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Here are the first couple of pages of a 1955 Fordham Law Review article that purports a direct connection between marriage being a monogamous union between a man and a woman and natural law. Unfortunately it seems to have some logically unfounded assertions and seems in general very dated.

http://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1453&context=flr

THE NATURAL LAW, THE MARRIAGE BOND,
AND DIVORCE
BRENDAN F. BROWN

. THE NATURAL LAW DICTATES MONOGAMY

NATURAL law is that objective, eternal and immutable hierarchy of
moral values, which are sources of obligation with regard to man because they have been so ordained by the Creator of nature. This law conforms to the essence of human nature which He has created. It is that
aspect of the eternal law which directs the actions of men.’ Although this
law is divine in the sense that it does not depend on human will, nevertheless, it is distinguishable from divine positive law, which has been communicated directly from God to men through revelation, for natural law
is discoverable by reason alone.” Natural law has been promulgated in the
intellect. At least as regards its more fundamental principles it is knowable proximately through the conscience.3

The most basic ideal of this law, namely, that every man must live in
accordance wth his rational nature, so that he will do good and avoid
evil, is self-evident to all. No reasoning is required to reach a knowledge
of this ideal.4 But other parts of the natural law are not perceivable with
an equal degree of facility. Varying gradations and types of reasoning

The following papers were given at the Second Annual Conference on The Natural
Law, presented by the Guild of Catholic Lawyers of New York on Dec. 4, 19S4. Honorable
Albert Conway and Honorable Owen McGivern presided.
* A.B, LLB., Creighton University; LL.M., J.U.D, Catholic University of America;
Ph. D. (Law) Oxford University. Formerly Dean, The Catholic University of America,
School of Law. Professor of Law, Loyola University of the South.
The writer takes this opportunity to express his indebtedness for assistance received from
Right Reverend Monsignor Robert E. McCormick, J.C.D., former Officialis, Archdiocese of
New York, Metropolitan Tribunal, Very Reverend Francis J. Connell, C.Ss.R., S.T.D., LL.D.,
Dean, School of Sacred Theology, The Catholic University of America, and Very Reverend
Charles E. Sheedy, C.S.C., LL.B., S.T.D., Dean, College of Arts and Letters, University of Notre
Dame. He also appreciates the aid which he received from Reverend Louis J. Hiegel, S.J,
J.C.D., Lecturer on Canon Law, School of Law, Loyola University of the South, New
Orleans, Louisiana.
1. Aquinas, St. Thomas, Sumnia Theologica, Treatise on Law, Q. 90-97 inc., Review
by Brown, I De Paul L. Rev. 312-318 (1952).
2. Ibid.
3. Sheedy, Letter, October 10,1954, to Brendan F. Brown.
4. Connell, Outlines of Moral Theology 30 (1953).

are necessary to ascertain the sub-norms of that law. 5 Some of these are
discoverable by an immediately derived deduction, which is almost
obvious, such as the requirement of some form of marriage or contractual
agreement before a man and a woman can lawfully have sexual relations.
But other sub-norms are ascertainable only after observation, study, and
experience, both individual and sociological. Examples are the secondary
goal of marriage, and the precise means for the just and adequate effectuation of the primary and secondary purposes of marriage.’

The necessity of some kind of marriage, either polygamous or monogamous, dissoluble or indissoluble, is obviously deducible from the basic
ideal of the natural law, since without propagation and the rearing of
children, the human race would become extinct.7 This ideal demands some
form of abiding union between man and woman, even if it be only for a
limited period. All men realize that there must be some fixed, definite and
settled arrangement, which will enable man and woman not only to procreate, but also to protect the offspring until they are capable of looking
after themselves. It is self-evident that marriage differs from the mating
of animals, to the extent that will and reason are distinguishable from
blind instinct.’ No demonstration is needed to show that marriage must
uphold the unique dignity of human personality.

The study of cultural anthropology reveals the historical fact that
practically all peoples have attached an inherently sacred and religious
character to marriage, which they have expressed by special and symbolic
rites of a public and solemn kind. These rites became part of their traditions, customs and laws, which recognized that marriage is not of human,

5. Sheedy, Materials for Legal Ethics 10 (1950) edited notes of Right Reverend Monsignor
William J. Doheny, C.S.C., J.U.D., judge of the Roman Rota.
6. Joyce, Christian Marriage 6-8 (1948).
7. See Petrovits, The New Church Law on Matrimony (1921). On page 1, he writes:
“Marriage in General. The word matrimony is a compound derived from the two Latin
words, namely, nmatris mrunum meaning the office of the mother. The burdens Inherent In
gestation, the pain accompanying parturition, and the numerous anxieties subsequent to child
birth, being indicative of the most intimate relationship between mother and child, are generally adduced as the reason why the word mother in preference to the word father has been
embodied in the name of this Sacrament.”
8. Pope Pius XI, Encyclical Letter, Christian Marriage (Casti Connubfi), December 31,
1930, Translation published by the National Catholic Welfare Conference, Washington, D.C.
(1931). This Encyclical elaborates and emphasizes certain points in the Encyclical Arcanum
of Pope Leo XIII, published fifty years previously, namely, on February 10, 1880. The chief
purpose of Casti Connubii was to reaffirm the basic thought of Arcanum In the light of
conditions which adversely affected the society of the family at the beginning of the thirties.
See also Pope Pius XII, Address to the Italian Catholic Union of Midwives, October 29,
1951, Translation included in Moral Questions affecting Married Life, Discussion Outline by
Rev. Edgar Schmiedeler, O.S.B., Ph.D., Director, N.C.W.C. Family Life Bureau, National
Catholic Welfare Conference, 18 parag. 49.

but of divine origin, in which man does not create life but only cooperates with Divinity in its transmission.’

Man is obliged in his choice of institutions to select only those which
are in agreement with the natural law. This is particularly true of marriage since it is one of the most important, affecting as it does, the spiritual and temporal welfare of the whole human race by determining the
status of the family which is the foundation of society. 10 According to
the natural law, there is an obligation to adopt that form of marriage
which will best achieve not only the almost self-evident objective of
satisfying the urge toward propagation, and care for the physical needs
of children, and their moral and educational training, but also the secondary purpose, namely, the mutual assistance of the spouses, physical,
mental and spiritual, and the allaying of concupiscence. 11

But the precise form of marriage which is commanded by the natural
law is not immediately apparent and known to all, for it does not pertain
directly to the primary inclination of that law. The prescribed type of
marriage is not a primarily derived deduction from the basic ideal of the
natural law, as are the prescriptions of the Decalogue, for example.12-
This explains why there is more agreement that murder is against the
natural law than there is that divorce is morally wrong.

[etc.]