Dear Friend of Catholic Answers,

We have arrived at a turning point in American history. The United States Supreme Court has accepted two cases that may result in same-sex marriage being imposed everywhere in America.

While these cases have been progressing through the courts, out of the public eye, Catholic Answers has been vigilant, and, now that the cases have arrived at the Supreme Court, we’ve sprung into action.

But we need your help!

Here are all the facts.

Proposition 8
The first case that the Supreme Court has accepted involves Proposition 8, the 2008 California constitutional amendment that affirmed that marriage is only between a man and a woman.

Prop 8 was passed to protect marriage—even in California, even in a year when liberals won heavily—but homosexual activists have not stopped their relentless onslaught.

Despite the fact it was a constitutional amendment, they got key judges—using tortured legal reasoning—to strike it down as unconstitutional.

Now it’s before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Defense of Marriage Act
The second case involves the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) that was passed by Congress in 1996.

DOMA protects states from being forced to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states.

It also protects the federal government from having to recognize these marriages, and it prevents federal benefits from going to them.

But once again, homosexual activists have not stopped their relentless onslaught, and now this matter, too, is before the Supreme Court.

What Will Happen?
Nobody knows what the Supreme Court will do regarding Prop 8 and DOMA, but, if things go badly, we could end up with a situation where same-sex marriage is imposed in every state in the Union.

It would be just like in 1973, when Roe v. Wade swept away all state laws protecting unborn children from abortion.

That abomination led to decades of conflict and tens of millions of children being killed—and the fight is far from over.

We must do all we can to prevent another abomination from being imposed on our nation.

That’s why Catholic Answers has been vigilant on this issue, because there’s one truth we cannot ignore . . .

We’re on Our Own . . . So It’s All Up to Us!
Though both Prop 8 and DOMA were duly voted into law, state and federal officials have refused to defend them in court.

That’s right. The government officials whose job is to execute the laws of the land have refused to defend the laws—or at least these laws.

As early as 2010, then-California attorney general Jerry Brown refused to defend Prop 8 in court.
In 2011, the Obama administration announced that it would refuse to defend DOMA. In fact, in his recent inaugural address, President Obama pledged to fight to legalize same-sex marriage, saying, “Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law.”
Our elected officials have refused to defend the law—and basic morality—out of their desire to please the homosexual lobby.

That means the defense of these laws falls to people like you and me. We must do what we can—what the courts allow us to do—to protect these laws and to protect marriage itself.

What Catholic Answers Is Doing
Catholic Answers has been active in the defense of marriage for years. We’ve monitored what’s going on with same-sex marriage, even when it’s not been in the public eye. When the Supreme Court took these two cases, we spoke with our attorneys about filing what’s known as an amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) brief.

This is a special type of legal document that “interested parties” can prepare to advise the court about the issues in front of it, to make sure that important parts of the subject are discussed. It helps the justices to have the potential consequences of their decisions painted in vivid detail, and that is why our attorneys are filing the brief.

It focuses on the disastrous effects that imposing same-sex marriage would have on religious liberty in America. Here’s what would happen. . . .

A Nightmare Future
As the brief to the Supreme Court bluntly puts it, anyone who upholds true marriage will be treated like a bigot, regardless of his faith:

“To be a devout Catholic, Protestant, Mormon, Muslim, or Orthodox Jew will become the moral equivalent of being a member of the Ku Klux Klan.”

Furthermore, our brief points out:

“The Court would correspondingly consign traditional religious beliefs regarding marriage and the family to the same circle of constitutional hell as racism and sexism.

“Thus, simply by accepting the principles that their religious groups have publicly supported for thousands of years, tens of millions of religious believers in the United States would be branded as the legal equivalent of racists, a result that will subject believers to such burdens and acrimony that many will be forced to hide their faith.”

Those burdens will be felt in all parts of society.

How You, Your Children, and Your Grandchildren Will Be Punished

If the Supreme Court imposes same-sex marriage on the U.S., the machinery of the state will be used to punish you and everyone you care about.

The punishment will take several forms . . .

Employers will fire people—or not hire them in the first place—if they speak out in favor of true marriage. (Some are already doing this.)
Lawsuits will be brought against small business owners to compel them to provide services to homosexuals as married couples. (That’s already happening, too.)
Public schools will indoctrinate children against the beliefs of their parents—and against the Catholic Faith itself—in a way that dwarfs what’s happening in the school system today.
The “right” to same-sex marriage will be used as a weapon against free speech and freedom of religion, with the aim of pushing the authentic Catholic Faith completely out of public life in America.

Pressure will be put on everyone to support same-sex marriage or be shunned as bigots in every walk of life.

That pressure won’t be applied only to you and me, it will also be applied to our children and grandchildren—forcing them to choose between their faith and being a social outcast. That’s a recipe for disaster in a world that already puts so many barriers between young people and the faith.

That’s why Catholic Answers has leapt to the defense of true marriage.

Because of the brief we’re filing with the Court, we will make sure that the voice of faithful Catholicism will be heard in these cases, and it is your generosity that makes this possible.

But there’s a problem . . .

We Need Your Help!

As you know, making a difference in court is not something that can be done on the cheap.

The fees to prepare and file this brief could mount as high as $30,000 or more, and with the current state of the economy, giving is down for charities like Catholic Answers, and we’re already in a cash-strapped state.

That’s why I need to ask for your help—and in a special way. I really need to ask our supporters to go above and beyond with their generosity right now. [Click here to donate]

This Is the Last Chance for Marriage in America

The crisis in the Supreme Court is so grave that we simply could not sit on the sidelines.

This is “it,” folks. If we lose these cases, it will be “game over” for true marriage in the United States—for the rest of our lives.

The Church will be dealt a blow from which it will not recover for generations (if ever).

Yet it could not have come at a worse time for Catholic Answers. That’s why we urgently need your help today. [Click here to donate]

Whatever amount you can afford, you have my sincere thanks.

The hour is late. May I hear from you today?

Sincerely,

Karl Keating
President, Catholic Answers

P.S. We must fight the battle for marriage on other fronts as well. That’s why, as a thank you for your gift of $50 or more, I’d like to send you these two new books that will help you defend true marriage in your own circles and provide powerful answers that crush the arguments made by advocates of homosexual “marriage.”

Getting the Marriage Conversation Right: A Guide for Effective Dialogue by renowned moral theologian William B. May
What Is Marriage? Man and Woman: A Defense by famous Catholic legal philosopher Robert P. George, and his co-authors Sherif Girgis and Ryan T. Anderson