"All You Have to Decide is What to Do with the Time that is Given to You."

 As per the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church,

456. What is the nature of the family in the plan of God?

"A man and a woman united in marriage form a family together with their children. God instituted the family and endowed it with its fundamental constitution. Marriage and the family are ordered to the good of the spouses and to the procreation and education of children. Members of the same family establish among themselves personal relationships and primary responsibilities. In Christ the family becomes the domestic church because it is a community of faith, of hope, and of charity."

457. What place does the family occupy in society?

"The family is the original cell of human society and is, therefore, prior to any recognition by public authority. Family values and principles constitute the foundation of social life. Family life is an initiation into the life of society."

458. What are the duties that society has toward the family?
"Society, while respecting the principle of subsidiarity, has the duty to support and strengthen marriage and the family. Public authority must respect, protect and foster the true nature of marriage and the family, public morality, the rights of parents, and domestic prosperity."

As Archbishop Chaput recently explained,

"The Church understands marriage as a unique relationship, with a unique definition. It’s a faithful covenant between one man and one woman for life. By its very nature, marriage is ordered not only to companionship and mutual support, but also – and even more fundamentally – to the procreation and education of children. This is why every child deserves a family where the father loves the mother, and the mother loves the father. For anyone to attempt to redefine marriage or the family as something else undermines that goal."

 

Though highly biased in its perspective, Miranda Blue (Right Wing Watch, 6/16/17) provided a sad - but accurate - take on the turnout for Saturday's March for Marriage: 

"The National Organization for Marriage has struggled in recent years to populate its annual anti-marriage-equality March for Marriage, with especially dismal turnout last year for the first march since the Supreme Court effectively made marriage equality the law of the land. But this year’s march reached a new low, as waning enthusiasm for the cause and what NOM president Brian Brown said were scheduling and permit troubles combined to produce a crowd of about 50....

"While in previous years, the March for Marriage’s numbers have been increased by various church-sponsored buses and a large contingent bused in by New York state Sen. Ruben Diaz, this year there appeared to be no large groups.

"Brown told the crowd not to be discouraged by their small numbers, comparing their cause to that of abolitionists in the 18th and early 19th century.....

Ms. Blue did not speak of the conclusion of the talk from Pastor Denise Walker of Everlasting Light Ministries: "It only took 12 for Jesus, and I see more than 12 here, today. So we can get it done in Jesus' name.  Amen."