As we prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ, I wish all of you a holy Advent and a Christmas filled with joy and peace. Once again this year I urge everyone to “keep Christ in Christmas,” because without Him there is no joy or peace.

In the midst of so much materialism and discord, together let’s make a concerted effort to focus on the spiritual — on prayer and penance — so we can be made worthy to receive Christ the Lord and to bring Him to a world so much in need of healing and peace. I especially ask that we pray for peace in Iraq, Afghanistan and other places of grave conflict where so many people suffer, including our own military and their families.

There is a temptation to be sentimental about Christmas, but we mustn’t lose sight of the fact that Christ the Lord was born into this world to call us back to God through a radical and painful change of heart. He came to suffer and die for our sins so we could rise with Him to a new life.

There is something terribly wrong when people sing beautiful Christmas carols about the “virgin with child,” conceived in the womb of Mary, yet are indifferent to today’s abominable crime of abortion against human life. The so-called “choice” of abortion against the infant Jesus or John the Baptist in their mothers’ wombs is unthinkable!

And as the U.S. bishops reaffirmed last month at our meeting in Baltimore: “Other direct threats to the sanctity of human life include euthanasia, human cloning, and the destruction of human embryos for research. Catholic teaching about the dignity of life calls us to oppose torture, unjust war, and the use of the death penalty; to prevent genocide and attacks against noncombatants; to oppose racism; and to overcome poverty and suffering.” (Faithful Citizenship, 2007, no. 44)

In the same way, how can people be moved by the Christmas scene of the Holy Family — Jesus, Mary and Joseph — and then fail to recognize, again to quote the bishops, that “the family — based on marriage between a man and a woman — is the first and fundamental unit of society and is a sanctuary for the creation and nurturing of children. It should be defended and strengthened, not redefined or undermined by permitting same-sex unions or other distortions of marriage.” (Faithful Citizenship, 2007, no. 46)

During the summer, my Chronicle articles were devoted to the sacrament of marriage and the family. Recent events in our diocese prompt me to say something more about this topic. I am referring to the action of the Toledo City Council in adopting a “domestic partnership” ordinance which gives legal recognition to non-marital relationships of adults of the same sex or of different sexes sharing a common residence. Although this issue is of primary concern to the residents of Lucas County, it has significance for us all.

Not only religious faith, but also human reason, tell us that the way to move our society forward is to strengthen the institution of marriage, not weaken it by giving legal standing to lifestyles that are not in keeping with the God-given meaning and purpose of marriage. You may recall from my earlier articles how the social sciences only confirm what faith teaches, namely, that traditional marriage promotes the human flourishing of women, men and children and of society itself.

The defense of marriage is meant to focus primarily on its fundamental importance for children, families and society, not on homosexuality, which is only part of the issue. The Toledo “domestic partnership” ordinance includes non-marital relationships of adults of different sexes sharing a common residence, in other words, cohabitation.

Cohabitation is 10 times more common than in 1960, yet the social sciences show cohabitation is not healthy for children or adults. On Nov. 18 the Associated Press carried a story titled, “Child abuse: the dark underbelly of cohabitation.” It reported “many scholars and social workers … note an ever-increasing share of America’s children grow up in homes without biological parents, and say the risk of child abuse is markedly higher in the non-traditional family structures…. Children living in households with unrelated adults are nearly 50 times as likely to die of inflicted injuries as children living with two biological parents.”

I do not believe we should be encouraging cohabitation by giving it legal recognition. If we do, it creates an impression in the minds of our young people that, because it is legally recognized, cohabitation is an acceptable alternative to marriage. Moreover, the crisis of meaning that arises for marriage and family is made even worse when the state seeks to redefine them as privatized relationships aimed at adult fulfillment and separated from the procreation and nurturing of children.

Marriage is the basis of the family and the protective haven for children, who are the real key to future economic and social well-being for our community. As we celebrate the birth of our Savior from His Mother’s womb, and His entry into a human family like our own, let us commit ourselves to doing everything possible to help couples live in healthy and stable marriages and give their children a true home. 

   +MOST REVEREND LEONARD P. BLAIR
     BISHOP OF TOLEDO