I felt that this is a really wonderful video (despite the low volume). I transcribed some quotes that really struck me:
“They could have a loving relationship. They could be committed to each other. They can have a mutual upbuilding, all these kinds of things… exclusive. But it’s not marriage if it lacks what? That biological unity oriented towards the creation of new human life. That’s the essential element. Without that thing—whatever that is (we just said what that is)—without what that is, you might have a lot of good things, but you don’t have matrimony. And here’s an example I heard Christopher West use once with regard to this. He said… someone says, ‘I want to make some chocolate chip cookies. I’ve got the flour and I’ve got the eggs, and I’ve got the whatever… but I don’t need chocolate chips.’ Okay, well then, you can’t make chocolate chip cookies. ‘Well, no, no, no… I’ve got everything. Look, I’ve got all the ingredients. I only don’t have chocolate chips.’ Well, you can make cookies, but they’re not chocolate chip cookies. ‘Listen, you don’t… that’s not the only ingredient. Chocolate chips are not the only ingredient in chocolate chip cookies.’ Yes, but they’re an essential ingredient in chocolate chip cookies. That without them, you have cookies, but not chocolate chip cookies. It’s what makes the difference between—here’s a loving relationship, here’s marriage. There’s the essential element that needs to be there in order for marriage to be marriage—is that biological unity that’s oriented towards the procreation of new human life.” –Father Mike Schmitz
“We’re not gonna leave you alone. We’re not just gonna talk about you. We’re gonna listen to you, and let you talk to us and share life. I mean, I know that sounds sappy, but it’s the truth.” –Father Mike Schmitz
“If marriage is simply where two people or more—however many people—go to for self-fulfillment, and we look to the state for giving some kind of cultural approval of your relationship, then we’re looking to it for the wrong thing. I would say that if we understand marriage to be… you know, this is a place where two human beings—a man and a woman—procreate, raise children, to be able to pass the culture on, to be able to perpetuate the species, to be able to pass on their faith… then, that’s open for every religion. That’s open for every person in that culture. But when the state jumps in and says we’re gonna redefine this thing that we don’t have the authority to redefine, that’s when the Church—because the Church has roughly ten times the amount of experience than the United States does. (Or ten times the amount of history of experience than the United States does.) It makes sense for the Church to say, ‘Wait. Let’s take the long view here. What will happen to all of us, not just Catholics or Christians—what will happen to all of us if we redefine what marriage is?’ That’s why I think this isn’t a religious issue, I think it’s a human issue.” –Father Mike Schmitz
“If we’re gonna love someone, we can’t just say, ‘Love is love.’ Just like if we’re going to play a game, we can’t just say, ‘A game is a game.’ (e.g., ‘softball is baseball’) And I would say that at the end of the day, we may be called homophobic. What’s homophobia? What’s a phobia? It’s an irrational fear. I say, I don’t have an irrational fear of anyone…. What is [bigotry]? That’s an irrational prejudice. I think we need to get to that place where we recognize as a culture that ‘I disagree with you’ does not mean ‘I hate you.’ Or we could say, ‘I disagree with you does not mean I hate you.’ That we can have different approaches, and we can even say ‘no,’ and ‘no’ doesn’t mean ‘I hate you.’ That that’s not the end of the conversation, but where we are right now as Catholics, that’s the beginning of the conversation. Just like, here’s where I stand, here’s where you stand. Let’s keep talking and walking together. That’s the key. I think if we all went out and said, ‘Well, here’s the definition of marriage. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. There it is, take it or leave it. See ya or stay.’ That’s the wrong next step. The right next step is to know clearly what we believe and why, and then to be able to hear what someone else believes and why. And to not let that drive us away from being in real relationship with them. Because if we’re gonna have real relationships… real relationships entail real responsibilities. And so, if we’re really gonna love someone, that means we really owe them something.” –Father Mike Schmitz
