I am told that in China the words “may you live in interesting times” are considered a curse. Imagine my surprise a few weeks ago at an Oriental restaurant in Toledo when, upon cracking open my fortune cookie, the little piece of paper said: “You will always live in interesting times.”

I suppose the cookie did not reveal anything I didn’t already know. Not just for me, but for any believing person, these are indeed interesting times. Whether this is a curse or not depends on how you respond. The challenges, and yes, the adversities of “interesting times” bring out the best and the worst in people. It is important to remember that in the Greek language of the New Testament, the word for “witness” is marturion, from which we get the English word “martyr.” Interesting times require that Christians stand up and be counted as witnesses to the truth.

However, as Pope Benedict has pointed out like Pope John Paul before him, believers bearing witness to the truth are adrift today on a vast ocean of relativism. Relativism is the belief that there is no such thing as absolute truth, at least no absolute truth we can know or apply to life in this world. This is accompanied by the exaltation of individual freedom to do whatever I please, provided I do not prevent you from doing whatever you please. This is a travesty of real freedom. The end result is that both truth and freedom are lost sight of.

With this in mind, let me give you a very concrete example of our interesting times. One of the most significant and alarming developments we are facing is the collapse of marriage and family life in the so-called developed Western world.

One would think that this collapse would be measured (and hopefully corrected) in light of basic truths about marriage, family life, human personhood and freedom; for example, the truth that biologically and in other profound ways man and woman are made for each other; the truth that the marriage act and family life are directly ordered to the creation and happiness of children so as to continue the human race; the truth that the human heart yearns in marriage for a union that is exclusive, faithful and for life.

Far from being upheld, these truths are in danger of being thrown overboard into the sea of relativism and personal autonomy, even though everywhere we see the terrible results of doing so. I do not mean only the personal unhappiness of those for whom marriage and family “did not work out,” as tragic as that may be. A large body of social science research is showing just how important the traditional understanding of marriage is for the flourishing of everyone, for the well-being of children, for the common good of society and for social justice.

It has been scientifically shown that marriage protects children’s physical and mental health and reduces the risk of poverty; that broken homes increase crime; that parents who don’t get or stay married put children’s education at risk; that divorce lessens by half the closeness children will have to both of their parents; that couples “living together” before marriage are 30 to 50 percent more likely to divorce; that children of cohabitating parents are at increased risk for domestic violence, child abuse, neglect and broken homes.

And now we are confronted with an agenda that offends truth and freedom even more. I am referring to so-called same-sex “marriage,” which would use the law to force everyone to depart dramatically and permanently from the God-given constitution of marriage and family founded on the union of one man and one woman. This agenda is aided by popular culture, the media and entertainment, which more and more undermine or ignore the importance of marriage and promote equivalence between marriage and homosexual relationships.

In the face of these threats to marriage, please recall what I said earlier about being a “witness” to truth in interesting times, about standing up and being counted.

In the words of our U.S. Bishops’ Conference, every member of the Church has a responsibility “to promote, preserve and protect marriage as it is willed by God, as generations have understood and lived it, and as it has served the common good of society.” This requires that we advocate for legislative and public policies that define and support marriage as a unique, essential relationship and institution. It also means opposing any legislative or judicial attempt to grant same-sex relationships the equivalent status and rights of marriage by calling them “marriages,” “civil unions,” or by other means.

The issue is marriage, not homosexuality. The Church clearly teaches that homosexuals are to be treated with respect, and that all forms of unjust discrimination and abuse against them are wrong. However, the Church is equally clear in recognizing the universal God-given meaning of sexual relations between a man and woman ordered to procreation and family life in the institution of marriage. To depart from this traditional understanding is to create a world in which there is nothing special, necessary or distinctive about motherhood and fatherhood, nothing desirable about mothers and fathers raising children together. To think otherwise will be labeled bigotry.

Concretely, the Bishops of the United States are supporting, and I invite each of you to support, a federal marriage amendment to the U.S. Constitution. 

It is likely that a Protection of Marriage Amendment will be introduced in the U.S. Senate this June. Should that happen, I understand that the Knights of Columbus are ready to initiate a national postcard campaign in support. Its success, of course, will depend on the participation of the Catholic clergy and people at the parish level. Each of us will be important to that effort.

In these interesting times may we not fail “to speak the truth with love,” to pray as if everything depended on God and to work as though everything depended on us.