AURORA - Hundreds of Aurora's Sacred Heart Church parishioners walked in the cold and rain Monday night to send a message to their state representives: “El matrimonio es y debe seguir entre un hombre y una mujer” — Marriage is and shall continue to be between a man and a woman.
The pastor of Sacred Heart, Monsignor Archimedes Vallejo encouraged members to take up their candles and “show that Christ is the light of the world.”
“This is God’s law, no one can change God’s laws,” Vallejo said. “We are a strong community. We will defend the sanctity of marriage.”
Following the procession, the standing-room only crowd filled the pews and aisles, some kneeling on the floor of Sacred Heart, its altar draped in purple for the Lenten season, to pray and hear testimony.
Bishop Malloy told the crowd that heterosexual marriage ought to be defended as God’s plan. “Man and woman are made one for the other,” Malloy said. “The physical union of man and woman is the conduit for new life. We are all here today because woman was made for man.”
And he said that the matter was not one of discrimination.
“Discrimination is not part of who we are,” he said. “Christ said love your brothers and your sisters...but this does not mean we should abandon God’s plan.”
The Sacred Heart parishioners' views are in direct contradiction to those of Cicero's State Senator Martin Sandoval, who took to the State Senate floor last week to blast the Catholic Church leaders and their teachings on same sex marriage, as reported in Illinois Review.
They also are directly opposed by the Illinois Republican Party chairman Pat Brady, who, despite seeking to reach the Hispanic community, has vocally urged Republican lawmakers to support gay marriage.
The Illinois Senate passed legislation to legalize same sex marriage on St. Valentine's Day. The bill moved to the Illinois House, where it is sponsored by openly-gay state Representative Greg Harris of Chicago.
