Male and Female He Made Them: Questions and Answers About Marriage and Same-Sex Unions
by Mary Jo Anderson and Robin Bernhoft, M.D.
Catholic Answers, 2005
141 pages, $12.95
To order: (888) 291-8000
or shop.catholic.com
“Love Makes a Family,” proclaims a colorful T-shirt currently marketed by an organization working hard to legalize same-sex “marriages.” Sounds like a harmless enough slogan, doesn’t it? An uninformed citizen might find it hard to argue against a sentiment like that.
Unfortunately, the shirt carries no small print that indicates the social, moral and medical dangers of the “lifestyle” we’re being asked to embrace. So as we engage these issues in the public square, Catholics need to be equipped with the facts — ready to criticize faulty arguments and propose an authentic vision of human dignity.
To help us out, authors Mary Jo Anderson and Robin Bernhoft, M.D., offer this primer on the Church’s-eye view of marriage, divorce, homosexuality and same-sex unions. Organized into 133 questions with answers, the book approaches these topics from social, philosophical, theological and medical perspectives. The answers are readable and informative.
And some of the information is surprising. For example, in their answer to Question No. 89 (“Isn’t it true that doctors no longer consider homosexuality to be a disorder?”), the authors explain that the 1973 decision to remove homosexuality from the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders was not based entirely on scientific facts.
“The board’s decision was opposed by members who specialized in treating homosexuals,” write Anderson and Bernhoft. “Prior to a general membership referendum on the issue, a letter went out in the name of the board, asking members not to contest the board’s decision. It was learned later — after 58% of members voted not to oppose the decision — that the letter had been written and paid for by the National Gay Task Force.”
Explanations of the most likely causes of same-sex attraction, the impact of divorce and contraception on family life and society, and the place of marriage in natural law are also helpful.
The questions the book addresses are wide-ranging, helpful and realistic. Besides the scientific and legal issues, the authors also face some of the common and more visceral objections that Catholics will encounter “on the front lines.”
By the end of the book, the reader has a good sense of the important issues, principles and facts involved in some pretty complex questions. Along the way, the wisdom of the Church’s ages-old teaching becomes luminously clear.
Because of the broad range of topics addressed in a relatively small space, the book does not go into much depth on any one question. For more than a few paragraphs on any particular issue, interested readers will have to go elsewhere. The good news is: They’ll be told where to look. The book includes a rich list of resources, including organizations to contact, books to read and websites to visit. Also inside is a collection of Scriptural texts referring to homosexual practices.
It’s a daunting day when the very meaning of the word marriage is up for grabs. Even worse is having to fight for the survival of the family. Alas, that day is upon us. The least we Catholics can do is arm ourselves to mount our best defense.
Barry Michaels writes from
North Syracuse, New York.