The Soul and the City
I was pleased to receive this email dispatch from Rome from my friend Lynn Wardle, a professor at BYU’s J. Reuben Clark Law School:
The Colloquium on Gender Complementarity in Marriage has been a terrific event. The Vatican has been very positive and supportive. A lot of very knowledgeable and experienced persons are participating. I think it was said that the 350 participants come from 17 religions and 23 countries (or 23 religions and 17 countries). Global support for marriage is very clear.
President Eyring’s very personal presentation touched hearts and was very warmly received. It is clear the the LDS are highly respected and greatly appreciated for our doctrine about and stands in defense of marriage. Elder and Sister Perry also attended as did Bishop and Sister Causse. A lot of goodwill has resulted. The Pope came and spoke to our opening session and tomorrow we will attend his open-air weekly Wednesday message in St. Peter’s Square. This gathering has been a very positive ecumenical experience all around.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint official Newsroom has already published the transcript of President Eyring’s address today from the Vatican. It includes a lovely personal testimony of eternal marriage and of then the blessing of complementarity between man and wife.
Our differences combined as if they were designed to create a better whole. Rather than dividing us, our differences bound us together. Above all, our unique abilities allowed us to become partners with God in creating human life. The happiness that came from our becoming one built faith in our children and grandchildren that marriage could be a continuing source of satisfaction for them and their families.
President Eyring posits unselfishness as the key to this happy complementarity. Then he quotes liberally from the Family Proclamation as a support to the “powerful feelings of love and loyalty” that are needed to resist temptations to betray the marital trust:
“Husband and wife have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children. ‘Children are an heritage of the Lord’ (Psalm 127:3). Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, and to teach them to love and serve one another, observe the commandments of God, and be law-abiding citizens wherever they live. Husbands and wives—mothers and fathers—will be held accountable before God for the discharge of these obligations.
“The family is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan. Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity. Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities. By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners. Disability, death, or other circumstances may necessitate individual adaptation. Extended families should lend support when needed.”[1]
It will not have escaped any of Pres. Eyring’s listeners at the Vatican Colloquium that this authoritative statement does not refer abstractly to parents but rather to the child’s right “to be reared by a father and a mother” and in fact outlines very generally but very clearly distinct ideal roles for father and mother.
I was happy, then, to see that Pres. Eyring quoted my law school colleague:
We can and must stand up and defend the institution of marriage between a man and a woman. Professor Lynn Wardle has said, “The task we face is not for summer soldiers or weekend warriors who are willing to work for a season and then quit.”
It is wonderful to have a good and wise delegation standing up and defending marriage between a man and a woman in this very significant interfaith gathering.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In