A group of 11 people on Saturday afternoon stood on the steps leading up to St. Charles Catholic Church in Bowman reciting the Rosary — and their message was clear.
By BRYCE MARTIN
Pioneer Editor | [email protected]
A group of 11 people on Saturday afternoon stood on the steps leading up to St. Charles Catholic Church in Bowman reciting the Rosary — and their message was clear.
While their message was not directly one of condemnation for individuals involved in same-sex marriages, members of the demonstration held a banner that read, “God’s marriage= 1 man + 1 woman.” They conducted themselves peacefully as each held a Bible, reciting the Rosary and other prayers.
Another banner read, “As human efforts fail to solve America’s key problems, we turn to God, through His Holy Mother, asking His urgent help.”
Several members of the demonstration were local residents.
The Rev. David Morman, priest at St. Charles Catholic Church of Bowman, said the individuals were expressing the church’s belief “in the beauty and goodness of marriage as the church understands marriage,” being between one man and woman.
March 19 was the Feast of St. Joseph. According to Christian belief, St. Joseph was the husband of Mary. On that day prayers are said for living the virtue of chastity.
“A group approached me of our parishoners and asked if they could, on this feast day, gather to pray… and pray for chastity in the United States,” Morman said. “I gave my permission.”
Part of the Catholic Church’s religious tradition is the celebration of the “beauty and goodness in marriage,” between a woman and man, according to Morman.
“That’s what they were praying for,” he said.
Though both banners featured the logo of The American TFP, which is one of a number of national TFPs that “form the world’s largest anticommunist and antisocialist network of Catholic inspiration.”
According to The American TFP’s website, the event was called the St. Joseph Traditional Marriage Rally and 4,223 such rallies were held across the country the same day.
The TFP group’s campaigns cover a wide range of issues, including sexual abuse scandals in the Catholic Church, Islam and 9/11, just war, abortion, euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research, homosexuality and same-sex marriage, according to its website.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in North Dakota, and across the country, after the U.S. Supreme Court issued its federal opinion last June lifting state laws against it.
Since then at least one same-sex marriage license has been issued in Bowman County.
Good for them!