Archbishop O'Malley urges lawyers to defend marriage

Published: 2004-01-13

BOSTON (CNS) -- Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley of Boston urged members of the legal profession in Massachusetts to have the courage of St. Thomas More, the patron saint of lawyers, who "lost his life defending the sacredness of marriage." Speaking Jan. 11 at the annual Red Mass in Boston's Cathedral of the Holy Cross -- a liturgy that invokes blessings on the legal community -- the archbishop implored the congregation to "witness to the truth about marriage," and defend traditional marriage in the commonwealth. "We live in such an age ... where our courts have undermined the value of life itself and now attempt to dilute the meaning of marriage," Archbishop O'Malley declared. "In diluting the meaning of marriage, we risk diminishing our own humanity." Archbishop O'Malley went on to say that "part of our mission as disciples of Jesus Christ must be to defend the sacredness of life and the sacredness of marriage."

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