[kidd]

Good opinion at the link.

Summary:
1. Chaput is right to be worried, but his suggestion is the wrong course of action at present
2. Refusing to sign civil marriage licenses, at present, would deny Catholic marriages the benefits of marriage
3. Refusing to sign civil marriage licenses would eliminate the pressure on the State to return to marriage as only between a man and a woman.

[Pecos]

It seems to me that separating the legal element from the ecclesiastical element would be in line with rendering unto Caesar that which is Caesar's and unto God that which is God's. Certainly, this does not fulfill the wish most FReepers have regarding same-sex unions, but it keeps the state out of decisions that properly belong only to churches.

[NKP_Vet]

“Refusing to sign civil marriage licenses, at present, would deny Catholic marriages the benefits of marriage”

I have never had to “prove” I was married by showing a state marriage license and there is no database on people showing whose married or not married. Chaput has a great idea.