Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan

The US bishops’ pastoral letter is an investigation of the sacrament of marriage using biblical and theological principles and a call for a collective reaffirmation of its integrity following perceived attacks upon the institution. In the face of contemporary secular trends that diminish the sanctity of marriage, the bishops argue that a declining care for the holiness of marriage leads to divorce and the widespread belief that the institution itself may be obsolete, or at least a private matter that bears no impact on the social order. Nonetheless, the bishops suggest that the effects of diminishing matrimony are worse for society than commonly believed. The document also makes a point of affirming monogamy, nuptial indissolubility, and the hetero-normative definition of marriage.