The months-long battle over same-sex marriage, one filled with heated discussions, passionate protests and strong lobbying efforts on both sides, came to an end – at least temporarily – when the New Jersey State Senate voted down the measure Jan. 7.

After a bill to legalize marriage between persons of the same gender narrowly passed the Senate Judiciary Committee in December by a vote of seven to six, the full Senate vote, which was delayed by nearly a month in hopes of generating more support within the legislature, saw only 14 senators vote in its favor. The bill would have required 21 votes to pass.

For Catholics in New Jersey, the outcome marked an important victory. The Church had joined other religious groups in a lengthy statewide campaign to uphold the definition of marriage as a union between one man and one woman. And in the end, the Catholic faithful were assured that their voice was heard.

The effort to promote and defend the traditional definition of marriage began last August, when the bishops of New Jersey issued a pastoral letter, “The Call to Marriage is Woven Deeply into the Human Spirit.” The bishops’ letter outlined the importance of defending the dignity of all human persons, including homosexuals, but explained that God created man and woman to be complementary for one another.

Marriage as a union of man and woman was created by God and existed long before any law or religion, the bishops wrote. They also stated that protecting marriage is not simply a religious issue, but a societal one that affects the common good.

Following the bishops’ teaching on the issue, Catholics answered a call to action by participating in a statewide petition drive, rallying outside the statehouse in Trenton and contacting their elected officials to ask them to oppose the same-sex marriage bill.

“The bishops began by prayer and by teaching, and then really it was the people in the pews that took action,” said Pat Brannigan, executive director of the New Jersey Catholic Conference, the bishops’ public policy organization.

Brannigan credited people on both the diocesan and parish levels, as well as partners from other religious backgrounds, who truly made a difference in ensuring the definition of marriage would not be changed.

“The diocesan Family Life offices and the Knights of Columbus made a significant impact through their outreach to parishes and the conducting of the petition drive, which garnered more than 156,000 petitions,” he said. “And we would not have been successful without the strong support from many orthodox Jewish communities, evangelical communities and other religious groups.”

Linda Richardson, director of the Diocese of Trenton’s Office of Family Life, said that their role was to distribute resources and information to help parishes develop a clear message on the importance of marriage. From there, it was parishioners and Knights of Columbus councils who did the bulk of the work.

“In essence, the effort was embraced at the grassroots level,” Richardson said. “The people of the parishes prayed for marriage, gave serious consideration to the issue and then acted on their consciences by signing petitions and calling, visiting or writing their legislators.”

Brannigan said it was that personal interaction between citizens and their representatives, as opposed to a broad message from the Catholic Church, that had the most impact.

“These petitions were delivered by the local parish, and that is significant because the legislators receiving them knew these were constituents of theirs,” he said.

Brannigan said that the outcome of the vote was also made possible by the support of many Republican senators, including Sen. Tom Kean, Union; Sen. Jennifer Beck, Monmouth; Sen. Joseph Kyrillos, Monmouth; Sen. Gerald Cardinale, Bergen; Sen. Christopher Bateman, Somerset; and Sen. Sean Kean, Monmouth.

Also crucial in the vote, Brannigan said, were six Democrats who went against their party by voting “no” on same-sex marriage; Sen. Jeff Van Drew, Cape May; Sen. John Girgenti, Passaic; Sen. Nicholas Sacco, Hudson; Sen. Fred Madden, Gloucester; Sen. Shirley Turner, Mercer; and Sen. Ronald Rice, Essex.

Moving forward
Supporters of same-sex marriage had hoped to pass the bill through both the State Senate and the State Assembly in time for former governor Jon Corzine to sign the legislation into law before leaving office. But with the Jan. 19 inauguration of Gov. Chris Christie, who has made clear his opposition to the legislation, the passage of a same-sex marriage law now seems unlikely.

Proponents of the same-sex marriage law have indicated that they will take their fight next to the courts, Brannigan said, but he doesn’t feel there is much of a case to change the legal definition of marriage.

“They have a very difficult road to hoe because the Civil Union Act is clear that it grants all benefits to civil union couples that a heterosexual married couple might receive from the state,” he said. “So if there are failings, it is a lack of proper implementation of the Civil Union Act, and that is very correctable.”

Meanwhile, Richardson said that the Office of Family Life will continue in its efforts to “promote, strengthen, sustain and restore marriages.” Their goal is to help in the development of marriage enrichment opportunities and to support parishes “in their continuing efforts to become marriage-building faith communities,” she said.