Archbishop Nienstedt in defense of marriage, reason, religious liberty

The right understanding of marriage and human sexuality were the focus of Pope Benedict XVI’s remarks to US bishops yesterday, who are here in Rome for their ad limina visits. These are issues very much in the forefront of the public engagement of the senior prelate of the visiting group, Archbishop John C. Nienstedt of St. Paul and Minneapolis in Minnesota, which is one of the US states currently facing a legal challenge to traditional marriage. Archbishop Nienstedt told Vatican Radio about how the Church in Minnesota is engaging the debate "As St Paul did at the Areopagus, you meet your audience where they're at," he said, explaining that the Church in defending traditional marriage does not impose its views, but rather proposes a vision of the human person and of society that in principle can be shared by believers and non-believers, alike. "There is not one view of the human person for Catholics, and another one for non-Catholics," he said, adding, "yes, we have an insight from revelation about how God intended that, but we also look at it from the very fact of our human nature, and how God made us - and that, we can use as a reason for people who might say, 'Well, I'm not Christian, I don't believe in revelation,' - well, that's fine and good, you know, but there is this other aspect." Archbishop Nienstedt defended the right of the Church and of Catholics to bring their views into the public square. "As part of the human discourse in society, we have the right to raise these questions, and to speak with conviction about them." Listen