay marriage," said Larry Kessler, the founding director of AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts and one of the three leaders of the new organization. "There hasn't been a gay marriage yet in the US, and yet marriage is in trouble, so they need to find another culprit. If marriage is such a sacred institution, they need to go back and get a constitutional amendment that forbids divorce."

Coleman, O'Malley, Bishop Daniel P. Reilly of Worcester, and Bishop Thomas L. Dupre of Springfield announced their initiative at an afternoon news conference at St. John's Seminary in Brighton, where they stood in front of stacks of the mailings that they plan to distribute to parishioners.

In a joint statement, they said people who oppose same-sex marriage are being intimidated. "People may be hesitant to act for fear of being falsely labeled as bigots or intolerant," Dupre said. The bishops are also sending packets of information to priests in an effort to enlist their assistance in persuading parishioners to advocate for the constitutional amendment. The packet sent to Boston-area priests includes copies of recent church documents about gay marriage and suggested prayers that can be added at Mass.

Michael Paulson can be reached at mpaulson@globe.com.